The Challenge
A manual scheduling processes was hindering Carglass Holland from delivering windshield repairs as quickly as possible.
Carglass’ planners and management lacked easy access to key insights.
How we create value
Benefits
Retail & Wholesale
When your windshield breaks, you cannot afford to wait days or weeks for repairs. Ideally, you get it fixed the same day or the day after. Longer wait times hamper your safety and mobility. Carglass understands that. The company’s 350 technicians work hard every day to ensure that damaged windscreens can be quickly and professionally repaired. Carglass has nearly 60 service centers in the Netherlands and 150 vehicles to provide repairs on location. With 12 different clusters and 6 planning offices, Carglass was looking to optimize its scheduling process to facilitate even better customer service.
When Carglass first contacted ORTEC, each service center scheduled technicians’ work manually, using paper orders. This method offered little in the way of flexibility. Planners lacked an easily accessible overview to exchange service technicians where possible, based on optimal routes and locations. This often came at the cost of customer service. Carglass decided it was time to restructure its organization and automate its scheduling process.
“Many companies acquire a scheduling system just to cut costs, “ Joep Jagtman, Carglass’ Operations Performance Manager, says. “But for us, providing fast service to our customers was the guiding principle.” ORTEC proved to be the ideal technology partner to achieve this goal.
“With ORTEC, we improved our customer service and we work more efficiently.” - Joep Jagtman, Operations Performance Manager at Carglass
Carglass chose ORTEC Service Planning, supplemented by the Field Mobility Suite provided by our partner Sigmax. While Carglass’ previous system used fixed travel times, our system uses actual travel times. This optimizes the number of kilometers technicians have to drive. Previously, planners could not preload vans at the service centers, because the day schedule was drawn up later in the morning. Now, Carglass’ technicians can preload the materials they need. This enables them to save time and process more orders during a shift, so they can help more customers get the assistance they need quickly.
For Carglass, it was also important for technicians to be able to work flexible hours. Over the course of the day, ORTEC Service Planning constantly optimizes the service schedule. When an order is cancelled, the scheduling system automatically frees up that time block. That way, any new orders can be sent to available technicians instantly.
With more insights at hand, Carglass’ management was also able to obtain better forecasts and performance numbers. The positive impact of analytics led Carglass to consider making other improvements, so they asked us to identify additional areas where optimization could deliver value.
“We have already realized all of the goals we had in the beginning”, Joep Jagtman concludes. “Thanks to our new work method, we can optimally assign the technicians and resources needed to provide the customer with the best possible service.”
In the process of increasing customer satisfaction, the use of ORTEC Service Planning provided more benefits. For one, Carglass achieved cost savings thanks to the flexible use of technicians and resources. Time saved in administrative processes allowed the company’s staff to process invoices immediately, resulting in faster revenue generation. With greater insights and flexibility, Carglass’ management can also focus on improving business results and driving more innovation to improve their customers’ experience.
The transition has delivered benefits in a variety of areas. “Our productivity has risen sharply and the time we spend adding value to the business has increased substantially too,'' says Willem Mes. “This is reflected in customer experience, as customers rate our service very highly. Our organization is very proud of this.”
Joep Jagtman adds: “We’ve gone from piles of paper to a single platform that enables our employees to do everything. It’s made things more relaxed and given us a greater overview. Now we couldn’t operate in any other way.”
Carglass has become a data-driven organization. Improved insights and visibility have resulted in better forecasts. Resources are also used more efficiently. Carglass continues to work closely with ORTEC on further process optimization.