Top informed technicians, Excel-free scheduling, more satisfied customers

The NMS provides the technician with all customer, order and plant data at a glance and enables him to play feedback back into the SAP system in real time. Additional functions, such as the recording of offers and the documentation of competitor equipment, enable the development of further sales potential with the customer.

The NMS is connected to SAP MRS (Multiresource Scheduling), which we also adapted to Hörmann’s individual requirements, thereby providing additional functions such as route display and automatic travel time calculation. Of particular interest to Hörmann is the end-to-end processing in an integrated system, so that an order can be generated immediately from a customer message. The technician receives this on his tablet in the course of scheduling and can in turn record feedback on a mobile basis.

“This becomes apparent in practice, for example, when appearing on the construction site: The technicians have all the important information about the order at hand. They know exactly which contact persons are on site and which product they will find. In addition, they can have the completed order confirmed directly by the customer with a signature,” says Kempe. This brings with it a great deal of independence. “The NMS is also a tremendous support in everyday work for legally required inspections and maintenance due to the mapping of checklists.”

Dispatchers working with SAP MRS benefit from centralized, user-friendly technician scheduling, fast rescheduling options, and transparent travel times compared to the Excel lists they used previously. “All of this contributes to our ability to operate in an orderly and reliable manner,” Kempe reports.

In addition to using SAP MRS and NEO Mobile Suite, Hörmann is also driving two other IT strategies for service management in Germany and Poland.

For example, technician assignments in Poland are planned directly via the SAP Service Cloud. “Together with Axians NEO, we started completely from scratch here,” recalls the project manager. The organizational challenge was to bring the four independently operating Polish branches onto the same software and to standardize processes.

It’s a success: SAP Service Cloud is also used as a ticketing system in Poland. This brings the great advantage that the technicians can be scheduled directly to the tickets.

The door manufacturer currently uses its own planning software, which has grown over the years, to plan the deployment of technicians in Germany. But the change has already been initiated: “The central processing of customer complaints is the first process we have lifted onto C/4 for Germany,” explains Lennard Eichler, Customer Cloud Team Leader at Hörmann KG VKG. The complete replacement of the in-house development is already in the starting blocks.

With cloud-based complaint management, the door manufacturer has created a central platform for the first time. “If you sell several thousand garage doors, operators and dock levellers a year, you’re going to have complaints. We were aware of that,” says Eichler. The difference: now you have the facts and figures in black and white and can use the data to see the potential for minimizing these complaints. The complaints process is now much shorter, he says. Whereas previously every customer inquiry required extensive research into the information already recorded, now a glance at the system is all that is needed. As a result, customers receive feedback at short notice and inquiries are processed more quickly.

Based on the very good experience from the previous NMS/MRS project, Hörmann KG VKG also chose us as an implementation partner for the cloud migration.

Today, we provide full support for the C/4 project, from the initial impact through system development to roll out and after roll out. “Working with Axians is very, very pleasant. It is structured, there is defined communication and there are clear contact persons for the different levels,” says Eichler.

The goal of the cloud project is a uniform appearance at the customer – from sales to internal service to the service technician. Following the successful project in Germany, Hörmann also wants to achieve this homogeneity internationally. The team leader knows why the decision was made in favor of the cloud: “In Germany, compared to the other countries, we have no or only limited mobile Internet on many construction sites or in commercial areas during construction. So that we can record status reports and feedback in between, the offline availability of our solution is particularly important.”

With the NEO Mobile Suite as a digital assistant for technicians on the road, the SAP Service Cloud for ticket management and deployment planning in Poland, and a central complaints management system based on SAP C/4, Hörmann KG has successively harmonized and modernized its service management in recent years.

The previously complex and non-transparent service processes based on Outlook and Excel are now mapped digitally throughout. The door manufacturer benefits from a central view of all important information in the areas of complaints and disposition. At the same time, it offers technicians an independent workday and provides customers with lasting satisfaction through short and case-closing service procedures.

As a holistic partner for the various service management tools, we will also support the planned international roll-out of end-to-end service processes.

The Hörmann Group is a renowned supplier of gates, doors and access systems. Headquartered in Germany, the company has been setting standards in quality and innovation since 1935. With a wide range of solutions for private and commercial areas, characterized by technical excellence, Hörmann makes access more convenient and secure worldwide.