Digital Resource Planning in Mechanical Engineering: How Software is Replacing Excel
Service and assembly assignments in mechanical engineering are complex, involving international customer locations, scarce skilled labour and special technical cases, as well as often having a small time window.
Despite these challenges, however, many companies still use Excel, phone calls and emails for planning.
This approach works as long as nothing goes wrong. However, if a technician is double-booked, a required visa is missing, or a certificate has expired, the consequences can be costly.
This article shows you:
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Why Excel is structurally inadequate for project-based service assignments
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How specialised software can prevent critical errors
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And the real effects that digital tools can achieve
The Limits of Analogue Planning: What Excel Can't Do
Many companies use Excel because it is familiar, flexible, and quick to build. However, as complexity increases, this becomes problematic.
Chalenges in Excel
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No central data source
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Manual skill allocation
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No automatic history
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Visa/certificate information is not linked
Risks
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Double bookings and outdated information.
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Wrong technician on site
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No traceability
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Planning errors for assignments abroad.
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Digital Technician Planning: This is What Everyday Life Looks Like With Smart Software
In the past...
...scheduling was often done using Excel spreadsheets, by email or over the phone. Plans were drawn up on paper and changes had to be communicated verbally.
Information on employees' skills was usually only stored in people's heads or in personal notes.
Consequently, more than ten queries were required daily to clarify outstanding issues. Communication across departmental and site boundaries was organised via email, telephone or, more traditionally, a paper routing slip, which required additional time and effort.
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We used to print out the weekly schedule, complete it by hand and synchronise it with the team every morning.
Today...
...planning is done digitally. Everyone involved has access to a real-time view, which guarantees transparency and up-to-dateness at all times. Automatic skill matching ensures that employees are scheduled according to their qualifications and existing certificates.
All communication takes place centrally via an app, making coordination much easier.
Documentation is fully digitalised, including the customer's signature, which can be recorded electronically on site.
Skill Matching Instead of Gut Instinct!
A practical example: a customer project in India requires a technician with engine training and a valid visa at short notice.
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With traditional planning, a lot of questions need to be asked: Who has the right certificate and is it still valid? Who can travel at short notice? Who has a valid visa for India?
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Digital skill matching is automatic: the system suggests suitable technicians. Certificates and visas are checked in the background and the assignment can be booked with just one click.
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In the past, only the one experienced dispatcher knew who could do what. Now I can see it immediately.
Four Measurable Effects After Switching to a Digital Solution:
Experience from five medium-sized mechanical engineering companies shows concrete improvements:
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Planning arrangements: reduced from 5 hours per week to 2 hours per week.
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Technician queries: reduced from 12 per day to three per day.
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Double bookings: minimised from six per month to one or less per month.
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Schedule changes: reduced from 10 per week to 3 per week.
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The Technician App: Real Relief for Field Service
Digital tools offer advantages not only for dispatchers and service managers, but also for technicians in the field. Technicians in the field also benefit, especially if they work with an offline-capable app that bundles centralised information and tasks. This is especially true if they work with an offline-capable app that centralises information and tasks.
The app gives technicians and fitters access to:
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Assignments, including location and time
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customer information and contacts.
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checklists and documents.
They can also:
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Fill in timesheets and reports intuitively
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upload photos and obtain customer signatures.
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Chat with dispatchers in case of queries or problems.
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Send reports and timesheets to office staff after the assignment.
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I used to have to call for every enquiry. Now everything is in the app, including the work schedule, customer information, order details and documentation. Even older colleagues without smartphone experience use the app without any problems.
FAQ - what decision-makers really want to know
Usually within 6-12 weeks. Many companies start with one department and then roll out further. Thanks to intuitive operation, no IT knowledge is required. Read more about the onboarding process at fieldux here.
Yes, but only at first glance. For international assignments with skills, visas, gap tracking & documentation: No. Excel offers no error protection, no multi-user capability and no automation.
Normally there are the following 5 steps:
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Data import
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Define roles & rights
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Configure processes
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Training the team
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Go live with real-time planning
This means that technicians can be scheduled automatically - based on skills, certificates, language, visa and availability. Tools perform these comparisons in the background and provide the relevant information.
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More than 5 technicians on duty?
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Foreign assignments with visa/certificate requirements?
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The administrative management tasks in scheduling are real time wasters?
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Current planning in Excel, Outlook or a digital system that doesn't perfectly meet your requirements?
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Plan changes at least once a week?
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Technician queries cost time every day?
→ Then digital scheduling is long overdue.
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Conclusion: This is How Digitalised Service Scheduling is Becoming the Norm in Mechanical Engineering
Digital scheduling is no longer just a 'nice to have' in mechanical and plant engineering; it is a competitive advantage.
Digital tools offer concrete benefits for services, field services and scheduling:
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Reliability and customer loyalty
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Relief for technicians
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Speed in planning and communication
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They also prevent errors and enable traceability.
Are You Curious to See What This Could Look Like in Your Company?
Book a free potential analysis for service managers in industrial plant construction now. In 30 minutes, we'll show you where time and nerves are being lost in your scheduling - and how you can stop it.
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