Schindler Elevator Transforms Its Massive Maintenance Operations
The Problem
Schindler Elevator Corporation designs, manufactures, installs, maintains, and modernizes internal transport systems for almost every type of building requirement worldwide. Schindler executives had observed the development of scheduling and routing systems in other service industries with interest. The company saw potential value in a system that would help service superintendents plan the periodic preventive maintenance activities of technicians. Achieving this goal required a system that could handle the changing schedules of thousands of Schindler technicians who are on the road each day, each with a route requiring precise and optimized planning. Analytics expertise in complex scheduling and routing was the answer.
The Analytics Solution
Schindler turned to Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) to develop an automated route-scheduling and planning system. ESRI provided a geographic-information-system-integrated application that employs analytics techniques to optimize preventive maintenance operations. The application relies on a series of algorithms to assign maintenance work to technicians and to create efficient day-routes. These automated tools allow Schindler to restructure and streamline service areas, and provide a productivity tool for several hundred service superintendents who manage thousands of service technicians – who in turn maintain tens of thousands of elevators and escalators.
The Value
The system produced substantial savings and improved route quality, allowing Schindler to recover its $1 million implementation cost in less than a year. The solution shortened the route-building process in 250 offices from several weeks to two hours. It improved response times by creating geographically tighter service areas. It met customers' and management's increasing needs for detailed schedules and reports. And it even helped Schindler consolidate two operating units into the third largest elevator-service company in the United States.
