Mechanical Contractors: Rage Against The Machine

Bonus Material: Free Interactive White Paper On How To Sustainably Grow Service Income With a Predictive Service Model

No, not the rock band from the 90’s. We’re talking about Packaged Units. RTUs. The source of disruption and chaos in our service world. 

In our quest to drive Mechanical Service Workforce Optimization, we built nClarity around three organizing principles:

1. It all starts with the MACHINE.
2. Machine data increases the productivity of TEAMS
3. Productive teams drive deeper, lasting CUSTOMER engagement

One way to disrupt the disruptor (machine)? Just like an unruly kid: Pay ATTENTION to it. 

Try taking its PULSE in real time. 

Connecting our Pulse sensor data collection unit to an RTU and feeding data through our platform is like running a continual EKG on a building’s packaged units.

Continuously collecting pressures…

Temperatures…

RH and energy consumption data…

This allows service teams to finally get out in front of upstream sources of future disruption and workforce inefficiency that saps resources and GP.

Remote access to that real time data also enables brand new service models.  

A digital twin (a real-time data set for each unit that lives in the cloud) is mutually accessible by office and field teams alike, 24/7. This makes collaboration and allocation of resources insanely more efficient. 

Just imagine the level of precision with which a field team can perform service when they arrive on site with that kind of data.

Here are some things we are seeing from our Mechanical Service Contractors right now who have committed to our Machine-First Philosophy.

Predictive Maintenance: Reactive Alerts

Real-time machine data is fed through our Pulse sensors and into the cloud, where our analytics & rules engines look for anomalies. Alerts are assigned priority based on severity identified in the data. 

We call these BuildingInsights. 

These BuildingInsights are routed to the Dispatchers who can elect to escalate to an “A” technician or supervisor, or directly dispatch to the responsible technician who is able to access the BuildingInsight data from a mobile device.  

Instead of automatically dispatching a technician with little or no diagnosis, Supervisors or Virtual Techs (VT) can now diagnose & isolate the source of the problem - before dispatching techs into the field.

The benefit of getting the right diagnosis on the right machine(s) enables them, if warranted, to dispatch the right technician, with the right tools and the right spares.  

That’s Right to the power of 5!  

How much time does this save? Do the math. (Hint: It’s a lot)

No more back and forth to the parts supply house. No more guesswork on the roof. No more unplanned truck rolls due to issues not getting fixed the first time. No More frustrated customers.

With our automatic Virtual Auditing technology, we also help ensure repairs are done right based on the actual state of the machine upon completion. 

Predictive Maintenance: Proactive Inspection

Real time access to remote machine data is also enabling a whole new service segment and role at our contractors:

Virtual Services (VS) delivered by Virtual Technicians (VT).  

We are seeing, on average, 3:1 productivity gains from VS. (Yes, you still need to go onsite, but only when truly needed and with a precise diagnosis when you do)

Put another way, one hour invested in VS precludes the need for up to three hours of on site service. We’re saving tons of time by flagging issues not severe enough to warrant dispatch that can be batched for the next scheduled on-site visit.

Virtual pre-checks are allowing us to virtually inspect machines before scheduled PMs and prioritize limited tech time to the most needy machines. 

So, by focusing on the primary source of disruption to service teams, the machines, we can begin to bring an element of predictability to our service world. Something that is badly needed in the rapidly changing mechanical service climate.

By using real-time data to proactively inspect machines, increase diagnostic precision and intelligently dispatch when warranted, we can really begin to optimize our TEAMS. 

We can literally multiply our labor capacity to do more with what we have. But it all starts with the MACHINES….no rage included.

Interested in learning more about how nClarity can help your business? Fill out the form below and one of our product experts will reach out to you.