Mobile Technology Helps Conveyor Belt Engineers Keep Industry Rolling

LEEDS, UK / AGILITYPR.NEWS / November 16, 2020 / BigChange Mobile Technology Helps SVS Engineers Keep Industry Rolling    

Industrial conveyor belt and rubber lining specialist Strathclyde Vulcanising Services (SVS) has rolled out a cloud-based mobile workforce management solution from BigChange. SVS field service engineers have been equipped with rugged tablets as part of a complete management system for paperless working that is improving efficiency, productivity and customer service.

SVS is a specialist in the installation and maintenance of industrial equipment where rubber is a key component such as conveyor systems, chutes and hoppers. Serving industries involved in bulk material handling such as quarrying, energy, demolition, waste and recycling, SVS maintain equipment that is usually critical to plant operation and minimising downtime is vital.

SVS engineers provide a rapid same day, 24/7 response service. Due to the nature of their critical work and health and safety requirements, SVS was burdened with large amounts of paperwork. SVS had previously attempted to implement a number of business systems without success. 

“With an ever-growing amount of paperwork we were desperate to get a system and switch to digital working and we invested heavily only to find that the solutions on offer were too cumbersome or too complex to use and didn’t fulfil our business needs,” says Iain Barral, MD of SVS. “When we first discovered BigChange in 2018 we realised they had a system that could do everything we needed it to do and more. It was also simple to use and we knew that would overcome the objections we had with previous systems.”  

SVS has now implemented BigChange as complete 5 in 1 business solution with back-office software – job booking and scheduling, CRM and quotations - synchronised in real time with field engineers equipped with tablets. For SVS engineers, the JobWatch app replaces all their paper reports from worksheets to health and safety forms, daily vehicle inspections and sign offs.

The system gives SVS complete visibility of all jobs with engineer reports being received in real time from engineers, including job card linked photographs from site. By eliminating paperwork there have been significant gains in the office with one person now able to do the work of two - a doubling of productivity. SVS vans are fitted with BigChange GPS trackers keeping the office informed on progress and allowing customers to receive texts and emails on the ETA of their engineer.

“BigChange continues to transform our business. It has made monumental improvements to how we operate, enabled easy remote management of the business throughout COVID-19 and we are still exploring its capabilities for future advancements, adding value to our overall service and customer experience.” Barral states. “Working hard over the years we have doubled our turnover and with our growth strategy we know BigChange will allow us to easily expand our services.”

“Our customers love the tablets as they provide notable improvements in service, such as providing engineer ETA’s, being able to send completed RAMS to health and safety offices instantly onsite and showing work done with photographs,” Barral adds.