Field Force

A Field Force refers to workers based in different geographic locations who are required to travel to the allocated task’s location. Each worker has a set of skills and each task has a skill requirement.

Field Force management refers to the process of allocating tasks to appropriate workers who have the required skills in the area. It also involves the movement of technicians into areas with backlog/capacity requirements.

Field Force Challenges

To optimise the scheduling and dispatching of tasks to balance productivity and service levels
To allocate people to crews that possess flexibility to do many different tasks
To dispatch work, considering travel distance
To balance service levels vs productivity
To respond to highly unpredictable demand
To best combine planned and reactive work e.g. the installation of phone services or the repair of phone lines.

american-public-power-association-fHLdXfURDhA-unsplash

The Challenge: Productivity Vs Service Levels

Simulation can be used in Field Force management to model the job’s ‘life’ from; creation, dispatch into the field (based on geography, task duration and travel time), to completion. In a simulation model:

Task times can be job specific, skills and shifts can be worker specific
Crews, interlinked steps, Dispatch rules or any business rules can be modelled
There are no data limitations
Almost any activity that can be measured can be modelled

BEFORE YOU DO IT – MODEL IT

Field Repair: Improved Service level by 19% and reduced resources by 16%; for 800 workers, ‘the right worker in the right location’
Improved Service level by 10% without any additional resources or capital investment by implementing soft boundaries between teams
Designed the integration of Service and Repair organisations
Sized Field force based on forecast Demand at a x y co-ordinate level to achieve required service levels, given expected productivity
Our Models are being used as an arbiter between Board Management and Unions. Once the simulated methodology has been agreed to be objective, changes in business practice become easier to implement

To geographically optimise the Field Force
To define what resources and business rules are required to achieve a defined Service Level
To evaluate the impact of productivity improvements
To evaluate Dispatching Rules on productivity and Service Levels
To define the skills required (geographically) to meet demand
To evaluate when it is cost effective to outsource/subcontract work

Find out more
Do you have a simulation project you’d like to discuss?

Get In Touch

Simulation Ireland helped eircom completed repairs 16% sooner with 19% less resource, by using simulation modelling.

Simulation Ireland saved us 200,000 Euro in a two day project, using simulation modelling.

Simulation Ireland helped us re-design a high volume line and increased our output by 15% with minimal investment, using simulation modelling.

Simulation Ireland helped us gain a deeper understanding of our material handling systems in a short time, using Simulation Modelling.

Call: +353-91-770737

Field Force

The Challenge: Productivity Vs Service Levels

BEFORE YOU DO IT – MODEL IT

Eircom

Intel

HP

Hasbro