Wired Technicians
Deborah Lockridge
Senior Editor
If your technicians are still making do with hand-me-down of hand-me-down computers from the office staff – you're probably selling them – and your bottom line – short.
Invest in computer systems designed for the shop, and you can reap a number of benefits, including more productive technicians, better time tracking, better truck utilization and lower turnover.
"Most professional fleet operations today have computers in the service bays to host a smorgasbord of fleet-related information resources that are made available to technicians," says Bradley Kelley, director of Mercury Associates' information technology consulting services.
"Additionally, many technicians have access to electronic equipment and repair manuals, recall notices, parts warehouses, even the Internet on their service bay computers. Finally, a growing number of newer vehicles and equipment are coming with on-board computes that can be accessed via a standard PC with special software and cables. This allows technicians to troubleshoot system codes and electronic modules on the increasing complex on-board solutions."
Maintenance Management
There are a variety of software programs available to help manage your maintenance operations. On the shop floor, technicians can use these systems to do things such as inputting parts, labor and notes on the work orders they perform, initiate warranty claims and more. They also can view the history of a piece of equipment to see if the truck's had problems with this issue before, and if so, what was done to fix it.
"The most common misconception among fleet managers when it comes to technicians and computers is the lack of value placed on their role in producing management information," Kelley says. "Technicians are responsible for producing a significant amount of maintenance and repair data that affects multiple management activities, such as replacement planning, rates, and fiscal budget development, and labor rates. Management should emphasize more value in the technicians' efforts."
One advantage of having technicians input information directly, say proponents, is that it lessens the potential for mistakes made when data entry people try to read handwritten reports.
These systems can also track a technician's time much more efficiently. "It's not the Big Chief pad and the stubby pencil, with the mechanic trying to figure out how long they were on which repair," says Rick Rosenberg, president of TMT software. With TMT's Transman software, he explains, this technology captures a technician's time, typically splitting it into direct and indirect. It also has a function that allows a technician to hit "pause" on a job if he has to, say, run out into the yard and replace a running light. When he comes back, the system asks him to enter information for what he was doing while the job was paused, and with one push of a button, they're back on the original repair order.
Many systems also offer bar coding for more efficient parts inventory.
Diagnostics
Electronic engines and a growing number of other components, such as transmissions, antilock brakes, tire management systems and collision avoidance warning systems, can generate trouble codes, or fault codes, that can be downloaded to help diagnose equipment problems.
Many fleets have been using electronic diagnostic tools for years. Currently, most fleets extract the data in the shop or in the yard, with a technician plugging in a handheld tool or a laptop computer to each truck via the J1708 connection and downloading the information. Newer, wireless connections are available to make this a little easier, and companies are working on ways to reduce the number of diagnostic tools needed.
"Today's fleet maintenance technician is overwhelmed by the number of different service tools required," says Bill Hathaway, president and CEO of Noregon Systems, which offers a line of JPRO diagnostics products.
JPRO Fleet Diagnostics, introduced this fall, is a vehicle service and diagnostics application that provides information about all electronic components on a vehicle – regardless of vehicle or component manufacturer. When used with the companion JPRO Fleet Service Portal application, it can automatically launch an OEM's specialized component diagnostics applications for further analysis.
While you now can get one diagnostic tool that can download information from different components, you still need proprietary software from different manufacturers to make sense of the data.
Some PC-based tools help make this easier. For instance, Eaton's MD mobile diagnostics line allows you to launch OEM applications directly from the main diagnostics software. A standard interface improves training and diagnostic time.
Nexiq offers a custom integration service. Working with the fleet and the OEMs, it will provide a PC with all the diagnostic software from each of the system suppliers. Nexiq's software allows the user to launch all these different applications from the same software – sort of an electronic toolbox for the technician.
Putting It all Together
There are a number of options as far as the hardware used in the shop, each with its own pros and cons.
Touch screens, for instance, are affordable, easy to use, and the technology is well proven. Rick Rosenberg, president of TMT Software, says they hold up well in a shop environment.
"We had a prospect visit a reference site and the mechanic actually greased it up, dirtied up the screen on purpose, then got out some cleaner, sprayed it on, wiped it off, then went about his business," Rosenberg says However, typically mechanics still have to walk back and forth from the truck to a computer station to use the touch screen, which may be shared with other technicians.
Regular laptops aren't designed for the shop environment, being subject to everything from diesel particulates to oil to being dropped on the floor. Ruggedized and semi-rugged laptops are available for a premium.
For instance, Diagnostic Innovations uses a Panasonic Toughbook 18 as part of its Digital Diagnostic Assistant. The Toughbook 18 is rugged, lightweight and wireless, and about half the weight and size of a regular laptop computer.
While ruggedized laptops may cost anywhere from 20 percent more than a standard laptop to $2,000 more, the extra investment is worth it, says Drew Gibson, manager for heavy-duty products at Diagnostic Innovations, which offers both handheld and laptop-based systems from Eaton.
"If you have critical information on that laptop, it's going to pay for itself," he said, suggesting dust and tools in a shop can bang up a regular laptop pretty easily – maybe putting it out of commission for a few days. And that means you can't work on a vehicle for a couple of days.
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) offer portability and affordability, and can offer real-time wireless connectivity, but may not offer as much information as a touch screen or laptop system. Arsenault offers a Pocket Dossier system that interfaces real-time with the Dossier maintenance management software on the shop computer network.
Both Charles Arsenault and TMT's Rosenberg emphasize that for PDAs or similar handheld tools to be valuable, they need to connect real-time to the network – otherwise it's just a data collector. If you're just looking at diagnostics, there are handheld tools available, such as Eaton's MD200. These tools are lightweight, portable, faster to turn on than a laptop, and usually connect to the truck faster, Gibson says. "But you're not really getting all the features that the laptop has," such as fault trees, the ability to change parameters, and the ability to use two-way communications to actuate certain parts, like valves, during the diagnostic process.
These are typically more affordable, he says, although if you use a more traditional system that supplies the information for the different OEMs on cartridges – and if you have a mixed fleet – that can drive up the cost significantly.
"We have experimented with some handheld devices that speak to the truck, but found the capability of the handheld device wasn't enough," says Larry Hibler, group manager of maintenance information and vehicle diagnostics for Ryder System. "We envision a good tool for a technician that has multiple functions – it's diagnostic, it has an electronic library, it can connect to the Internet and to our [maintenance management] system, and to get that from a handheld is near impossible today."
An ideal system would allow you to use a single computer for diagnostics, maintenance management, information retrieval and Internet access, but most fleets at this point use different systems for diagnostics and maintenance management. Ryder had to custom-design theirs. Diagnostic Innovations has a product currently in development that would combine the diagnostic and management functions.
No matter what type of system you choose, how you implement it is important. Too often, Arsenault says, fleet management simply expects technicians to take the system and run with it, without proper training.
One of the first things a new Ryder technician does is complete a computer-based training package that Ryder designed along with its laptop-based shop tool. After they complete that, they get hands-on training from one of Ryder's training managers. Both training sessions are a requirement before they can use the tool.
"We find that it's extremely challenging to find enough hours in a day to get every technician trained in all the systems they need," says Ryder's Hibler. "A technician may have to know how to be proficient at 24 different kinds of diagnostic software. It's near impossible to get adequate hands-on training on 24 different systems in short order. The only way it's going to be accomplished is with DVD, video and computer-based training in addition to the hands-on."
Cutting The Umbilical Cord
Wireless is the next step for the high-tech shop.
There are a couple different levels of wireless. One type eliminates the cord between the truck and the computer for diagnostic tools.
"Before, they'd have a wired connection between a computer and a vehicle, with maybe 10, up to 30 feet of cable," says Gibson. "With the wireless applications they have now, you can go up to 300 feet." In this case, the computer itself is typically wired up to a power source, the computer network, and possibly even the Internet, often on a rolling cart for some mobility. But you can plug the diagnostic interface into the truck and it will wirelessly transmit the information to the computer. "Say it's raining, and the truck is sitting 200 feet outside the shop," Gibson says. "You can connect a wireless [diagnostic] device without having to roll your PC out there and risk water damage."
For instance, Nexiq now offers Blue-Link and USB-Link, which let technicians connect wirelessly to a diagnostic PC, laptop or workstation up to 300 feet away. They also connect to PDA-based diagnostic software. These offerings are in addition to Nexiq's first PC-to-vehicle wireless interface, Wireless Vehicle Link.
Diagnostic data also can be downloaded over a wireless LAN, or Local Area Network, automatically. In this case, the onboard computer on the truck connects with a wireless network through a transceiver at the gate or the fuel pump. The connection is automatic, with data downloaded directly into the main computer used to analyze maintenance information.
"Everyone talks about moving to a wireless environment, and we think that trend is there, but it's happening more slowly than you might expect," says Wayne Wissinger, manager of product strategy for Mack Trucks, who counts electronics and telematics among his specialities.
Mack's InfoMax Wireless uses Wi-Fi technology to download vehicle data wirelessly and automatically, such as when the truck comes through the terminal gate.
In addition to wireless diagnostic downloads, there's the concept of the entire computer being wireless – much like you might take your notebook computer into the local Starbucks and surf the Internet via their Wi-Gi service.
"Wireless is still more a point of discussion than utilization," says Arsenault. Nevertheless, he's enthused about the company's Pocket Dossier offering. This is a version of Arsenault's Dossier maintenance management software that runs on a PDA or on a PDA cellphone, which is then connected to the network via Wi-Fi. "So if you're out in the yard, you can look up histories, parts inventory, whatever you like in the palm of your hand," Arsenault says. "It's like the iPod for the maintenance world." Arsenault emphasizes the Pocket Dossier is real-time, thanks to the wireless technology. "It's not a cradle-loaded base," he says. "That's old technology."
Say you're out in the yard updating mileages and entering them into your PDA, he says. You see a unit that has a broken taillight or you spot a flat tire. "Right on that same PDA, you can put in a work pending order and mark it ASAP, and it will show up on the computer in real time back in the office. The person in the office can convert that directly to a paperless repair order." The Pocket Dossier PDA is also barcode scanner for better parts inventory.
"Each mechanic can do a complete repair order work while he's standing in front of the vehicle," Arsenault explains. "It's done real time, so PM schedules are being updated, inventory is being updated."
A Better Technician
Proponents say technicians with the right computer tools are more productive, more likely to get a repair done right the first time – and happier.
Shop computers can give technicians access to a variety of information that's helpful in repairing the truck, such as repair manuals, recall notices and Internet resources.
"Progressive fleet operations are increasing their technicians' access to various resources," says Kelley, both internal to the operation as well as external, via the Internet.
Having access to all the information right at their fingertips, including repair history, helps technicians determine if there's a chronic problem that may need a closer look. "So they're not just swapping parts," Rosenberg says. "They're addressing the disease instead of the symptom."
The right tools also can increase job satisfaction. "The idea of management investing in the shop, instead of getting the hand-me-down hand-me-downs, can be important," Rosenberg says.
"Just like people are buying the nicest, newest tractors to help with the driver shortage, the same thing goes for the mechanic shortage."
Maintenance continued...
