You may already have heard the term ‘white glove logistics’ and figure it must be technical, and, of course, you would be right. The definition of white glove logistics is the transportation, handling and installation of technical equipment, and the white glove logistics services are in great demand in many business sectors. There are many challenges involved in the transportation and installation of technical equipment, which makes the white glove technician’s work more than a little interesting.
Final Mile Delivery
When a large and very expensive piece of equipment such as an MRI Scanner is due to be delivered to a hospital, the white glove team would meet the consignment at a pre-agreed location and they would take control from that time until the installation is complete. As you can imagine, handling and manoeuvring such a piece of equipment certainly has its challenges, what with awkward bays, corridors and even staircases. The delivery needs careful planning and the white glove team have numerous special tools they use to make sure the equipment is located correctly and when this is done, the equipment is then configured, tested and pronounced ready for use.
Manufacturer Approved Technicians
Such is the level of complexity with very technical equipment, the equipment manufacturer will not permit any unauthorised personnel to work on the equipment and the white glove technician spends a lot of time learning about new equipment in order to receive approval to carry out the installation. With full technical installation at Rhenus High Tech with technicians who are approved by the equipment manufacturer.
Reverse Logistics
There are occasions when equipment malfunctions or it has reached the end of its life, which is known as reverse logistics. The white glove team disassemble the equipment and transport it to a destination of the manufacturer’s choosing and, in some cases, a replacement item of equipment is installed. In the event equipment cannot be repaired on site, the white glove team would handle the logistics and return the equipment to the factory.
High-Tech Warehousing
Huge corporations like Amazon use state of the art warehouse storage systems where most of the processes are fully automated and these systems must be installed and managed by technical experts. If you would like to learn more about automated warehousing, a Google search will bring up a list of providers and they would be happy to show you the various systems they install. Click here for an article about how GPS tracking assists the logistics sector, which is relatively new technology.
IT Hardware Removal
If a company wishes to replace all of their IT hardware, this would be a job for the white glove logistics team, who are authorised for WEEE disposal and in most cases, the hardware is to be replaced, which is also the domain of white glove logistics. The technicians are able to create LAN and other networks and can even teach the office staff how to administrate the network.
New Product Tuition
A large portion of the white glove technician’s time is spent learning about new equipment, which can be intense and once over, the technician is certified to work with that specific equipment. It is normal for a technician to specialise in the equipment they work with; ATMs and other technical bank equipment, for example, would require mobile teams that work on nothing else and are approved by the banks to install, service and repair their equipment. Other teams would focus on medical equipment, servicing hospitals across the UK, while others specialise in digital signage and vending machines.
Robotics
The manufacturing sector is being revolutionised by advanced robotics that is controlled by AI and the installation and maintenance of robotic equipment is a specialised area that white glove logistics covers. Many factories are already using automated manufacturing systems and the white glove logistics provider handles the transportation and installation of advanced robotics equipment and in the event there is a malfunction, the white glove team would be called in.
Access Control Systems
The access control systems at London Underground stations and sports arenas are handled by white glove logistics teams and that would include repairs and maintenance, so there would be 24/7 coverage. You can imagine the difficulty involved with manoeuvring sections of the equipment to the final destination, where it will be installed and such projects require careful planning in order to be implemented correctly. Installation and maintenance work is often carried out at night, when the system is idle, which is the only time the system is not working.
Digital Signage
Touch-screen information boards are appearing in all of our cities and the transportation, installation and repair is the domain of the white glove team. This equipment is found in museums, shopping malls and on the exterior of buildings and large displays come in many pieces and require calibration upon installation.
Collaborated Learning
Sometimes a single technician attends an equipment workshop and passes on the new knowledge to other employees and by rotating this duty, the team develops a lot more product knowledge. The white glove technician has to learn constantly, enabling him to work on specific equipment, while product certification is a major aspect of their work, which is vital if they are to have the knowledge to install the range of equipment.
If you have a background in electrical engineering, there’s no reason why you can’t train to become a white glove technician and one thing is certain, you will always be I high demand.
The white glove logistics team works tirelessly in the background to assure that hi-tech equipment is installed and maintained and a large provider would have depots across mainland Europe as well as in the United Kingdom. Multi-national corporations take out annual contracts with such logistics providers, who handle a wide range of tasks concerning the maintenance of systems and much of the work is carried out outside of regular office hours.