The Challenge
Carglass Holland had a manual planning process, which made it difficult to carry out car window repairs quickly and efficiently. In addition, the process to plan the work schedules of the mechanics was decentralized, which led to a lack of overview and insight.
How we create value
Benefits
Retail & Wholesale
If your car window gets damaged or broken, you want to be able to schedule an appointment to fix it easily, at a convenient time and location. Quick and reliable service is a priority for Carglass too. Every day, the company’s 250 mechanics carry out fast, professional repairs to damaged and broken car windows. They have 56 service centers in the Netherlands and 60 vans that are used to perform on-site repairs. Carglass wanted to centralize its work schedule and service planning in order to optimize the deployment of its mechanics. The aim was to further professionalize these services, while keeping costs as low as possible.
When Carglass first contacted ORTEC, each service center would schedule work for its mechanics manually using paper order forms. This method wasn’t exactly a model of flexibility. Planners needed an accessible overview of the appointments made to optimize work planning for service mechanics. The organization also wanted more insight into the mechanics’ work schedules. This would allow service centers to harmonize their workload, thereby improving efficiency. Willem Mes, Operations director, says: “This prompted us to restructure our organization and to centralize our processes. We also wanted to get rid of all the paperwork and become a paperless organization.”
Carglass was searching for a partner to support its transition to a fully integrated digital process. ORTEC proved to be a good match. Joep Jagtman, Operations Performance Manager at Carglass, says: “We saw ORTEC as a partner that offered us a great deal of attention and support, and could respond flexibly to the specific requirements of our business case.”
Carglass chose ORTEC Service Planning, supplemented by ORTEC Mobile from our partner Sigmax. When a customer wants to make an appointment, ORTEC Service Planning calculates available time slots based on factors like necessary skills, current distance and travel time. Planning is automatically optimized multiple times per hour, maximizing the space available for new appointments. Service mechanics carry a mobile device that shows them where their next appointment is. They can use it to retrieve the details of the damage to be repaired and to handle billing immediately.
Over the next few years, Carglass moved to centralized staff planning for mechanics in all its centers, supported by ORTEC’s staff planning solution. The system offers insights by matching the required capacity to the expected workload. Mechanics can simply be switched between service centers when necessary, to meet demand. The integrated system optimizes work schedules, taking into account legislation and regulations, collective labor agreements and the skills of the mechanics concerned. Overtime and sick leave are automatically recorded as input for the company’s payroll administration.
There were also changes to how customers make appointments. Previously, these appointments were mainly booked via the call center, but nowadays more than 50% of customers make appointments themselves online. Using ORTEC Time Slot Booking, it’s now possible to calculate all available time slots in an instant. With a single click, the customer chooses a time slot, which is then added to the schedule.
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.