The more than 80 service engineers at Welzorg repair mobility aids such as rollators, mobility scooters and wheelchairs every day. “Connect enables us to help our customers quickly and in the most efficient way possible,” says Sabine Doets, ICT Manager at Welzorg. Connect also schedules and assigns (emergency) repairs and calculates the most optimal routes for the engineers. The mobile application supports them in carrying out their work on location.
To successfully carry out their work, each engineer has their own van stock containing 170 items such as inner tubes, batteries and other spare parts. Previously, this stock was counted once every quarter, which meant the engineer was unable to carry out repairs for several hours. To optimise stock counts, Sigmax developed the cycle counting method together with Welzorg.
Peter Terpstra, Logistic Engineer at Welzorg, explains: “All van stocks were counted every quarter and this took an average of four hours per van. That adds up to sixteen hours per engineer per year, and Welzorg employs around 80 engineers. All in all, it was a time consuming process.” Stock reliability also left much to be desired. “Because engineers used to register incoming stock themselves, we had no real control over stock levels. Items received were recorded on paper, which often resulted in unreadable or lost forms. This meant our stock reliability was 70 percent, which we considered too low,” says Terpstra.
With the cycle counting method, the entire van stock is no longer counted in one go each quarter. Instead, engineers count a portion of their own stock every week in between their daily activities. Terpstra: “The engineer starts their shift in the Sigmax software and sees the planned tasks for the day. The software also shows which items must be counted that week and asks the engineer to check the day’s deliveries. Because the engineer counts the items between jobs, it essentially costs no extra time. This saves us a considerable number of hours each year.”
Terpstra continues: “We have now been using the cycle counting method for about a year and a half. Stock count reliability has increased to an average of 85 percent. Together with Sigmax, we are improving the functionality so that we can eventually reach a reliability of more than 90 percent.”
In Connect, Sigmax’s field service software, engineers not only register the counted items but also daily deliveries, and returns are processed. “We have completely moved away from the paper workflow and now have clear insight into where all stock is located. As a result, engineers can complete more jobs successfully in one go because they know exactly which items are available,” says Terpstra.
When an assistive device breaks down, the customer contacts Welzorg. The Welzorg employee uses Connect to schedule the most suitable appointment with the customer. “It happens almost daily that customers need immediate help because without their assistive device they are unable to go outside, or in the worst case, are confined to bed,” explains Doets. “The planning system takes urgent cases into account by reserving a fixed number of hours per day for emergencies.” If the schedule is not fully booked during the day, the system automatically adds other jobs, after which the engineers see the most optimal planning on their device. “This way we can always carry out urgent repairs without disrupting the already scheduled work. Our engineers are never left waiting unnecessarily because the planning is not efficient,” Doets adds.
No assistive device is the same, and Welzorg therefore has over 100,000 different items that engineers may need for repairs. Connect shows engineers on their mobile device which items they need to load into their service van for the workday. “Using a packing list, they can see which items they need. This ensures engineers are always on the road with the right materials,” Doets explains. “When the engineer finishes the repair, they simply scan a barcode to register which parts were used, ensuring stock levels remain transparent.”
With Connect, engineers can easily register their work even when they temporarily have no internet connection. The data is saved frequently and automatically sent to the office as soon as a connection is available. Connect is also flexible and can be configured to match the engineers’ workflow. Doets gives an example: “Engineers now have the customer sign for approval first and complete the internal registration later. Previously, the customer had to wait for this, but with Connect, the process is now much faster for them.”
The Logistic Engineer is very satisfied with the collaboration with Sigmax: “The entire project with Sigmax went smoothly. We now have much better control over our stock, and it was great that we could add this functionality to the software the engineers were already used to. I believe the cycle counting functionality in Connect can also offer significant time savings for other service organizations.”
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