Industry:
Service Management
Categories:
Operational routing and scheduling , Benefits reported , Large operation
Mastercare has installed Paragon’s scheduling software to improve the efficiency of its service engineer operations. In managing two fleets of service engineers, each providing a specific service management role, Paragon software is saving Mastercare planning time, money and miles.
Originally purchased to route and schedule Mastercare’s PC repair engineers Paragon’s routing and scheduling software has now been introduced to manage the brown goods division, involving repairs to televisions, hi-fi technology, microwaves and other household electrical equipment.
Planning these two service management operations, Paragon’s routing and scheduling software is used to produce next-day schedules for a total of over 400 home-based service engineers making over 2,500 daily repair calls to PC World, Curry’s, Dixons, PC City and The Link customers.
Since its installation, Paragon’s multi-site routing and scheduling system has streamlined what was previously a manually planned and regionally controlled service operation – a change that is resulting in mileage savings and reduced administration costs. "We were very pleased with the way Paragon’s routing and scheduling software transformed the way we planned our PC repair engineer visits and although it’s early days, we are hoping to see similar benefits in our brown goods operation," comments Mike Williams, Regional Manager at Mastercare. "The system’s versatility and the team’s understanding of our needs has resulted in a software implementation that can handle the complexities of both our service management operations whilst still saving us time, money and miles."
"Paragon’s routing and scheduling software helps field service managers maintain a high level of engineer utilization while at the same time reducing fuel costs and enhancing customer service through more effective planning and scheduling," adds William Salter, Paragon’s President and CEO. "We are delighted to be supporting both Mastercare operations in this way, which reconfirms the breadth of industry sectors to which Paragon software can add value."
Mastercare – PC Repairs:
Mastercare PC repairs has over 200 home-based engineers making around 1,200 daily service visits to PC World, Curry’s, Mastercare, PC City and The Link customers. This large and complex service operation was previously planned manually with four regional representatives each dedicating three hours to routing and scheduling every day. In order to cut planning time, reduce daily administration effort and generate more efficient routes and schedules for its PC repair division, Mastercare turned to Paragon, known for its routing and scheduling expertise across a wide range of industries.
Installed at Mastercare’s planning centre, Paragon software is now used to schedule the next day service calls to homes and retail establishments. With the next day’s schedule downloaded to Paragon from the engineer booking system at 9:30am every morning, the software takes less than five minutes to calculate all the routes and schedules, automatically accounting for engineer availability, skill levels and road network details, as well as time needed to complete each call request. With only two people now required to oversee the whole process for the UK, the final routes are released to both the parts depots and service engineers by 11:00am, allowing sufficient time for engineers to collect the materials required for their next day’s calls.
Mastercare – Brown Goods:
Following on from the routing and scheduling success of the Mastercare PC repair operation, Paragon’s routing and scheduling software is now used to plan the brown goods operation. With a dedicated team of 200 repair engineers answering up to 1,300 customer call outs every day, Paragon software has extended its efficiency savings into this additional business area. Faced with the added complexity of ensuring engineers are routed via the right store for the collection of parts to take to the forthcoming call, Paragon has increased efficiency and engineer productivity throughout the operation. In addition, Paragon automatically deals with two-man call out requirements – such as plasma television repairs – ensuring that two separate engineers are routed to the same call out location at the same time.
The Mastercare brown goods operation’s next day order cut off is at 4pm. At this time call out requests are downloaded from the in-house order management system into Paragon which then routes the next day’s calls. With the added complexity of having to route in parts collections from stores, as well as two man call requests, the Paragon system takes as little as five minutes to produce a schedule for up to 1,300 next day calls. Individual schedules are released to the engineers that afternoon via the in-house system which enables engineers to download the information they need to complete their next day calls.
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