Tools of the trade

The Where’s My Tool project started when Joe Meloche, Business Line Manager at Atlas Copco Tools and Assembly Systems in Michigan, U.S., asked Software Coordinator Tom Heathfield for a way to improve the efficiency of the service support. Meloche noticed that 90% of customers calling service support were asking the same question: where their tools were in the service process. If the customers could find out that information for themselves, it would free up a lot of resources. The solution lay in opening up the organization’s service management database, which had been created to manage repaired equipment. With the help of Atlas Copco’s IT organization, the database was connected to the business system, and WheresMyTool.com was created. WheresMyTool.com offers customers an instant view of all tools and their status on a password-protected web page. It has the ability to track tools and to create reports in Excel. Salespeople and distributors make fewer phone calls to check on the status of their repairs, and the service sales force can focus on selling more services. Customers can also make notes, issue a purchase order or approve a repair online. Regional Sales Manager Service Amy Shi’s daily work includes visiting customers and walking their production lines to find the best tool management solutions for their operations. “Many customers run tools to failure without preventive maintenance, and don’t have a reasonable spare tools inventory,” says Shi.

The combination of the Service Management Database and WheresMyTool.com has helped the U.S. service organization grow to eight times its original size in less than five years. Written by Atlas Copco