In Field Service Management, there is a metric that often goes unnoticed in financial reports but bleeds the profitability of maintenance companies: "Windshield Time."
This refers to all those hours your technicians spend driving from one point to another instead of repairing, installing, or maintaining assets. According to industry studies, in non-optimized management, a technician can lose up to 25-30% of their workday simply commuting.
If you manage a fleet of 10 technicians, that’s equivalent to having 3 people on the payroll just to drive. How can we recover that time and money? The answer lies not in buying faster vans, but in planning with Geographic Intelligence (GIS).
The "Traveling Salesman" Problem
Traditionally, Work Orders (WOs) are assigned based on availability or skill set, but the exact real-time location is rarely taken into account.
This leads to absurd situations:
- Technician A finishes a repair in the North District.
- They receive their next order for the South District (40 mins away).
- While crossing the city, they drive right past a pending breakdown in the City Center, which is assigned to Technician B (who was coming from the South).
This crossing of paths is inefficient and expensive. Without a map visualizing all pending tasks and technician locations, it is impossible to spot these inefficiencies at a glance in an Excel spreadsheet.
The CMMS + GIS Solution: Visual Planning
Integrating a GIS system (like Maptainer) into your maintenance software transforms your team's logistics. By seeing WOs as "pins" on a map, optimization becomes obvious.
Here are 4 key strategies for optimizing routes using geolocation:
1. Zoning (Clustering) Instead of assigning tasks one by one, the manager can select a geographical area on the map and assign all WOs in that zone to the same technician.
- Result: The technician parks the vehicle and performs 3 or 4 interventions on foot or with minimal travel, drastically increasing their "wrench time" vs. "wheel time" ratio.
2. Smart Emergency Dispatching When a critical incident occurs (e.g., a pipe burst or traffic light failure), the GIS system allows you to see who is closest at that precise moment, not just who is "theoretically" free. Assigning the nearest technician reduces response time (SLA) and fuel consumption.
3. Logical Route Visualization A GIS CMMS allows you to plot the day's route. If a technician needs to visit 5 pumping stations, the system helps order them sequentially to avoid backtracking. It makes no sense to visit station 1, then 5, and then 2, if station 2 was on the way.
4. Presence Validation Optimization also implies control. Through geopositioning, you can validate that the technician was actually at the asset's location when they closed the order, avoiding fraud or false reports of "access denied."
Impact on Sustainability and Costs
Optimizing routes is not just about productivity; it is a strategy for direct savings and corporate responsibility:
- Fuel Reduction: Fewer kilometers driven mean less spending on gas and less wear and tear on vehicles (fewer inspections, tires, and fleet breakdowns).
- Carbon Footprint: Companies and municipalities are increasingly required to report and reduce their CO2 emissions. Optimizing routes is the fastest way to "verify" your commitment to environmental sustainability.
Maptainer's philosophy is simple: before moving a 2-ton van, move the information.
If your maintenance software doesn't tell you where your tasks are in relation to your technicians, you are managing blindly. Route optimization via GIS turns maintenance logistics into a competitive advantage: you serve more clients, in less time, and at lower costs.