The Mobile Mechanic: Getting More Done in the Field to Boost Your Heavy Civil Construction Business
For mechanics working in the heavy civil construction industry, there can be some significant communication and collaboration challenges simply because of the vast amount of moving parts. Mechanics within the same company may be handling requests and repairs from disparate locations and for multiple pieces of equipment, making it difficult to streamline their work.
Paper-based maintenance process contribute to or even increase these challenges. Significant time and labor can be wasted if mechanics are required to drive between the office and jobsite multiple times each day just to understand where they need to go, or if they need to return to a jobsite to perform work that wasn’t made known to them the first time around.
As more construction companies embrace technological innovations, however, these inconveniences and inefficiencies are beginning to disappear. Developments such as construction software platforms and mobile technologies like smartphones and tablets allow mechanics to save time and energy and get more done by having all the information they need at their fingertips. Here’s a look at how software and technology are enabling the rise of the mobile mechanic.
A Day in the Life of the Mobile Mechanic
Ideally, the bulk of maintenance work at your jobsite should be scheduled in advance, with only a small percent of a mechanic’s overall heavy equipment maintenance work consisting of breakdowns and unexpected repairs.
Unfortunately, paper-driven processes are often too slow and inefficient to allow for this foresight and agility. Anything written down on paper needs to be interpreted by someone in the office, who then needs to make a decision and act on it appropriately. However, paper documents may be submitted hours, days or even weeks after they’ve been filled out. This means that decision-makers are often acting on incomplete, faulty or out-of-date information. As a result, work must be delayed as the necessary equipment remains out of service.
The use of mobile technologies like fleet maintenance software helps remove these barriers to efficiency and productivity, giving employees real-time visibility into the information they need to do their jobs. With the right software and a mobile device, mechanics can receive and access work orders automatically, no matter where they are or what they’re doing at the time. The office, which is equipped with planning and scheduling software, sends orders out to the appropriate workers, who in turn can instantly view these assignments while out in the field.
What’s more, the software can see the positions of workers and equipment in real time, and determine how to allocate resources most efficiently. This feature helps maximize a mechanic’s time and efficiency on any given job site as they are now able to see other repairs or upcoming preventive heavy equipment maintenance on the same asset or a nearby piece of equipment while they’re already at the site. These analytical software capabilities help limit the amount of equipment downtime and save mechanics from having to make unnecessary trips.
The Benefits of Mobile Technologies for Mechanics
Using mobile technologies in support of heavy equipment maintenance and construction equipment management efforts has two major, complementary benefits: less “windshield time” and more “wrench time.” Of course, by spending less time behind the wheel, mechanics can devote as much time as possible to actually fixing and maintaining equipment.
The other advantages of bringing mobile devices into your repair and maintenance workflow include:
Proactivity
Mobile technology supports a proactive approach by providing necessary information for preventive heavy equipment maintenance. A mobile approach allows you to collect accurate equipment information in the field and communicate it instantly back to the office or shop. It also equips mechanics in the field with the up-to-date information they need to carry out maintenance efficiently and on schedule.
Offline Mode
As part of their job, mechanics often need to travel to locations that have poor or nonexistent cell service and wireless connectivity. Many mobile solutions allow mechanics to use the application while in offline mode, entering their data to be synchronized with the server once a connection is restored. In this way, mechanics can keep working even in the face of network problems that might pose issues for other solutions.
Access to Documentation
When using a mobile solution, mechanics don’t merely have access to work orders about equipment repair and maintenance. Through fleet maintenance software, they’re also able to view important information such as meter readings, past work order history and which parts go with which pieces of equipment. In addition, once the job has been completed, the mechanic can add notes to the order explaining what was done that can be consulted during later work. Saving further time, mechanics also have access to warranty information so they can instantly see if the equipment or specific parts are covered.
Real-Time Information
When a mechanic performs work in the field, logs hours or has a status update or request for equipment and parts, that information is transmitted in real-time to shop managers, office executives and other personnel. With this instant information, workers in the shop and office can make better, faster decisions about equipment, maintenance processes and personnel.
Connection to Accounting and Parts/Inventory
With so many moving parts and equipment needs on modern heavy civil construction jobsites, a key element of streamlining maintenance operations is knowing the materials, parts and time required to address these needs. With a mobile solution, equipment parts and other needs can be entered directly into the system by the mechanic, leading to more accurate and timely data that can significantly reduce the amount of time for which a piece of equipment is down. When it comes to part requests or logging hours, a mobile solution also prevents redundant data entry, eliminating confusing reports that waste time and resources to interpret.
John Kane is a product manager for B2W Software. He has had a leadership role in the development of the company’s specialized B2W Maintain application for equipment maintenance and repairs. John has more than 15 years of project management, program management, technical data analysis and troubleshooting and reporting experience. He can be reached at jkane@b2wsoftware.com.
