Scheduling and Dispatch in The Food Equipment Service Industry
In the world of “Right Now!”, it’s never been more challenging to schedule and dispatch our technicians. Why? The extremely high call volumes have our service department slammed with getting calls on the unassigned list, along with ensuring all information is accurate, communicating to customers that need updates on parts, installations and answering the phones that are off the hook here!
With that said, we have our technicians working overtime daily, on weekends and we have to remember, they are men and not machines. They have been working straight through the pandemic as certified and essential to keep foodservice businesses running. As fast as we schedule calls, is as fast as a dozen more come in. With a short staff, like most everyone, the 15 technicians we have now are doing the most they can, with safety being the most important. The summer temperatures can be brutal to a technician working in hot kitchens or on roofs that can have ambient temperatures of 120 degrees.
Every job is different. There is no such thing as swinging a tech by to get a repair done real quick as so many myths seem to circulate this industry. NO installation is the same, NO repair job is the same, regardless of how many times a technician does it. They all have their own variables that come into play and assuming a technician can “just do it real quick”, is not realistic. We live and work in the real world. Repairs that you think take 30 minutes or an hour, in the real world can take 2-3 hours because the kitchen doesn’t stop working just because a technician is there. They are working around him, often times over him and it creates a tough work environment. Installations that come as FLAT FEE’S are the most unrealistic of all jobs. After a site survey is performed, the technician will make a full report of what materials and time are going to be truly needed along with responsibilities the end user customer may have prior to us returning to perform the install, such as plumbing or electrical upgrades.
Patience and Communication go hand in hand today! We have never been more appreciative to our customer partners that have been loyal and sticking with us as we navigate these high abundance of calls and lack of trained technicians to handle it all. I urge you to call immediately for new equipment installs and urgent reactive repairs as we have hundreds and hundreds of calls stacking up. Technicians are scheduled out daily for weeks! Therefore, when you call, I want to just let you know we appreciate you greatly and will do our best to tend to your needs as soon as we can. If you see a hard working trades man or woman, make sure you let them know you appreciate what they do, give them a smile or a hand shake because they are the ones keeping civilized lives possible.
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