In a nutshell, RAG helps companies retrieve and use their data from various internal sources for better generative AI results. Since the source material comes from your own trusted data, it helps reduce or even eliminate wrong and other erroneous outputs.
“We built an entire orchestration and reasoning layer that uses RAG to interact with agents to get the answers needed to provide an answer to the overarching question,” summarizes the ServiceMax base.
PTC bought ServiceMax in 2022
When PLM developer PTC bought ServiceMax at the end of 2022, it was another purchase by former PTC boss Jim Heppelmann to build PTC as a full PLM and service provider. For $1.46 billion PTC acquired a company that had long been in the field service area (FSM) and had also developed what Heppelmann believed was the future of PLM and product development: SaaS, Software-as-a-Service-based platforms in the cloud. And this is exactly what ServiceMax had in its portfolio, a cloud and product-centric software in the FSM area.
Moreover, PTC knew what they were buying since they av cooperated with ServiceMax since 2015.
An interesting fact is that the current PTC boss, Neil Barua, came to PTC precisely through this purchase: He was CEO of ServiceMax and had as his perhaps main merit that he raised the company to become a recognized leader in the field service area.
Important pillar of the digital thread
With the ServiceMax acquisition, PTC gained the ability to complement the digital product definition pieces from CAD and PLM solutions, such as CREO CAD and Windchill PLM, with detailed usage information from IoT solutions and the complete service history from ServiceMax. The solution also expanded the directly integrable capabilities of the digital product information thread downstream to what usually falls under the EAM abbreviation – Enterprise Asset Management, or maintenance management – including field service capabilities.
As it all starts to fall into place, not least with the latest added AI capabilities, optimized integration can leverage product definition data from Creo and Windchill, technical publishing capabilities from PTC’s Arbortext software, service and parts management capabilities from PTC’s Servigistics software, IoT and digital twin capabilities from PTC’s ThingWorx solutions, and AR capabilities from PTC’s Vuforia software.
This is a uniquely broad spectrum, matched by few in the PLM industry, that puts PTC in an advantageous position in terms of the holistic models that are increasingly gaining ground on the market. Not least in this context is the role that ServiceMax AI can play in creating digital threads.
“Rapid delivery of
actionable information”
We will quote Joseph June (pictured left) again, this is how he sums up the value of the latest AI steps taken with ServiceMax:
“When we think about the daily reality of a field technician, it is clear that chat is the perfect interface. Chat is powerful because it is consistent with how most people already communicate. Technicians are always on the go – whether they are in their trucks, on the jobsite or in the field. They do not have time to navigate complex systems or sift through long documents. They need actionable information quickly, delivered in a way that they are comfortable with. ServiceMax AI Chat provides exactly that: a natural, efficient and familiar way for technicians to interact with ServiceMax AI. Just as they use ChatGPT and other AI tools in their personal lives, they can now leverage the same intuitive chat experience in their professional work with a system designed exclusively for field service. With just a few typed questions, they can access important information – just like reaching out to a colleague.”
ServiceMax in practical industry life at GE Aviation’s On Wing Support
So, in practical industry life, how is ServiceMax used? A good example comes from aerospace company GE Aviation. With a worldwide network of dispatch and quick turn engine maintenance facilities, GE Aviation’s On Wing Support provides over 4,500 rapid repair solutions a year to more than 250 customers globally. Their technicians are OEM-trained and offer 24/7 Aircraft On Ground (AOG) support to get planes back in the air quickly, as well as perform repairs at the flight line for all GE and CFM engines to avoid flight delays. From Dallas to Dubai, On Wing Support’s 300 service technicians are always ready to provide rapid engine maintenance for their commercial airline customers around the world. To make sure they’re dispatching the right technician to the right job, On Wing Support turned to ServiceMax’s dedicated field service solution.
“Our SLAs guarantee that we’ll have engineers on the ground within 24 hours—and ServiceMax helps us deliver on that promise,” commented Kevin Geiger, Regional Service Director, GE Aviation, On Wing Support, in a PTC case story.
What were the challenges? Christine Duborg, staff technical project manager for GE Aviation, points at the urgent need of care which characterizes the airlione business.
“We have every airport code in the world loaded into our database and can be anywhere our customers need us to be,” she says. Specifically emphazising On Wing Support’s promises to have technicians on the ground within 24-hours. Prior to ServiceMax, they handled their service organization through their ERP system. However, it was challenging to pull crucial details about a technician’s location and experience that would help dispatch the right person to the right job.
This background given On Wing Support moved all its field service management capabilities, including job management, maintenance costing, and invoicing, to ServiceMax. Duborg added that the focus is on customizing the ServiceMax modules, scheduling, contracts, warranty, entitlements, mobile, and work order debrief, to reduce the administrative time for the field service technicians.
