Case Study
Kansas City International Airport Unified Workforce To enhance customer satisfaction, the ABM team at Kansas City International Airport employed ABM’s Unified Workforce. This activity management platform dramatically enhanced operational efficiency, increased technician productivity, and reduced administration work. The client has been so impressed with the improvements they have extended ABM’s contract for another seven years!
Before Unified Workforce (UW), Jerome spent most of his time mired in administrative activities and paperwork. He spent half of each day pulling PMs in Maximo, printing hundreds of paper copies, and manually distributing them to technicians. Then he spent up to two and a half hours at the end of the day entering the manually completed paper work orders back into Maximo.
Opened in 1972, the Kansas City International Airport has 15 airlines and non-stop service to 51 cities in the US, Canada and Mexico. Commonly referred to as KCI, the airport is one of the Top 50 busiest US airports with just under 10 million passengers each year.
Tracking status of work orders and technicians was time-consuming, and not real-time. If technicians were unfamiliar with the equipment, Jerome would have to manually search for and bring them the manuals. And there was reduced time for keeping up with safety updates and training.
CHALLENGE ABM has been providing on-site facility solutions for KCI since 2006. Under the direction of Facilities Manager Jerome Cowart, the team has grown to 12 technicians and is responsible for baggage handling, jet bridge, and refrigeration maintenance for the airport’s three terminals and the adjacent office complex.
The whole process was time-consuming and labor-intensive. All this time spent in the office meant that Jerome was not visible to the clients, not providing any value-added services, and was not able to look for ways to expand our responsibilities at the facility and generate more revenue for ABM. SOLUTION UW is a platform that optimizes many business activities. KCI leveraged the work activity functions that provide a centralized and automated platform that streamlines and integrates processes and incorporates and promotes collective training and safety materials.
“I love the UW platform! It improves efficiency, controls technician time, reduces admin work, and enhances client support. I have so much more time to interact with my clients, focus on safety and training, and find solutions for KCI challenges.” Jerome Cowart, FM at KCI
Kansas City International Airport: Unified Workforce They also implemented the UW field work activity component, which is a mobile module that provides collaborative field tools that connect technicians to the office via their smart phones and mobile devices and helps automate and manage work orders. As a pure middleware platform, UW integrates with many transactional work order systems. At KCI the integration is with the Maximo back-office system. With UW, Jerome’s day is dramatically different. PMs are assigned, distributed, and entered electronically – taking minutes instead of hours. Technicians now receive and complete work orders directly on their smart phones – there’s no more paper, no manual entry, and fewer delays and errors. Jerome also has instant visibility into work order and technician status from anywhere with the web-based dashboard. He can access the system remotely in the evenings and on weekends to see exactly what the crew is working on in real time. When the client wants a status or work validation, he can now provide it instantly! The system also includes IMPACT (innovative mobile product and continuous training) cards that leverage quick response (QR) code technology. When a technician needs more information on a piece of equipment they are servicing, they just take a picture of the QR code on the card with their smart phone and it takes them directly to site-specific rich media content, technical manuals, scope of service details, and more.
BENEFIT UW has dramatically improved operational efficiency, increased technician productivity, and reduced administration work at KCI. Now instead of spending most of his day on admin tasks, he is able to get out and talk to clients. This increased face time has resulted in an increased level of service he is able to provide KCI. Now that Jerome is able to spend time away from his desk, he has been able to help KCI solve additional facility challenges. In fact, ABM is now providing out-of-scope services since Jerome has had time to problem-solve. Jerome is also able to spend at least four hours a month in airport safety meetings, representing ABM as an industry expert.
“UW makes ABM look good! When the client asks for a status I don’t have to fumble around anymore, I have instant access to real-time status of all work orders and technicians, as well as proof of performance.” Jerome Cowart, FM at KCI
In the year since UW was implemented at KCI, increased efficiencies, work performance validation, electronic data capture, real-time visibility, and reporting have resulted in the following benefits: • Won a 7 year contract extension worth $16,308,000 • Got approval to hire two new support FTEs (on a cost plus contract equals additional revenue) • Increased business productivity by at least 15% • Reduced costs associated with printing thousands of paper work orders • Enhanced client confidence and satisfaction • Expanded ABM’s scope of work at and provided new revenue sources • Elevated ABM’s reputation as trusted industry and safety expert abm.com
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