What is a First-Time-Fix Rate (FTFR)?

In its simplest form, it’s the rate at which we Service Engineers fix a breakdown during the first intervention. The intervention could be a remote intervention via telephone/screen sharing, or it could be a physical on-site intervention.

Why Does it matter?

It matters because the First-Time-Fix Rate can affect productivity, profit, downtime, and customer satisfaction. As the customer, you want to know that when you call for help, the solution is on its way.

Example (for illustrative purposes only): Your operator reports that your CNC router is stopping after 4 hours, and once the fault has occurred, it is very difficult to get the machine to start again until the machine has cooled down. So you ring the manufacturer and they duly send a technician to change some parts. Everything looks great for the next day or so, until…..yep, the fault is back! This goes on and on, all the time costing you lost production, lost profit, lost custom, and losing the machine manufacturer some hard-earned customer satisfaction in the process.

What can affect FTFR?

First-Time-Fix Rate can be increased by a plethora of different things: Experience, training, knowledge, all increase the likelihood of a first-Time-Fix – these are the things we learn. But so do core values, such as methodology, tenacity, and professionalism. Of course, it would be nice to have the equivalent of a new machine in spare parts in the back of the van, but that isn’t possible.

What can I do as a customer to increase FTFR?

There are many ways in which a customer can increase FTFR: “Don’t let the breakdown occur in the first place” would be the most obvious answer – having a robust Preventative Maintenance plan in place would address this. Keeping spare parts stock on-site would also increase FTFR. Training of employees, whether they are operators or maintenance personnel, would also boost FTFR in your favour.

Choose Definitive Machine Services

At Definitive Machine Services Ltd, we’re very proud of our First-Time-Fix Rate. We’ve fixed what others have missed. We have many solutions to helping achieve the holy grail of 100% First-Time-Fix rate, from advising which critical parts to keep on the shelf, to the training of key personnel and implementation of critical PM schedules. Contact us today to see how we can assist you.