BigChange Job Management system helps NWCE treble workforce

NWCE Food Service Equipment is saving thousands of pounds a year, boosting engineer productivity, and reducing its environmental impact, having implemented a job management system from BigChange. Offering commercial catering equipment services across the UK, NWCE uses BigChange to intelligently schedule and create optimised routes for its team of around 60 field engineers.

With average savings of just over 30 miles, per van, per day, this equates to enormous annual savings, reduced travelling times and a decrease in Carbon Dioxide emissions. BigChange also provides the Bolton-based business with 24/7 visibility of its mobile workforce, automated stock management and a range of fleet management tools.   

“We had a system before BigChange, but it was slow and clunky,” commented Ben Odling, Managing Director of NWCE Food Service Equipment.

“BigChange is the complete opposite! It’s fast, it’s reactive, and it is there when you need it. With our promise not to let our customers down even when their equipment does, this directly relates to and supports our ethos and way of working.”

Ben Odling, Manager Director of NWCE Food Service Equipment

NWCE Food Service Equipment offers a nationwide commercial catering service working with a diverse customer base which includes organisations and businesses from the health, retail, hospitality and education sectors. With a team of engineers, gas professionals and kitchen installers, NWCE services include 24-hour breakdown and repair, design and installation, equipment maintenance, and sales on a vast array of catering and refrigeration equipment found in commercial kitchens or catering environments. 

NWCE implemented the BigChange job management platform, which incorporates customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, live tracking, resource management, job finance and business intelligence, in 2019. The intelligent scheduling assistant, which uses real-time data to account for location, traffic information, job constraints and engineer type, combined with smart route planning, has contributed to an average saving of more than 30 miles per vehicle per day.

This equates to a reduction in travelling time of 3 ½ hours per engineer per week, boosting productivity by 10 per cent. It also means the business is limiting the environmental impact of its mobile operation with an annual reduction in vehicle emissions of 90 tonnes of CO2.

Engineers are further boosting efficiency with direct access to customer files, site service histories and equipment documentation using the BigChange app; this also helps NWCE keep their clients up to date on asset management and equipment spend. Customisable job sheets can be automatically shared with the back office, which is improving customer communications and service levels.

“Before BigChange, an engineer could be hanging around on-site waiting for paperwork to come through by email,” continued Odling. “For example, if a fryer was condemned, they would have to wait for someone in the office to dig out the right piece of paper for that specific unit, send it across for the engineer to fill out and return, and then put together a quote for a replacement. With BigChange, it’s literally a one-button process, and the customer has all the information they need to make a decision before they even know the extent of the problem.”

Other aspects of BigChange that are positively impacting on NWCEs bottom line include automated stock control, with real-time updates and trend analysis, which allows for just-in-time ordering and re-stocking and a reduction in expensive items sitting in a warehouse or in service vehicles. Fleet management tools, including daily vehicle checks and alerts for events such as MOTs, servicing and insurance renewals, are improving driver and vehicle performance, and real-time tracking allows NWCE to issue accurate arrival times and update customers of any delays.

“Since implementing BigChange, we have trebled the size of our employed workforce and, with the competitive edge that BigChange provides, I am confident we will continue to expand and evolve, and BigChange will support us at every step,” Odling concluded.

Ben Odling, Managing Director of NWCE Food Service Equipment