During this afternoon's Business Solution track sessions at Appian World 2014, Flowserve representatives Anchal Augustine, IT Manager for Aftermarket, and John Bui,Program Manager for Special Aftermarket Projects,were on hand to share insights into their company's BPM success story. Flowserve, the recognized world leader in supply pumps and services to the power, oil, gas, and chemical industries, has leveraged Appian's work technologies of Mobile and Social BPM to create a modernized Pump Repair Process system, helping the organization serve a customer base of more than 50 countries.
Prior to the Pump Repair Process, Flowserve operated a legacy system to coordinate and execute repairs. Under the previous platform, users had to balance several different applications, with no central repair history, process tracking, or standardization.
To better manage the distribution and service of assets world-wide, Flowserve adopted an improved work platform to integrate its on-premise system and allow for collaborative automation. Using Appian Cloud technology, Flowserve developed two process applications to improve external customer service, as well as internal collaboration for more than 18,000 company employees.
"We have 200 users currently on the applications," said Bui. "I can see us moving to the tempo feed a lot quicker than before because of the features of Appian 7.5."
The Pump After Markets Repair application acts as a front-end solution for fielding pump sale and damage requests. Using Appian's native mobile apps, employees can easily track and assess defected pumps from the field while documenting accurate damage records and uploading photos directly on-site. The Invoice Dispute Management application handles customer pump invoices, making sure the correct service amount is paid in each case. Appian has implemented a back-end process improvement in which invoices are documented and dated with automated trails ñ lessening the chance for disputed invoices.
"We now have a lot more data available to our customers in order for them to make important decisions," saidAugustine. "Our entire sales team uses the apps, and is able to do whatever they need using their mobile device."
Here is a snapshot into the key mobile and cloud features Flowserve has leveraged to achieve optimal business success and customer service excellence:
- The ability to start requests from users in the field (sales engineers)
- The ability to review and approve quotations from their devices
- The ability to track and update the repair status on the shop floor
- The ability to upload pictures, voice and video to specific jobs
- Automatic upgrades
- Lower maintenance costs
- Availability outside of VPN or private networks
- Version control
Looking ahead to future deployments, Flowserve hopes to connect employees across the organization to the enterprise data, processes, and social collaboration needed to best serve their world-wide customer base. According to Augustine and Bui, Flowserve plans to expand its applications to 12-15 additional North American service centers in the coming years.
Mike Ingrisano
Media Relations Manager
