Learning Inventories

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Learning Inventories

This week, our Curriculum Designer, Caroline Slee-Poulos, continues our series on Lifelong Learning with her post on learning inventories.

When we speak of learning styles, most often we are referring to three primary categories: visual, auditory, kinesthetic. If you are a visual learner, you are thought to learn most effectively through images (or, you know, visual aids). For auditory learners – who, by the way, are technically aural or auditory-musical learners – it is thought that hearing information is the most beneficial delivery system. For kinesthetic learners, we consider the “learn by doing” method to be most effective, although incorporating movement in any way can be helpful.

Most of us don’t necessarily pay attention to learning and education in a “meta-” way: we don’t study how we learn.

The difficulty we face with learning styles is two-fold.

First of all, those three categories above aren’t actually all of the categories. The full list is seven learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, social, solitary, verbal, and logical. Considering there are seven of them, it’s pretty strange that many learning inventories cover only those first three.

Second, these learning styles have been thrown out the window as an effective way of teaching. Although the “know thyself” wisdom of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi is always valuable – for the learners – an educator should not be seeking to sort students into neat little compartments. Or houses. This isn’t Hogwarts, after all…

With asynchronous education, we have to reach multiple styles and multiple forms. I think we can all agree that online learning isn’t necessarily geared towards movement, even though a standing desk (or, better yet, a treadmill desk!) can change that. Despite that, our classes do hit the visual, auditory, verbal, logical, and solitary notes.

Then again, since you have the flexibility to take a class at home, you may very well be surrounded by family. This wouldn’t be solitary at all.

The question is: do you know yourself? What would you say your own learning style is? This week, I would like to ask each of you to take a simple learning inventory quiz. Once you have your result, give it some thought. What surprises you in your results? What did you already know about how you learn? How can this information help you in your continuing education? Let us know in the comments!

The learning inventory can be found here.

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Thinking About Customers and Customer Satisfaction

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Thinking About Customers and Customer Satisfaction

Guest writer Alex Weaver focuses on the annual goals we focus upon in our industry with this blog post on “Thinking about customers and customer satisfaction.”

Many dealers/resellers in the Construction Equipment Industry, set annual goals around Financial Performance, Market Share, Customer Satisfaction, and Employee Satisfaction. 

For now, let’s focus on Customer Satisfaction/Service. Is your customer satisfaction better, the same or less after the Covid/Pandemic shutdowns? In our industry, the balance between the customer interface using technology and humans – real voices, real answers have always favored human interaction. 

Is that still true? Technology has changed and is changing customer expectations. Customers are younger. Using eCommerce for transactions is a growing trend in our industry. Do we understand those changes? 

What is the best method for finding out?

Many companies use an annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. But, can you truly understand the impact of any major change in a survey?

I suggest that the best way of understanding the pressures and needs of customers is to talk to them. Do executive management team members schedule annual ride along with sales staff?  Not just interact with customers at a golf outing or cookout.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to observe a “master” in action. Back in the “horse and buggy” days, there were financial institutions called “Savings and Loans”. “The savings and loan association became a strong force in the early 20th century through assisting people with home ownership, through mortgage lending, and further assisting their members with basic saving and investing outlets, typically through passbook savings accounts and term certificates of deposit.

The savings and loan associations of this era were famously portrayed in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” 

The personal touch. The gentleman I observed was the primary shareholder and president of the Savings and Loan – He maintained three desks. One in the lobby, one in the loan office, and one “upstairs” out of public view. He was at his lobby desk when the doors opened, used the loan department desk before and after lunch. He used his private desk in the late afternoon. He was raised on a farm without a formal high school education, but he knew and understood customers. What they want/need – how he could help them achieve their goal of Home Ownership.

I spent my college years, in the summers, working as one of the “grunts” on the appraisal team. He always asked the grunts for their observations and recommendations. I rarely agreed with our (his) decision because I did not understand the “people” side of the equation. He met many of his depositors, face to face, from his Lobby Desk. He met many of the loan customers, in the loan department. He personally inspected each home or property loaned on. While staff members did the grunt work, ERL would visit with the homeowner. Notice the condition of the property – cleanliness, indications of personal pride in the home and property. Personal involvement with the customers, both savers and borrowers were his focus. 

Customer Satisfaction.  One of the cornerstones of success in our industry.  We measure it or at least survey it.  How do we stack up? Have the scales tipped more to technology than human touch? What is your score, and how do you know? 

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Where to Start with Data Quality

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Where to Start with Data Quality

Guest writer Sara Hanks builds our foundational knowledge with her blog post on data: “Where to Start with Data Quality.”

Fall is my favorite season for two reasons – beautiful scenery and the National Football League. This year, I joined a fantasy football league for the first time. The league uses the ESPN fantasy football app, which is great because it contains analytics that make it easy for a novice like me. Each week, my team is matched up with another and there is a predicted outcome for each player as well as the team overall. I can use the predictions to decide who to bench or trade. This is possible because there is a ton of high-quality data that feeds the algorithm.

According to Joseph Juran, quality means “fitness for use.” According to Philip Crosby, it means “conformance to requirements.” Data quality encompasses both definitions – it needs to be able to provide insights to make decisions real-time. Here are 10 elements to consider with data quality:

  1. Accuracy – the data needs to be correct
  2. Complete – the data does not have missing values
  3. Consistent – the data needs to be defined the same across all IT systems
  4. Valid – the format of the data needs to match the data structure, such as a date field
  5. Singular – the data should not be duplicated
  6. Seamless – the data needs to move from one system to another without compromise
  7. Repeatable – if two people are recording data, they both record the same thing.
  8. Preserved – the data needs to be retained according to the retention policies
  9. Compliant – the data needs to adhere to privacy laws, and internal policies
  10. Accessible – the data needs to be democratized in a way that people can consume it, according to their skillset.

To achieve a high level of data quality, the data needs to have a clear owner. The owner is most likely responsible for executing the process. For example, the customer information is owned by the sales team, and the supplier data is owned by the purchasing team. The IT team must support the data owners because they can ensure that there are proper controls in place to detect issues with moving and storing the data.

Getting started with a data quality plan can be overwhelming, so it is best for businesses to prioritize the data first. I recommend starting with the fundamental, foundational data for your business. I like to consider this data the cost of doing business and understand that data quality is just as necessary as closing the books at the end of the month. The next area I recommend tackling is all the data used to generate operational KPIs. Finally, focus on the data necessary for transformation efforts.

Once the scope of the data quality plan is set, it is good to create a baseline of the data quality. An audit of the data can help data owners understand the baseline. The audit is a deep dive into a sample of the data to get a representation of the overall data. During the data audit, the data owner will need to get hands on with the data, as well as interview people to understand the accuracy of the data. At the end of the audit, create a metric around how much of the data is considered defective. The audit findings facilitate recommendations and plans to improve the data quality.

At a minimum, the data quality plan must include a process around ensuring new data is created with high quality. The process needs to define who has authority to create the data, and it needs to define the process to update data.  

Improving data quality takes time and resources, so start small and drive incremental improvements over time.

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Coaches Corner v.10.20.2022

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Coaches Corner v.10.20.2022

Learning Without Scars is pleased to present the next installment in our series, Coaches Corner. Please feel free to click the link to read the welcome post authored by Floyd Jerkins.

Coaches Corner v.10.20.2022

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What is a Job Architect? And how is it relevant to modern HR practices?

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What is a Job Architect? And how is it relevant to modern HR practices?

Guest writer Sonya Law walks readers through organizational structures in “What is a Job Architect? And how is it relevant to modern HR practices?”

“Be an organisation who is leading from the front …find out what a Job Architect is and why it is vital to high performance teams” … 

  • It plays a key role in ‘attracting, retaining and nurturing talent’
  • Gives people a sense of belonging and understands the ‘relational aspects of teams and connection’
  • Provides insights into the ‘employee experience’ and cultural awareness.

Job Architecture has been given more attention, post pandemic.  For the reason that, people are wanting more from their jobs, getting paid is no longer enough.  If a job does not meet their need for purpose and meaningful impact there is another job, just around the corner in this buoyant tight-talent market.

Those experiencing burnout are also opting for the eject button, to return to a role that suits their skill set and need for making a difference.

Job Architecture, acts as strategic backbone 

“Connecting the entire Human Resources ecosystem for a consistent Employee Experience that, ultimately, impacts the customer experience. Job Architecture helps you: Develop and align talent segments, job families, capabilities, and accountabilities across the organisation.” 

Job Architecture is work design

Post pandemic, we want to create workplaces as magnets for people to attract them to return to the office.  We need to re-think and look at new ways that work can be done and job architecture enables us to do this.  As well as think of the relational aspects, of how we collaborate and solve problems as a team.

Job Architecture is an underutilised part of our HR toolkit

Job Design is a HR fundamental but what is different about Job Architecture is that it is smart design that takes in design thinking principles.  Which brings focus to the employee experience and the way work gets done in context of the whole eco-system.

Recently in Melbourne, Australia a Job Summit was held with business leaders such as CEO of Qantas Alan Joyce and Andrew Forest as well as many more, one of the key outcomes was the need to increase productivity.  Job Architecture and work design affects every outcome that matters in a workplace, including performance and productivity.  Full utilisation of our most expensive resource, being human beings is essential to achieving high rates of productivity and a way to do this is through Job Architecture.  

The next points are based on an article written by Chris Sheedy for HRM Magasine and provides key insights into Job Architecture, by Professor Sharon Parker.  

Job Architecture involves creating work for employees that is:

Stimulating

As human beings, we like to do things that are interesting, feel meaningful and have some variety.

Mastery 

Allows for mastery, most people want to do their job well.  So how can we encourage a sense of mastery? What are the things that help people to do their job? Role clarity, regular feedback, tap into their ‘native genius’ a term coined by Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers, how the best leaders make everyone smart. 

Agency

Agency, or autonomy, is based on the fundamental human need to have control over one’s own world. In a work context, this is the degree to which an employee feels they have control or influence over the work that they do and how they do it. Low agency also usually equates to low innovation.  Agency is not anarchy. Its purposeful and goal directed.  It requires a high level of trust throughout the organisation.

Relational

Impactful and relational aspects are considerations in Job Architecture.  Clarity of what our job is and the impact on other jobs is fundamental.  What is vital to high performance teams is the relationships and the connections with each other.  The level of support we receive from within and from each other will give us our sense of belonging, make us feel safe and valued. 

It creates a high level of accountability, responsibility, ownership and also reliability which are all fundamental in building trust and present in high performing teams. A strong relational culture, does not support toxicity and bullying and harassment, it supports high levels of engagement. 

Tolerance

Builds tolerance; in 2022 there needs to be a focus on building tolerance for organisations to thrive.  High work demands and burnout, leads to feelings of overwhelm and can be a key factor for people leaving their jobs and not taking up leadership positions.  Thoughtful consideration needs to be given to how we build tolerance to increased work demands and recognise the early signs of burnout and support people’s mental health in their job i.e., coaching. 

Strategic workforce planning is key:

The starting point, is understanding where your organisation is at, what it values and needs to execute the strategy in terms of the: 

  1. Skills and capability
  2. Digital transformation
  3. Cadence of change 

And assess the levels of fatigue in the organisation which will determine the receptivity to and success of change.

Having a workforce planning strategy in place that is considerate of your current workforce and job design and constraints will improve outcomes.  A tool used to evaluate constraints in achieving the strategy is the PESTLE, which gives consideration to political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.  This will be the best predictor of the future workforce required to execute your strategy.  Then for Human Resources, the detailed work is in drilling down on job design/job architecture alongside, budgetary and growth expectations, and headcount.

As a senior leadership team, its good practise to complete quarterly: 

  1. Talent Matrix (performance and potential) 
  2. PESTLE is political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.
  3. Align people strategy (work force planning/Job Architecture) with business strategy. 

How well we do in these areas will define the success in attracting and retaining talent in a tight market now and in the future and achieving our business goals. 

‘Take care of your people and they will take care of business’

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Creating Solutions to Reduce Waste

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Creating Solutions to Reduce Waste

Guest writer Sara Hanks takes readers through the process of finding solutions that work for a team in “Creating Solutions to Reduce Waste.”

Although it has been 15 years, I remember the day clearly. It was my first opportunity to participate in a manufacturing Kaizen event, facilitated by a Japanese Sensei consultant. 20+ participants were divided into smaller teams of 4-5 people, with each team focusing on an area of the shop. I was selected as the team captain, as I was the most vocal person. After a couple days of analyzing the waste associated with the current state, we were instructed to identify solutions. I shared my perfect idea for a solution and the team agreed with the recommendation. My competitive side wanted to be the first team to accomplish the task, so I was relieved that the team was onboard. 

The Sensei, along with the leaders, would spend time visiting each team. When they stopped to check in with our team, I proudly shared our perfect solution. The Sensei was not happy, and I was mortified to be corrected in front of my leaders. He explained the 7 Ways Idea Generation methodology and requested that we return to brainstorming. My team generated 6 more ideas and used criteria such as impact and effort to down select to a single idea. It turned out that my perfect idea was not the final decision of the team.  

Hey, failure is one of the best instructors! While I learned a few things that day, the most important lesson was the power of divergent thinking. Specifically, divergent thinking from a diverse group of individuals will create the best solutions. In my process mapping and continuous improvement action workouts, I use creative thinking exercises, silent brainstorming, and an evaluation process to select the best solutions. 

Leveraging Creative Thinking for Developing Solutions 

“It turns out that creativity isn’t some rare gift to be enjoyed by the lucky few—it’s a natural part of human thinking and behavior. In too many of us it gets blocked. But it can be unblocked. And unblocking that creative spark can have far-reaching implications for yourself, your organization, and your community.”

― Tom Kelley, Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All 

When it comes to solutions, we tend to default to the ideas that have already existed. It’s hard to think outside of the box and be innovative because people tend to stop at the obvious solution. Introducing unrelated, creative exercises into an action workout can unlock creative thinking and help create new ideas. One of my favorite ways to spark creative thinking is to solution the worst possible idea first. Creating the worst idea does two things: 1) removes barriers by allowing the craziest of ideas to exist and 2) loosen up the team and help them feel more comfortable brainstorming ideas. 

There are several exercises available on the internet, so I recommend selecting 1-2 that fit within the context of the solution building. A coloring activity may not work for a meeting that is conducted virtually, for example. Once you’ve warmed up the group using one of these exercises, brainstorm solutions. 

Silent Brainstorming for Idea Generation Equality 

Silent brainstorming is used to generate ideas individually, while everyone is quiet. Participants can think without distractions or influence from other people. Groupthink is avoided and everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to the solution. If the group is in a conference room or other common area, sticky notes are a good place to record ideas. Limit one idea per sticky note. If the group is located remotely, then ideas can be written down digitally. Remember the intent is to brainstorm without sharing, so make sure the ideas are captured locally vs. a shared platform. I recommend at least 30 minutes of brainstorming to ensure people can think their ideas through. After the silent brainstorming is completed, everyone can share their ideas with the larger group. As the team shares ideas, similar solutions emerge, which can be combined into single solutions. Once the solutions are identified, it is time to down select the idea. 

Selecting the Best Solution 

Selecting the best solution can be done a few different ways. Here are three examples:

  1. Impact – Effort matrix: the ideas are plotted on a grid. The ideas in quadrant 1 are no-brainers and the ideas in quadrant 3 can be discarded. The others are open to discussion.
  2. Voting: with voting, each person receives 7-10 votes. A person can use all their votes on a single idea or spread them across multiple solution ideas. Voting should be silent to prevent groupthink, as with silent brainstorming. The ideas with the most votes are selected for implementation. If the cost to implement the solutions vary, I recommend taking the top ideas and assessing them in an impact – effort matrix. 
  3. Assessing each solution against a set of predefined criteria. The criteria can include impact and effort but are expanded to assess other requirements. Safety, compliance, security, and quality may be included. Typically, the criteria are defined up front in the project charter as critical to quality items, benefits, or both. For each idea, score the idea against the criteria – I prefer a 1, 3 9 scale to differentiate the most applicable items. The total score for each idea is calculated – the highest scored ideas should be implemented.

After the solution(s) are selected for implementation, create a set of action items, owners, and dates for the critical next steps. Schedule follow-up meetings to ensure the actions are closed and identify any unforeseen roadblocks. Most importantly, don’t forget to enjoy implementing the innovative solutions that you and the team created!

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Want to Become More Resilient? Learn Something New.

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Want to Become More Resilient? Learn Something New.

In this week’s installment of Lifelong Learning, we are pleased to introduce our new guest writer, Kari Bogdan. Kari Bogdan has nearly 20 years of experience in the training and development industry.  Her expertise is design and development of engaging instructor-led training, online education, and curriculum development.  Currently, she is a Learning Specialist for Children’s Wisconsin.  In her first blog post for Learning Without Scars, she challenges readers with her title: Want to Become More Resilient? Learn Something New.

Kari serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (SEWI-ATD) as Vice President of Professional Development. She is also a member of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Women Leaders Association. 

Kari has worked in a variety of industries with a focus on health care over the past 10 years.  From 2003-2007, she was the Manager of Continuous Education for the Associated Equipment Distributors.  Previously, Kari was a video and multimedia producer for over 9 years working on training, sales, and corporate communication.

Kari holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Want to become more resilient? Learn something new.

Before 2019, I didn’t realize how much it meant to me to talk to my coworkers about projects or even their life experiences on a regular basis. It struck me the other day that, besides the companionship or the environment of a physical workspace, the thing that I was also missing was the opportunity to learn and grow. It wasn’t until I sought out new ways of learning that I began to feel a little better about what was going on around me.

Numerous studies have pointed to the benefits of life-long learning. One of them is a higher level of resiliency or the ability to cope with change. Resilience is defined as the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. It can lead to improved self-esteem, a sense of control over life events, a sense of purpose in life, and improved interpersonal relationships1,2. The result is a more fulfilled individual. Organizations have also found that resiliency contributes to greater job satisfaction, work happiness, organizational commitment and employee engagement.

Think about the last time you met someone who had a really interesting hobby or a cool job. You found yourself asking, “How did they do that?” You decided to learn more.

You took on a challenge, you overcame an obstacle and you did it! The feeling you experienced was really good. That is a demonstration of resilience. 

Becoming more resilient is something that you can achieve. There are more opportunities to learn than ever before. It does take some effort. In the end, however, I have no doubt that you will find is worth it. If you want to learn more, this article can provide you with some good insights and advice. Click here. 

Here are some key things that I have learned about trying something new. You may have heard some of these before, but perhaps it has been a while. 

  1. Find your motivation: Ask questions like, “Why am I doing this?” “What is in it for me?” “How do I hope to feel once I have done it?” 
  2. Start by focusing on one achievable thing. If it is something long term, break it into manageable chunks.
  3. Take time out each week to focus on that one thing. Schedule it and don’t move it.
  4. Be curious. Look for resources of information that are reputable or people with experience who can offer advice or show you how to do it.
  5. Let someone else know what you are working on so that they can support you.
  6. Don’t give up if you make a mistake or fail. Think about what you learned in the process.
  7. Keep track of what you have accomplished and celebrate your wins.

If you have done this before, then you know that you are capable. Find your motivation and get to it.

 

References

  1. McAllister, Margaret, and Jessica McKinnon. “The importance of teaching and learning resilience in the health disciplines: a critical review of the literature.” Nurse Education Today 29.4 (2009): 371-379.
  2. Masten AS, Cutuli JJ, Herbers JE, Reed MG. 12 Resilience in Development. The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. 2009; 21:117.
  3. Goh J, Pfeffer J, Zenios SA. The relationship between workplace stressors and mortality and health costs in the United States. Management Science. 2015;62(2):608-28.
  4. American Psychological Association. “Building your resilience.” www.apa.org. February 1, 2020. Accessed October 14, 2022: https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience/building-your-resilience
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Preventative Maintenance Agreements: A Great Thing Deserves Great Execution

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Preventative Maintenance Agreements: A Great Thing Deserves Great Execution

Guest writer Dale Hanna continues his writing on preventative maintenance with this week’s blog post – “Preventative Maintenance Agreements: A Great Thing Deserves Great Execution.”

In our last blog, Preventative Maintenance Agreements – A Necessary Hero, we spoke about the important contributions PM agreements can make to dealer bottom line.  They can drive high quality revenue, income and customer satisfaction.

They key word is “can”.  As with all great things, they are only as good as the execution.  In this blog, we will focus on four areas of PM agreements and how we might increase the efficiency we deliver the services to our customers.  This has always been vital, and especially now with the significant labor shortage.

Do Not Miss a PM Service and Do Not Lose Sleep Over It

There is nothing more stressful than missing a PM service on a customer’s machine under a PM agreement.  There is nothing more annoying than trying to call customer multiple times to get the hour reading.  How do we do better?

For newer machines, more and more of them are coming with factory installed telematics devices.  Factories provide software system that can usually alert you about PM coming due or past due.  The common problem here is when you have PM agreements on multiple brands.  Each factory system works differently, and you will likely need to log into multiple different systems.  Through a technology called API (Application Programming Interface), computers can talk with each other.  Most factory systems offer APIs for you to use.  If you have the right software system, hours, and other information, from all the brands you carry can flow into one system and all assets can be managed the same way.

How about the machines that do not come with factory installed telematics devices.  Aftermarket devices are available, and the data can flow into the same aggregating system mentioned above.  The cost of the aftermarket system is low comparing to the cost of doing everything manually.

Now you have all the PM information in one place, issuing alerts, and potentially managing workorders from one system, will drastically increase your efficiency.

 Fault Codes, When It Rains, It Pours

Fault codes are great, they give us valuable information to keep the machines from suffering major failures.   The three common problems are there are too many fault codes to be handled manually, some of the fault codes are not useful but take up bandwidth, and the formats are different from different manufactures. 

Here are what some of the tech savvy dealers are doing to maximize the benefit efficiently.

  1. Using APIs to get all the fault codes from different manufactures into one place.
  2. Translate the different priority systems from different manufactures into a unified system, such as Red, Yellow, Green, Gray or 1,2,3,4.
  3. Map the messages into the same format.
  4. Triage the codes efficiently using knowledgebase,
  5. Create workorders immediately or with a PM workorder based on severity and usage.

Inspections, You Can’t Fix What You Do Not Know 

Fault codes can’t tell you everything that can go wrong with a machine.  For example, they can’t tell you a belt is about to break, or a hose is about to leak. 

Inspections fill in the gap.  To do so efficiently, the inspections need to be electronic instead of paper based.  Paper inspections can days to get to the office.  They can be hard to read, and it will be hard to attach pictures and videos.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Electronic inspection results, including pictures and videos, show up in the office real time as long as there is Wi-Fi or cell connection.  SN or VIN can be scanned in accurately and linked to customers stock unit ID. 

With an all-in-one system, the inspection results can be viewed and managed with PM’s and fault codes.  Workorders can be issued to handle one, some or all the problems.  The addressed and unaddressed problems are always tracked so the status is clear, and nothing is forgotten. 

The Devil Is in the Fluids 

The last piece of the puzzle is fluid analysis.  As we all know, it is a requirement for most warranty to be valid. 

Fluid analysis results are still predominated delivered via lab’s own websites or through PDF’s.  One of the biggest complaints we hear in the field is that the information is hard to aggregate and use efficiently, even though the information itself is very useful. 

As the world moves forward, more and more labs are offering APIs, just like how other information, such as fault codes, hours, etc. are delivered.  Again, we can use the same all-in-one system to aggregate the fluid analysis data with PM alerts, fault codes, electronic inspection.  This way, PM agreements can be managed well, and other services can be delivered efficiently and giving customers the best experience possible.  A triple win for you. 

PM agreements are a necessary hero to drive high quality revenue and customer satisfaction.  It will only work well if it is executed well.  The only way to do so in today’s labor shortage and data explosion world is to leverage the right technology.

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Is the Preventative Maintenance Business Part of Your Business Plan?

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Is the Preventative Maintenance Business Part of Your Business Plan?

Guest writer Bill Pyles writes this week’s blog post on preventative maintenance: is the preventative maintenance business part of your business plan?

I sure hope the answer is a resounding yes! The PM business adopted by OEM equipment dealers goes back to the 1980s and is a win-win for both dealers and contractors. A properly maintained machine, that’s documented, is worth more when the time comes to replace it.

I can still remember the day the subject of our dealer doing in the field PMs was brought to the table. I had a strong objection that contractors would not pay the dealer to do their PMs. PMs were perceived by many as a necessary evil not requiring a higher-level tech from a dealer. By the way, this type of thinking was also applied to undercarriage management; more on this in another blog. 

Not taking the PM program seriously can lead to unplanned downtime and poor machine availability, which could be a perceived reflection of the equipment and the dealer. A machine model with poor availability will more than likely not be considered when replacement time comes. 

PMs were something the contractor would take care of on the weekend or after hours. Unfortunately, too often, due to the demands of the job the machine was on would delay getting a PM completed on time. I have seen engines go 300 to 400 hours past due on a PM service. Unfortunately, the additional wear caused by the contaminated fluids and excessive hours cannot be put back into the engine. And if this trend continues, the engine is certain to fail at an earlier hour meter reading than expected. Times this scenario over the entire fleet and you’ll quickly realize that PMs are critical to your operation and machine availability. This applies to contractor’s and dealer’s rental fleets. 

So how do we make sure your PM program is on track? The first thing you’ll need is a good PM scheduling tool. It will take some time to load all the equipment into a scheduling tool, but it’s time well spent. A good scheduling tool will keep track of the machine hours, create alerts, list the items to be serviced on each PM along with a parts list when a machine is coming due as well as keep maintenance history and oil sample reports in one convenient place. It will also interact with your telematics to keep hours current. A good place to start is to flag the machine when it’s within 40 hours of being due. This should provide ample time to schedule the PM due. I would also flag a machine over 40 hours due as a past-due PM for tracking purposes. Your goal should be 95% or higher for on-time PMs. 

Next, you’ll need a dedicated PM vehicle. If you try to do PMs out of a service truck, hauling buckets of oil, you’ll have issues capturing the drain oils for proper disposal. The size of the truck will depend on the number of machines you’ll be servicing. Your vehicle could be a smaller truck with a lube skid. A lube skid works well in a rental operation with smaller machines, skid steers, small rollers, loader backhoes, etc. 

If you have a medium fleet of small to larger equipment you may want to look at a dedicated PM truck. These trucks can be custom-made to provide you with adequate new fluids as well as waste oil tanks. Oil recovery systems that pick-up waste oil quickly and efficiently and metered oil reels to quickly refill lubricated compartments. Be generous with external lighting around the outside of the truck; required for doing PMs at night. Be sure to add an air compressor to blow out radiators and some air filters. Work with a reputable truck vendor for building a truck that will fit your needs. I’ve worked with a few truck vendors thru the years and the one I could always depend on was Nichols Fleet Equipment in Chattanooga Tennessee. Experience does count! 

So now we have a scheduling tool and for the vehicle to do the PMs we’ll need to add the PM Tech. This person does not need to be your number one technician, nor should this person be right out of technical school. The PM tech needs to understand all the items that make up the various levels of PMs. A 500-hour PM is much more than changing the engine oil, and fuel filters and looking at the air filter, lots more! The tech needs to understand how to properly take an oil sample. I suggest taking all the oil samples at each service. Some suggest taking an oil sample only when the fluid is changed. I do not see much value in taking the first hydraulic oil sample at 5,000 hours. An incorrectly taken oil sample will result in erroneous results. Erroneous results lead to bad decision-making and could result in catastrophic downtime. Taking oil samples at the time of a PM service will create a history of the components of the machine that will show trends, good trends when the oil sample report comes back with no alerts, and bad trends, for example when sodium in the engine is trending upwards. Sodium in engine oil could be an indication of a small coolant leak into the engine. You can schedule the machine down, fix a minor problem and go back to work. Or you can ignore the sodium in the engine and have unplanned downtime, a possible engine failure event that usually happens on an important time-sensitive job. Be sure to have someone on staff that can interpret oil sample reports!

Most equipment OEMs market their brand of fluids. This presents a problem if you have a large mixed fleet. Substituting Cat Drive Train oil for hydraulic oil is not recommended. Mixing different types of hydraulic fluids can cause serious damage to the hydraulic system. Mixing different types of long-life coolants can cause problems. When setting up your PM vehicle be sure to review the correct fluids needed for your fleet. You do not need to use the OEM recommended fluids if the fluids you are using meet the OEM spec. I suggest using quality fluids and fuel to maximize your PM intervals. You will notice most OEM PM intervals are “recommended” intervals. If you have a machine working in a quarry, transfer station, or any other domiciled location, you can extend the PM interval if the oil samples indicate no issues. Remember, the oil does not wear out, rather the additives deplete causing the fluid to not perform as it should. A good oil sampling program keeps your fleet in good operating condition. 

Your PM tech should do a walk-around inspection and a safety inspection during each PM interval. Therefore, the PM tech must be familiar with the machines he or she is servicing. The inspection form can be custom-made and part of your PM scheduler or work order system. The intent is to keep small problems small, document all machine issues and follow up with corrective action. If there is an issue that can wait till the next PM, it should be noted in the scheduling tool and pop up as a reminder at the next PM interval. Pictures are very helpful in documenting machine issues or damage. I recommend the PM tech also take pictures of the filters replaced during the PM service clearly showing the date and hours the new filter was installed. And while we are talking about filters, I do suggest using genuine OEM filters. Experience has shown me that many filters look the same on the outside but are a world different on the inside. Installing an aftermarket filter with the wrong micron rating will allow larger wear particles to pass through damaging critical components. OEM filters are specifically designed for your equipment! 

The PM tech should also look at and document all machine fault codes. Then the codes should be cleared allowing the tech to determine if the fault codes are active or logged. Reacting to an insignificant code could prevent the machine from going down hard tomorrow. It may be a good time to do a forced regeneration to keep your diesel particulate filter operating normally.

Bottomline, be sure to put a person who is knowledgeable of your equipment, fluids and coolants, oil sampling and oil sample interpretation, and a repair before failure attitude in charge of your PM program. Set machine availability goals to measure the effectiveness of your PM program. Set on-time PM goals. Keep electronic records and make them available to a potential buyer of your used machine. This is especially important for a dealer’s rental fleet. It would send the wrong message if a potential buyer of a dealer’s rental equipment asks to see the PM history and oil samples and there are none or hit and miss.

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Preventative Maintenance

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Preventative Maintenance

This week, our guest writer Dale Hanna delivers another powerful blog post, this time on the multiple benefits of preventative maintenance.

Service revenue has been the most important contributor to the bottom line for many dealers.  When a strong demand for equipment coupled with a shortage of new equipment, service becomes even more important.  That is the world we live in today.

Preventative Maintenance Contracts – A Necessary Hero

PM contracts/agreements is a part of the services provided and has its unique importance.  In this two-part series, I would like to discuss the impact of PM contracts/agreements we do not usually think about, and, in the next blog, how to leverage technology to maximize the value of PM contracts/agreements.

Not All Revenues Are Created Equal

The valuations of software companies have increased substantially.  In recent years, the driving force has been the introduction of SaaS (Software as a Service).  The secret sauce here is the recognition that not all revenues are created equal.  The differentiator is the predictability of revenue.  Predictable revenue is worth multiple times more than the revenue that has to be earned in the future.

PM contracts/agreements make this portion of the service revenue predictable, not to mention that it also makes your connection to your customers predictable.

It actually gets better from here.  One of the biggest problems in any service organization comes from the reactive nature.  In the break/fix world, service work can be feast-or-famine.  We do not know what will break today and it can be very hard to balance the workload and keep the customers happy.  By comparison, we have flexibility in performing PM contracts/agreements/agreements.  As long as we stay in the acceptable range, we have the leeway in determining when the work will be done.  This will increase technician efficiency, technician job satisfaction, and overall Service department profitability.

PM contracts/agreements generate revenue, and the unique nature of PM contracts/agreements make this revenue better in more ways than one.

 It Is Not Just the Revenue from PM Contracts/agreements

The revenue generated by the PM contracts/agreements should never be limited to the PM’s.  With the right strategy and tools, a machine monitor specialist can generate more than $5,000,000 service revenue in year.

When we combine fault code monitoring, preventative maintenance, inspection and fluid analysis (commonly known as condition monitoring), we are in a position to create high valued, pro-active service opportunities for our customers.  In the end, it is the uptime without drama that is the holy grill.

Fault codes are available on many new machines.  More manufactures are providing fault codes for their machines, and, with each introduction of new models, more fault codes also become available every day.  Not all fault codes have the same level of urgency, many can be addressed at the time of PM services with parts pre-ordered and enough time scheduled.  If you sell and service multiple lines, fault codes may not come in the same format from different manufactures.  This can be daunting to manage manually but effectively handled by the proper applications to keep your machine monitor specialist working efficiently.

Inspections are critical.  With electronic inspections, problems discovered can be transmitted real time and organized by priorities.  Pictures and videos in modern electronic inspection apps increase communication efficiency dramatically.  Many problems found during inspection can also be scheduled to be addressed during the next PM service.  

Fluid analysis reports are vital.  The challenge is to be able to take the right actions, especially if you are watching over hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of machines.  Reading one report at a time will not come close to getting the job done.  Luckily, more and more labs are starting to provide API’s (Application Programming Interface) to deliver the fluid analysis data to their customers.  API’s (Application Programming Interface) are ways for your computer to talk with the lab’ computer the get fluid analysis data electronically.  The data received in this form can be stored in organized databases to be used easily.  

We can have all the fault codes, PM service alerts, findings from inspections and fluid analysis in one place to efficiently service our customers in a pro-active and effective way.  These are not just revenue opportunities beyond PMs, but planned revenue opportunities beyond PMs, a higher valued revenue.  

When You Change the Game in Customer Experience

If we look one step further, how do we increase market share in today’s competitive environment?  While the advancements in machines are amazing and will continue to be, dealers are noticing brand differentiation becoming more and more of a challenge.  We see the battle of the future being fought on customer experience.

What defines the core of customer experience when there is more work than people?  To help customers increase uptime at a reasonable cost.  Whoever can do this the best will have the strategic advantage.  How do we deliver the best customer experience based on this definition?  The PM contracts/agreements might just be the right area to focus on.

PM contracts/agreements, like anything else, will not solve all the problems, but it is a necessary hero to drive high quality revenue and customer satisfaction.

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