Aircraft Maintenance: Changing Change
"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and reality of tomorrow." — Robert Goddard These days, “changing change” has become the “hope of today” with limitless choices enabled by big data, the internet of things and...
Comic Brake: Who Says You Need Hands to Get the Job Done?
Editor’s Note: Today’s cartoon is part of our “Comic Brake” series. Field service management is serious business, but everybody deserves a good laugh after a long week in the field. Check back for cartoonist Terry LaBan’s next installment on FSD.
Asset Service: A Generational Change in Power
This year I’ve had the opportunity to listen to GE customers who operate a wide range of power plant equipment. From gas to hydro to wind power, these asset operators are grappling with a dizzying array of changes in their industry — from decarbonization and...
Service Metrics: The New Economic Barometer?
Coen Jeukens, director global customer transformation for ServiceMax, asks if we are measuring productivity with the wrong criteria. Repurposed with permission from Connected Technology Solutions Magazine. For decades the OECD has reported a global productivity...
Ask the Experts: How Do You Track Equipment Performance?
Editor’s note: Originally published in Field Service, a quarterly print magazine by Field Service Digital and Predix ServiceMax. Check out the full magazine in print or online. These days, service leaders are adept at using data to run smart, efficient operations. For...
2018 Year in Review: A Look Back at Our Most Popular Stories
'Tis the season for reflection and gratitude. So, before you look ahead to the resolutions for your business in the new year, take a moment to relive last year's top service industry news. Below are the most popular stories on Field Service Digital (plus a few of our...
Executing Complex Service Jobs
Not every service job is the same. On one hand, there’s the high-volume scenario where service technicians complete a high number (more than five) of relatively short and homogenous service jobs. In that scenario, efficiency gains typically result from schedule and...
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Comic Brake: A Christmas Disaster
Editor’s Note: Today’s cartoon is part of our “Comic Brake” series. Field service management is serious business, but everybody deserves a good laugh after a long week in the field. Check back for cartoonist Terry LaBan’s next installment on FSD in 2019. Happy...
Pit Stops on the Road to Servitization: My Thoughts from Aftermarket 2018
I had the honor of representing ServiceMax and GE Digital recently at the Aftermarket 2018 conference in Berlin. As always, the team at Copperberg did a wonderful job organizing an event where partners and attendees felt comfortable networking, sharing ideas and...
Listen Up: Managers Aren’t Infallible, But Tune Them Out at Your Own Risk
Let's face it: Managers can be annoying and, from time to time, you may be tempted to ignore their instructions. This is all completely logical, of course. Managers often haven't done the job you've done—at least not for years—and you likely have insights that they...
Keeping it Clean: Inside the Spotless World of Clean Room Technicians
Next time you're in the mountains, take a deep breath. What you think of as clean air filling your lungs is far from it. Within a cubic meter of typical outside air are millions of particles of dust, pollen, dander, smoke and bacteria. These microscopic bits of matter...
Industrial Drones Get Clearance to Fly Beyond the Line of Sight
Editor’s note: A version of this story by Fred Guterl originally appeared on GE Reports, a site that covers GE’s industrial transformation. If you live in oil country, you know what a nodding donkey is. The name derives from the continual up-and-down motion of the arm...
Plumbing the Depths: A Roving Tech Team Keeps Scientific Expeditions in Shipshape
From his home base in Halifax on Canada's Atlantic coast, Darrell Groom can expect, at a moment's notice, to be sent on a service call anywhere on Earth. It comes with the territory for a project manager whose clients include navies and scientific organizations around...