Saving nerves, time and money
One photo is all the Mobile Parts Finder needs to identify the spare part you need. Volker Reichmann presents the new app for field service technicians at GF Machining Solutions in Innovator’s Insight.
© Clara Philippzig1. Finding spare parts via the app
During maintenance or repair of a customer’s machine, GF Field Service comes across a defective part that needs to be replaced.
© Clara Philippzig2. Photograph or description
The service person takes a photo of the part they are looking for with a smartphone that has Mobile Parts Finder installed. Alternatively, they can also enter search terms.
© Clara Philippzig3. Bullseye!
The app matches the photo or search terms with its dataset of about 35‘000 spare parts and returns the spare part number you are looking for.
The challenge
To maintain or repair customers’ machines, our service technicians often must order spare parts on site. But the parts do not have a number stamped on them, and it is not always possible to identify them from the manual. In such cases, the back office staff also gets involved in clarifying the matter. Even so, sometimes the wrong part is ordered by mistake and must be returned, and the search starts again. This takes a toll in terms of nerves, time and money.
© privateVolker Reichmann
Position: Senior Project Manager
Division: GF Machining Solutions
Location: Biel (Switzerland)
Joined GF in: 2002
The process
the app does what the name suggests and gives service staff on site what they need for our customers. The basis for this is provided by a data set comprising about one-third of the approximately 35‘000 parts we have in stock. We have photographed and described all of these, one by one.
The result
Now our service technicians can take a picture of the spare part they are seeking or briefly describe it on site. The Mobile Parts Finder delivers the result in seconds. Some 600 service technicians have already downloaded the app. The next step is to keep expanding the data set. Field service technicians support us by taking photos of parts on site and sending these to us on an ongoing basis.