Industry insights — JP Shelburn, XL Service Bodies

Many processes have been streamlined in the field service industry in recent years — what further improvements are likely in 2016?

I guess a major process that’s been streamlined overall is the outsourcing of fleet management to multinational FMOs. For several years now I’ve seen fleet management roles evaporate and FMOs take on more and more technical fleet procurement duties. This may look good on the balance sheet but industry knowledge doesn’t come cheap and many FMOs are now looking to either get more experienced technical staff onboard or seek consultation with reputable vendors within the industry.

What do you see as the greatest challenge for managers of mobile teams in the year ahead and why?

By far the greatest challenge is standardisation of their fleets. Getting this right is much easier said than done and the ‘one size fits all’ attitude can go horribly wrong if the correct players are not involved in making the decisions. We’ve been at this game for 25 years. In that time, we have seen many fleet managers make the hard decisions on standardising within their fleets, with massive pushback at times from the field teams. We find good fleet managers make good decisions and hold their ground.

How has the field service industry evolved since the advent of mobile technology and what are the downsides of rapid change?

Mobile technology has added agility to the field service industry whilst also helping the industry gain efficiencies. From telematics to tablet applications, the industry is fast and lean. When we attended the IAA tradeshow in Hanover last year we were blown away by how quickly the telematics space has exploded! You also have FMOs using powerful programs like SAP which are changing the way businesses think about procurement.

What trends are we likely to see emerge in the short term — what is the ‘next big thing’?

The trends we see emerging now are ‘ready to work’ service vehicles. With the semi-government utilities downsizing and outsourcing, second-tier contractors are winning big projects with steep time frames. They don’t have the time to develop a specification, tender, award then wait four to six months for the vehicles and conversions to be completed. These guys want the bloody thing next week! Conversions are being undertaken at ports of entry as we speak and for large fleets this model seems to be working, especially those who work out their buying cycle six months or more in advance. I think the next big thing will be the dealers getting the courage to start stocking ready-to-work vehicles. They’ve been doing this for a long time in the US and it works great as the dealers have a greater opportunity to deliver more vehicles and the customer doesn’t have to wait several months to receive their work-ready vehicle.

An increasing number of vendors have been attracted to the field service segment in response to market growth. How will that landscape level out and what will it look like at the end of 2016?

In our space we have to continuously innovate and invest in the right technology that keeps us in front of the pack. Whilst we’ve seen many come and go, there’s no doubt powerful multinational organisations are playing in our space and making waves … thankfully, I love to surf!

How big a role does customisation play in delivering the most suitable offering to your client and can off-the-shelf ever compete with a fully tailored solution?

Customisation can be a killer in our industry. One utility fleet manager once confided to me that early on in his job he was too afraid to ask his operators why they had five different specifications of vehicles for the same type of work group. He eventually asked: “Don’t you guys work on the same types of poles and wires?” In the end they were able to rationalise and only have two specific fit-outs. There’s definitely a need to ascertain where the value ends and gold plating begins when it comes to bespoke fit-outs. We feel our anthology of service bodies and accessories provides our customer base with the next best thing to full-blown customisation, which is essentially ‘off-the-shelf’, so to speak.

JP Shelburn is General Manager at XL Service Bodies. His focus on lean manufacturing and quality has earned XL ISO 9001:2008 accreditation. Leveraging investment in technology and infrastructure and building on a strong domestic customer base, he is driving XL to become even leaner and to expand into other markets. JP has steered the business’s momentum in the right direction and the results have been steady and positive. In recognition of his fruitful leadership, JP was promoted to Director in January 2016.