01 Feb, 2023
ABM Service Technicians
Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a service technician looks like? Well, you are not the only one. Service technicians keep our machines running smoothly. They work hard to ensure customers’ needs are met. It is important to understand how crucial service technicians are – that is why an ABM (Advanced Business Methods) administrator set out to discover what Dustin, one of our service technicians, did on a day-to-day basis.
First, it is essential to note that service technicians’ tasks are constantly changing. From routine cleaning to replacing mechanical parts and circuit boards, no two days are ever the same. Sometimes there are ten service calls in a day, while other days there are two. Did you know that electrical storms can cause power disruptions that lead to device issues? However, the average number of service calls a day is four to five. The service technicians at ABM strive to create a customer experience that will be remembered. They work diligently to fix problems in a timely manner. These service technicians are the backbone of our company.
Dustin’s Day in the Life
For Dustin, the days begin right at 8AM. Typically, Dustin arrives at the warehouse and looks over what the schedule looks like for the day. Some days, Dustin does not have anything on his schedule. On other days, his schedule is already booked before he walks into the warehouse. Dustin uses an application to manage calls and communicate with dispatch. He describes this application as a “life saver.”
Before starting the day, Dustin makes sure he has his essentials- coffee and bag with gear.
8:30 - The first stop is to pick up a powerline monitor in downtown Fargo. This monitor measures the current. While there (and at every other call), we printed off a sheet that indicates how much printing the printer was doing. Dustin says, “The total pages that a printer has printed, is equivalent to miles on a car.”
Once this quick stop was completed, Dustin noted what our next stop was, got back in the car and we were off. Before going to the next stop, Dustin reviewed what the customer said was going on with the machine. This gave him an idea of what materials he would need, as well as what the issue may be.
At 9:00, we arrive at our next stop. Dustin talks to the employees at the business, asks what the issue is, and proceeds to take apart the machine. Soon after disassembling the machine, Dustin notices the issue. He sees that a drum in the machine is worn. Dustin informs the employees what the problem is and proceeds to head back to the warehouse to see if he has an extra drum.
When we arrive at the warehouse, it is a fast trip. Dustin knows right where to check to see if there is an extra drum and transfers it to his parts. By the time it is 9:45, we are back to work with the new drum. “While we’re there and the machine is taken apart, it’s important to check if there’s anything else that’s damaged,” states, Dustin. While putting the machine back together, Dustin cleans and tests everything.
At 10:00, we are back at the office to see if there are any parts waiting for Dustin. Since there were no parts shipped to him, Dustin decides to go through extra parts he has sitting in his car. Some of the parts in Dustin’s car have not been used in quite some time, so Dustin turns them into Cody, the Warehouse Operations Manager. While Dustin gives back some parts he has not recently used, he keeps parts in the car that he will more than likely use.
Dustin explains that when he is not out on a service call, he catches up on fixing machines.
At 11:10, Dustin calls a customer to get more clarification as to an issue they were having. After talking with the customer, Dustin determines the issue can be resolved immediately through ABM’s Help Desk as it doesn’t require a technician on-site.
While at the office, Dustin can see how many calls other service technicians currently have. Since Dustin did not have any calls, he grabbed some from other service techs to help take off the load and keep customer response times as quick as possible. “It’s nice helping each other out,” says Dustin.
Once again, we were off! At 11:30, we arrived to a call from a high school. They had expressed concern about a loud noise that was coming from their printer. Dustin took apart the machine and found that there was excess paper and paper clips within the machine. He proceeded to remove these items and found that these items were the cause of the loud noise. Dustin cleaned and tested the machine, as he typically does, and before leaving, he showed the customer the issue.
After finishing each call, Dustin gets back in the car and looks over his application to manage calls. In doing so, he does a quick write-up of what issue was found and how he resolved it. Then, it’s off to the next call.
By the time it is 12:15, Dustin is at his next location and ready to conquer the broken machine. The customer had called in and said that there was a persistent error message. Upon arrival, Dustin was quick to find that he had to reset the machine. After a wipe down and test of the machine, it was good as new.
While in between calls, Dustin explains his favorite part about his job. He states, “The freedom to take care of the customer properly. I also appreciate the feeling you get from helping people.”
At 12:50, Dustin is at the next location, which is a middle school. He quickly finds that the machine is dirty and that is the reason for the jamming. Paper trays in copiers use rubber rollers to pick up the paper and feed it into the machine. Paper inherently has small paper-dust particles that stick to the rollers, causing them to eventually become slippery. Service technicians will either clean or replace these rollers to ensure the paper is fed properly.
1:35 – Elementary school stop. The customer called in and stated that one of the drawers for the printer will not work. Dustin found the issue of the printer and ran back to the warehouse. There, he took a part from an existing machine and put that part into the new machine. After arriving back at the elementary school, Dustin replaced the broken part with the new part and cleaned and tested the machine. Before we knew it, we were on our way to the next stop.
For the final stop of the day, Dustin was called about a dirty machine that made the ink blotchy. The printer that Dustin was working with was extremely dirty, which was creating the issue of the blotchy ink. Dustin thoroughly cleaned the machine and changed out some items that were worn. A test confirmed everything was working perfectly.
At 4:00, we were back at the shop. After arriving at the shop, Dustin emails his supervisor his hours, prepares himself for the next day, and heads out for the day.
It is important to recognize our service technicians and all the hard work they do. Daily, service technicians put the customer first and continuously show us how their hard work pays off by receiving a high Net Promoter Score each month. Find our score and learn more about it at abmnow.com
Thank you to ABM service technicians and all the service technicians out there!