Coordinating The Day.
Within any company there will be different roles with different responsibilities. Just like any team, everyone has a role to play, and when it comes to ensuring that schedules are kept and that the orders are being completed fall on the shoulders of the company’s Service Coordinator.
Service Coordinators have a lot on their plate and have the responsibility of dispatching techs to multiple work sites to manage client maintenance schedules and repairs. Their job is to make sure that the business runs smoothly so that it can operate at peak performance every day. Service coordinators must ensure that technicians know where they are going and what exactly the job will be for the day. They also keep track of inventory so there are always scales and replacement parts are always in stock.
The service coordinator ensures that the scale technicians are provided with what they need, as well as being able to respond quickly in case there is a service emergency that needs a quick resolution. To truly understand how all of it works, you need to know how a service coordinator spends their day, and what their responsibilities are. This blogpost will breakdown a typical day for the service coordinator at American Scale Company.
Morning Check
The service coordinator at American Scale Company starts their day at 7:30 each day. First thing that is done is checking emails and messages. There is a high probability that there will be emails from clients requesting service as well as service technicians requesting parts or tools.
The main thing is checking in and making sure they fulfill any requests awaiting them. The service coordinator will keep an open line of communication with the service technicians to oversee how they are performing their tasks, and ensure that they have all that they need to complete the job in a timely manner. Essentially the morning is where you get a good scope of what needs to be done.
Note: American Scale Company has 24/7 service, so there is a good chance that there were service orders made during the middle of the night.
Plan and coordinate activities
Service Coordinators will typically use a variation of an Enterprise Resource Planner (ERP) to set up dispatching, scheduling, quotes and a myriad of other things. It is a good idea to look at an ERP like a command center for service coordinators and the company alike. They use the planning and coordination process to make sure that all activities run smoothly and also to help plan out what the day will look like. Depending on the size of the business, they will have a significant involvement in the scheduling of staff activities. They also usually have to coordinate shipments and other logistics with partners, clients and subcontractors.
Throughout the day the American Scale service coordinator will answer incoming service requests either via phone call or email. The nature of a service request will vary greatly depending on the client’s needs. For example, there may be a service request where the client has a scale that is not weighing correctly. The inactive scale causes downtime, thus halting the process. The service coordinator then processes the request and coordinates with the available technicians to get the issue resolved in a timely manner. These are the types of ongoing responsibilities that the service coordinator has throughout the day.
Consistency is Key
One of the main responsibilities as a service coordinator is to manage client service requests. When a client submits a service request, then that means time is of the essence and it is up to the service coordinator to dispatch a technician to their site to get the client back up and running. During the time that you’re working as a service coordinator, you’ll also be responsible for maintaining your clients’ existing service requests. This means that you’ll have to track the status of their current requests and their past communication with you.
One way a service coordinator will do this at a scale company is by setting up a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule that will automatically dispatch service technicians to the appropriate clients. So for example there can be a client who needs a truck scale calibration done once per month. What in turn happens is that the service coordinator will set that up in the ERP system.
Supporting Service Technicians
Service technicians do their best to prepare for the day ahead, but there can still be surprises that will need a speedy solution. This is where the service coordinator’s quick thinking can help the technicians finish the job. A likely scenario would be when a service technician is at a job and it turns out that they need a different part that they don’t have on them.
Having great communication is a critical skill for a service coordinator. Since they have to keep track of inventory, service orders, technicians as well as incoming inquiries from clients. Besides coordinating the day to day activities, the service coordinator also has a very important support role to the service technicians in the field.
Close out tasks for the day
At the end of the work day the service coordinator will send out end of the day emails, communicate next day schedules with service technicians as well as any other end of the day procedures that need to be completed. Any end of the day tasks are closed out and ensure that all activities are accounted for. This includes checking that service orders have been completed, schedules are made for the following day, and note anything that needs to attention for the next day.
Closing Words
Service Coordinators are responsible for ensuring that the services we offer are provided to our clients. They guide service technicians through scheduling, and communication, and provide extra support by providing important service and part information. They regularly meet with their team members to check that the tasks assigned to them are being completed. Ultimately the service coordinator is responsible for how services are completed. They have good communication skills, and can adapt to the ever changing nature of service requests.
At American Scale we strive to bring you informed and useful content on all things scale related. Be sure to check out our legal for trade truck scale system articles about truck scale foundation or how much do truck scales cost. We even have a guide to warranties. We also have articles on scale accessories, common problems to prolong your scales lifespan, weighing applications as well as what scale indicator works best with your junction box. To learn more about bench scales, it would be good to check out our other articles such as “Bench Scale Basics'' and “How Much Does A Bench Scale Cost?”. These articles will help with the basics of bench scale ownership.