Success Story:
Mobile Equipment Service
Options, Inc. (M.E.S.O.)
Driving Value and Pleasing Customers Through an Uptime-as-a-Service Solution
Company:
M.E.S.O.
Industry:
Fleet Maintenance
Location:
East Liverpool, OH, USA
Website:
www.mesoinc.net
“We’re able to identify pending maintenance issues on our customers’ behalf before they happen. By monitoring utilization, mileage, engine hours and health status, we help prevent the unexpected breakdowns that cause delays, and waste money.”
Chris Britt
— Founder, President, and CEO at M.E.S.O.
Highlights
Implemented an IoT and field service hub solution to offer customers
their Uptime-as-a- Service solutionManaged all service activities
Helped customers extend the life of their assets and boosted productivity and efficiency for M.E.S.O.
About M.E.S.O.
Since 2014, M.E.S.O. Inc has served the construction, oil & gas, trucking, and manufacturing industries by providing maintenance services to their truck, trailer, and equipment fleets. M.E.S.O. has been able to substantially reduce cost and provide more efficient maintenance services for its customers by using a telematics monitoring system that is rooted in the Internet of Things (IoT).
M.E.S.O. serves multiple industries and employs expert technicians that operate near their customers, ensuring the fastest possible response time.
Challenge
M.E.S.O.’s customers often own vehicles and equipment that are deployed in support of mission-critical tasks like emergency outages or infrastructure repair. Factors like environmental conditions and the asset’s current health status, frequency of use, and service length can impact equipment lifespan, failure rates, and maintenance requirements. Owners and operators of these assets cannot tolerate excessive downtime as it could severely impact their business and the customers they serve.
The company’s founders understood that the ability to collect, track and leverage data about the condition and health of their customers’ mobile assets was imperative. They could then use this data to make decisions and anticipate and prevent service issues. This was the key to maintaining high levels of equipment uptime.
The company quickly learned that it was a time-consuming task to capture and enter all the data associated with maintaining their customers’ equipment and vehicle fleets. As the company grew,
it became difficult to keep up with demand and back office productivity was suffering as a result.
Another challenge that M.E.S.O faced was that their customers’ assets frequently moved, making it difficult to efficiently and effectively maintain work schedules. Although service visits can be scheduled in advance, there is no guarantee the asset will still be there when the technician arrives. It may have moved to a different location resulting in the need to either reschedule the visit or reroute the technician.
Solution
M.E.S.O. needed to step-up their game if they were going to grow, operate efficiently, and remain competitive. Being known for their expert technicians, fast response times, and a commitment to service wasn’t enough. The company needed to find a way to differentiate themselves and offer their customers an even better service experience.
Early in the quest for a solution, M.E.S.O.’s management embraced the view that IoT and telematics could play a critical role in achieving this outcome. They recognized that this technology’s early adoption would make it possible for M.E.S.O. to deliver a proactive, connected service experience to their customers. By integrating IoT and telematics with back- office systems, M.E.S.O. could acquire a line-of-sight to assets in the field, facilitate higher technician productivity levels, and streamline back-office operations.
The Right Choice
After an extensive search, M.E.S.O. implemented an IoT and mobile field service hub solution jointly developed by GPS Insight and ThingTech. M.E.S.O. helped pilot and refine the innovative solution that leverages the technology strengths of these two industry leaders.
The IoT monitoring capabilities within ThingTech provide M.E.S.O. with the ability to collect real-time data about where a customer’s assets are located, the asset’s current health, and how they are being used. The highly configurable and open architecture of FieldAware, the field service solution by GPS Insight, seamlessly leverages this asset data and provides the core workflow platform to manage all service activities. This solution gives M.E.S.O. account managers access to insights that let them plan and predict the next steps based on real- world conditions.
By combining the IoT technology of ThingTech and the SaaS- based field service management software of FieldAware, the M.E.S.O. service team can efficiently manage and optimize their service transactions.
For example, the M.E.S.O. team can manage work orders, schedule and dispatch, optimize routes, enable their technicians and invoice with ease. The solution helps assure every vehicle and piece of equipment supported by M.E.S.O. receives the scheduled maintenance, service, periodic inspections, and scheduled repairs needed to keep them running strong.
The Result
Through the GPS Insight/ThingTech solution known as “Uptime- as-a-Service,” M.E.S.O. can provide its customers with a predictive and proactive solution that increases uptime, reduces maintenance and repair expenditures, and extends the equipment lifespan. M.E.S.O. views this capability as core to its business and an essential part of their value proposition.
“Scheduling inspections, adjustments, fluid changes, cleaning, testing, and worn-part replacement optimizes productivity and the lifespan of customers’ vehicles and equipment,” noted Chris Britt, CEO of M.E.S.O.
He added that M.E.S.O.’s proactive approach to maintenance also helps ensure the safety of operators, other employees, and anyone working around the assets while reducing litigation risk.
The GPS Insight/ThingTech solution saves M.E.S.O. an enormous amount of time. Back-office productivity has doubled without the need to add more staff. M.E.S.O. account managers get more done in less time, reducing cost and increasing efficiency for the company. Of course, these results benefit the end customer through M.E.S.O.’s ability to provide faster and better service.
M.E.S.O.’s decision to invest in the Uptime-as-a- Service solution from GPS Insight and ThingTech has had positive results for its operations and customers. The management team views it as a substantial competitive advantage, and it plays a central role in the company’s sales & marketing message.
By offering a proactive, connected, service experience through the Uptime-as-a-Service solution, M.E.S.O can help their customers improve their return on investment and financial well-being. This is because the solution allows customers to extend the life of their equipment and obtain detailed, dependable information to make smart replacement decisions that optimize their business.
