Lawson M3 Equipment Service Management

Lawson M3 for Equipment Service Management (Lawson M3 ESM) for service maintenance and lease of the equipment will help to correspond to the best world practices of management of service maintenance and also to find the correct balance of profitability and level of service.

The solution Lawson M3 ESM is developed by Lawson Software company since 1992 and today accumulates in itself experience of management of service business more than 400 companies worldwide. It is indicative that Lawson M3 ESM use 4 of TOP of 6 companies rendering services in providing in lease of the equipment and to service maintenance: United Rentals, RSC Equipment, Aggreko, NationsRent.

Lawson M3 ESM: Positioning in the market

The solution Lawson M3 ESM is intended for producers and distributors of the equipment and also the independent service providers rendering services of service maintenance and leasing/lease of the equipment. More detailed determination of target market of Lawson M3 ESM is given below:

Types of the equipment:

• Industrial;
• Construction;
• Transport;
• Mineral extraction;
• Medical and laboratory;
• Handling.

Activity of the enterprise:

• Equipment manufacturing;
• Distribution of the equipment;
• Leasing / arena of the equipment;
• Contract management on service maintenance;
• Management of warranty obligations;
• Installation and commissioning;
• Delivery of spare parts;
• Service on service platforms;
• Service on platforms of customers (mobile service).

Enterprise scales:

• From 100 employees;
• From 80 service engineers;
• Up to 500 branches;
• Up to 500.000 clients;
• Up to 100.000 suppliers;
• Up to 4.000 users of a system.

Lawson M3 ESM can be used as the ERP solution for management of all fields of activity of the enterprise (from marketing and sales, before production, distribution and service maintenance), and to be implemented module-by-module in addition to systems which are already existing at the enterprise (for example, only for automation of service and/or lease of the equipment).

The solution Lawson M3 ESM is developed on the basis of the best world practices of management of service maintenance and lease of the equipment and intended for the solution of 4 fundamental tasks:

• Control of operating activities;
• Obtaining exhaustive knowledge of the equipment;
• Proactive control;
• Accomplishment of a role of the adviser for the customer.

For management of service maintenance and lease of the equipment at the enterprises with geographically distributed holding structure Lawson M3 ESM offers following features:

• Multicurrency, multilingual capability, support of different time zones;
• Determination in the system of legal and managerial structure of business;
• Internal settlement between divisions of holding;
• Maintaining the general and specific normative reference information for specific divisions;
• Work of all remote divisions in the uniform centralized database in real time.

Information on functional features of the solution Lawson M3 ESM for service maintenance and lease of the equipment is included below.

Lawson M3 ESM: Supply

Purchasing requests: Are created automatically during the procedure of planning or directly from requests for service maintenance of the equipment and also can be entered manually.

Purchase orders: Form based on consolidation of requests or are created under the specific request for service maintenance of the equipment by the principle "one in one". You define selection terms of the supplier and also priorities of execution of the order. The order confirmed with the supplier affirms as a system then the ordered quantity is perceived as the expected receipt for specific date.

Control of the status of execution of the order: This function of m b. it is useful to purchase of expensive or crucial goods items. For example, Lawson M3 ESM can notify you on order confirmation by the supplier, on his shipment from warehouse and the course of delivery.

Revenues to a warehouse: Depending on the policy of quality control used by you, at revenues to a batch warehouse it m b. at first it is placed in a quality control zone, and only then it is placed in the storage area. At the same time Lawson M3 ESM will automatically determine appropriate places of storage.

Statistics of purchases: Lawson M3 ESM accumulates statistical information on work with each supplier, including his performance indicators (a price performance, an adherence to deadlines of delivery and quality requirements, etc.). Thus, you make reasoned decisions on the choice of strategic suppliers.

Lawson M3 ESM: Service maintenance

Requests for service maintenance of the equipment: Two types of requests — standard and abnormal are provided in Lawson M3 ESM. Standard requisitions after receipt are required by confirmations by the manager then will be transformed to dresses. Abnormal requests will be transformed to dresses automatically.

Assessment of amount of works: All arrived requests for service maintenance of the equipment are supplemented (automatically or manually depending on settings of a system) with information on necessary spare parts, instructions, requirements to personnel, etc.

Reporting under accomplishment of dresses: A system offers two procedures of the reporting depending on the nature of the performed works on service maintenance of the equipment:

• On planned actions (for example, periodic survey) during which the measurement of control indicators (oil level, temperature, etc.) is required, the dress is automatically closed right after input of actual data. At the same time a system reveals deviations of results of measurement from permissible values and, if necessary, creates the request for elimination of a problem;
• According to the dresses initiated by the customer, Lawson M3 ESM keeps account of the actual labor costs, equipment downtime, the used materials and spare parts, codes of errors, etc.

Confirmation of dresses: Using Lawson M3 ESM for management of service maintenance of the equipment, you can implement the procedure of confirmation (the customer, the manager, etc.) of execution of works before closing of dresses. If you confirm a dress on accomplishment of planned works, then a system automatically creates requests for accomplishment of similar works on service maintenance in the future.

Mobile service: Service engineers have an opportunity to keep operational accounting of the performed works, including the spent time, the used materials, transit time, etc. This information is consolidated in the central DB of Lawson M3 ESM.

Planning: Requirements planning in service maintenance (Service Requirements Planning, SRP) is executed taking into account all main restrictions (material availability, spare parts, the tool, labor input of execution of works, conditions of agreements, priorities, etc.). Initial data for planning are:

• The predicted and confirmed orders for service maintenance of the equipment;
• Programs of service maintenance;
• Current status and history of the equipment.

Comparing results of planning to the existing diagram of preventive service, you can make the decision on expediency of additional service actions or replacement of the equipment (in view of required availability of the equipment and costs).

Lawson M3 ESM: Inventory management of materials and spare parts

Nomenclature: The reference book of the nomenclature is presented in the hierarchical form. Each hierarchy level can mean: type (spare parts, materials, services, tools, equipment); groups and subgroups (for example, mechanical or electric tool), etc. Also for each nomenclature position need of series-based accounting, model of cost value and planning parameters is defined.

Warehouses: In a system the unlimited number of warehouses and their structure can be defined (zones and storage locations). It is important that behind each nomenclature (for example, the specific spare part) m b. storage location is fixed, and a system will not allow placement in it any other nomenclature (even if this place is free).

Reservation of spare parts: It is performed automatically in a binding to dresses on service maintenance of the equipment. In addition Lawson M3 ESM offers several methods of reservation: soft reservation (for example if spare parts are required in 2 or more days) and tough reservation (for example if spare parts are necessary today-tomorrow). Exact parameters of reservation are customized individually during an implementation project the Lawson M3 ESM systems.

Holiday from a warehouse: The holiday of spare parts which were previously reserved under a specific dress on service maintenance of the equipment is executed by simple confirmation. In case of emergency, when spare parts were not reserved previously, function of a fast holiday from a warehouse is used (without additional confirmations). In any of the described scenarios a system will register a holiday from a warehouse in a binding to number of a dress and specific transaction / work. The material consumption and spare parts is reflected in dresses on service maintenance of the equipment signed "plus", and returns on a warehouse — signed "minus".

Inventory: Lawson M3 ESM allows to determine not only inventory cycle, but also and its volume (by selection of the nomenclature, by commodity groups, by storage areas in a warehouse, etc.). For the purposes of additional control you can define limits of the actual deviations when which exceeding a system will request confirmation.

Control of tools: The Lawson M3 ESM system allows to keep account of the tools and the equipment necessary for execution of works on service maintenance. Very often the tool is directly on service platforms or at mobile service crews. Using Lawson M3 ESM, you will be able to keep account of the issued tool by Full name, serial numbers and date of the expected return.

Planning: Lawson M3 ESM performs materials requirement planning and spare parts on all possible locations: in the central warehouse, service platforms, mobile service crews and have a river. By results a system creates requests for interwarehouse movements or recommendations about purchases / production.

Lawson M3 ESM: Information on the equipment

Structure of the equipment: It is presented in the form of a tree which each level can define physical location (platforms, divisions, buildings, rooms, etc.), items of equipment and also their components. The structure of the equipment provides not only information search, but also cost analysis: for the lowest level of structure a system automatically considers actual costs, and then sums up them at higher levels.

Accounting of movements: Change of location of the equipment in Lawson M3 ESM is executed by three transaction types: installation, dismantling/write-off and movement. All transactions can be executed in one step, without any additional confirmations.

Leaving/write-off of the equipment: This process is accurately regulated in Lawson M3 ESM — formation and printing of the request for write-off, the approval of the request by financial service, accomplishment of write-off with execution of the relevant documents.

Agreements on service maintenance of the equipment: In Lawson M3 ESM all cycle of works with agreements is implemented: from the conclusion before prolongation or early termination. The cost of services in the agreement of service maintenance of the equipment can be as fixed (fixed price), to be defined on the basis of actual costs (time and material) or to be based on the actual performance indicators of use of the equipment (usage/meter). One of key features is generation of commercial offers in accordance with the terms of the agreement of service maintenance and also automatic drawing of invoices for payment. Using Lawson M3 ESM for management of service maintenance and lease of the equipment, you will be able to accumulate statistics on each separate agreement and to analyze its profitability.

Warranty obligations: The vast majority of the equipment is supplied with an initial guarantee therefore prolongation of warranty obligations is one of opportunities for additional sales. In Lawson M3 ESM the period of a guarantee is determined manually or automatically (for example, depending on the delivery date or by completion of balancing and commissioning). At receipt from the client of the request for service maintenance you see at once what equipment and/or what its components become covered by the warranty agreement.

Control of the actual use: In addition to time management of availability and idle time, the number of breakdowns, etc., Lawson M3 ERP allows to control the actual development of each item of equipment directly on the platform (mass of the transported load, quantity of the made parts, etc.). This information will allow you not only to prevent possible breakdowns, but also to prove to the customer need of additional service maintenance. All information of m b. it is received automatically from external systems or the CNC block of the equipment.

Lawson M3 ESM: Services

Directory of services: Contains information on planned and specific services in service maintenance of the equipment with indication of structure of works, necessary spare parts and materials, tools, required qualification of personnel, also a set of organizational and technology instructions.

Cost accounting: Lawson M3 ESM allows to keep the cost accounting both on standard, and at actual cost. At the same time in a system all history on cost accounting for each agreement, service and an item of equipment remains. Using the built-in mechanisms of data analysis, you will be able to analyze and compare cost value for the different periods.

Leasing / lease of the equipment: In Lawson M3 ESM the full stroke of work with agreements of leasing and lease of the equipment – from order taking before complete settlement under the agreement is implemented. Among some systems capabilities:

• Search of the available equipment according to the request of the customer;
  
• Possibility of secondary lease of the necessary equipment;
  
• Providing demonstration equipment;
  
• Drawing of accounts on lease agreements of the equipment and to additional services;
  
• Tracking of lease revenues of the equipment and parameters of quality of the rendered services.

Drawing of accounts: Define what works become covered by warranty agreements and what are not present – perhaps, one of the greatest difficulties in relationship with the customer. Lawson M3 ESM will automatically determine the cost and the payer by each position of a dress proceeding from what becomes covered by the agreement on warranty service and that is not present.

Additional services: In Lawson M3 ESM you can define several price lists which m b. static (the price is specified in absolute expression) or dynamic (the price depends on parameters of other price lists). When drawing accounts to additional services Lawson M3 ESM will apply the corresponding pricing policy.

The solutions Lawson Software in Russia and the CIS countries are submitted by BSC company.