Streamlining Field Service Operations

Robert Dietrick Company built an AI-powered product manual repository to ensure that no problem goes unfixed

When there’s an issue with a loading dock in Indiana or the surrounding area it’s likely that a field technician from Robert Dietrick Company (RDC) is on the job to make sure that the problem gets addressed correctly and quickly.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, the family owned business has been in operation for over 50 years and proudly boasts a full-service team of professionals trained to manage projects from survey to installation, preventative maintenance, and emergency repairs of all industrial products.

RDC has always put a focus on the customer experience, emphasizing its commitment to recruiting and hiring the best talent in the industry. This focus extends to the company’s approach to researching and implementing new technologies that allow RDC and its field technicians to better serve their customers.

Giving field technicians all the knowledge

When a field technician from RDC is out on a customer job they are equipped with years of experience and the knowledge that comes from working alongside the best professionals in the industry. Field technicians are also never without a laptop, tablet, or phone that is used to access a Microsoft SharePoint folder with approximately 2,000 product manuals (and counting) to reference the ever-evolving pieces of industrial equipment that they service for their customers.

"No one is going to know everything, so there’s a need to be able to access information whether it’s from a manual or from another resource like a more experienced technician,” said Patrick Miller, RDC’s Director of Innovation. “The SharePoint folder gives our technicians access to information, but it can also take a lot of time to find the correct manual and then have to scroll through hundreds of pages looking for the one paragraph that has the information required."

Wanting to stay on the cutting-edge of customer experience, RDC began thinking through technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it could be used within the industrial facilities industry.

According to RDC’s President, Bo Dietrick, “the intersection of where RDC and AI meet might be surprising and more unique than you would think initially.”

Getting on the same Airwave

RDC saw an opportunity to use Airwave that would not only improve the customer experience but also improve the day-to-day operations for their 50+ field technicians.

According to Miller, Airwave provides technicians quick access to over 2,000 equipment manuals that were previously only available via the company SharePoint portal. Now, rather than needing to search through hundreds of pages to find the information they need, technicians can simply ask Airwave a question verbally and receive an excerpted answer within seconds.

"By syncing the company SharePoint folder for product manuals to Airwave, RDC gives field technicians the ability to access every piece of information found across all the product manuals by simply asking a question or specification to Airwave’s chatbot, “Jarvis."

The hands-free process also allows technicians to maintain focus while servicing equipment rather than being heads-down searching a manual, or in some cases calling another field technician for assistance which compounds the amount of time taken to find an answer.

“It’s awesome,” said RDC field technician Bobby Perry, “it brings up the manuals and everything you need… It saves a lot of time.”

Added Convenience and Time Savings

By using Airwave to streamline access to information for field technicians while on a job, RDC aims to achieve a time reduction of at least 10 hours per week.

"According to Dietrick, “when you can put solutions at a technician’s fingertips and make them more self-sufficient, the benefits for them and our customers compound quickly."

Changing the field technician’s process from manually looking up information to asking Jarvis for the correct information reduces the amount of time a technician spends on the task, which compounds over the week.

Future Plans

Looking ahead, RDC has plans to expand usage of Airwave beyond just the field technicians, with a potential use case for its Sales team by adding equipment sales catalogs and other expert knowledge to Airwave to further leverage the AI to improve customer experiences while driving revenue.