Revenue for the industrial equipment maintenance and repair industry continues to see growth year over year, rebounding from what was a bound sector in 2009. Back then, the industry was worth $23.92 billion dollars, but has come back up over the last decade to be worth $35.88 billion today. It has leveled out now and is estimated to be worth $36.41 billion by 2020.
For those in the industrial equipment maintenance space, there are many leading factors recurring reasons for unscheduled downtimes in equipment, many of which can be preventable with industrial equipment service software to help manage their repair schedule. With the industry still having potential for growth, field service organizations who specialize in heavy equipment repair are looking at some of the trends in the industry today and see where they can capitalize with a software solution helping them to optimize how they run their service department.
Here are some of the trends today in the industrial equipment maintenance industry:
Forty-Two Percent of Unscheduled Downtimes Are Because Of Aging Equipment
There is no denying that equipment ages. Heavy equipment gets used in the field, with plenty of wear and tear over the years. The more it gets used, the more it needs to be serviced properly to ensure there aren’t many unscheduled downtimes. It can create an issue for your customers who aren’t aware of how much service has been performed in the past and what the problems have been, but with an industrial equipment service software, equipment repairs can be tracked, giving a fully detailed history into the lifecycle of the equipment.
This level of history allows the field service organization to monitor the usage of the equipment and become more predictive in their maintenance, based on usage and time spent in the field. It also helps technicians have a higher first-time fix rate, as they can go back into each individual piece of equipment’s service history and see what was performed in the past and what could be the issue now, allowing them to have the parts on hand to complete a repair quickly the first time. Just because a piece of equipment is old, doesn’t mean it isn’t useful, if repairs and maintenance are completed throughout the life of it.
Seventy-Eight Percent Prefer Preventative Maintenance Schedules
Keeping machinery and equipment well maintained will prolong their life, so that is why customers are wanting a recurring maintenances schedule to ensure their equipment is working at peak efficiency. Preventative maintenances schedules are a great way for you to constantly have work to complete for your customers by maintaining their most vital pieces of equipment. And with a field service software powering your work order management system, you can be sure you’ll never miss a call.
With industrial equipment service software, a preventative maintenance schedule can be pre-built and automatically generate work orders to be scheduled to ensure no service call is missed. As part of these automated work orders, mobile checklists can be applied, as well as parts for recurring work. This keeps your standards high when your technician’s complete inspection checklists, adds more detail to the service history, and ensures the technician has the parts they need to keep equipment operational longer, avoiding downtimes.
Twenty-Nine Percent Are Not Using Mobile Field Service Apps for Maintenance
Mobility has really taken off in the field service industry, so much so that pretty much every field service software comes with mobile app capabilities. But mobility still has plenty of growth in the industrial equipment maintenance space, as 29 percent of organizations don’t use a mobile industrial equipment service software, and 27 percent are not using, but considering. Sixteen percent use mobile apps for communications, while just 12 percent us it for scheduling, work orders and service history.
With a mobile field service app, technicians can accept work orders in the field and have all the information, including any checklists that need to be filled out, made available to them without having to manually complete them with paper and pen. They also can access the service history of the equipment they are servicing, provide quotes for upselling opportunities or for emergency service, and get their work orders back to the head office for fast billing. More organizations are turning to a mobile app to speed up their service delivery and optimize their technician’s hours of work.
Industrial Equipment Service Software Can Increase Revenue
There are plenty of advantages and reasons why field service organizations are turning to industrial equipment service software to optimize their service delivery and increasing revenue is on the top of the list. But’s not just about numbers, but about keeping customers happy and satisfied with the quality of work that needs to be done in a timely manner. And to keep revenue high, field service organizations need their technicians working as many service calls as they can in a day in order to maximize their revenue potential.