Company: Western Utility Contractors
Industry: Service
Fleet Size: Mid (55 vehicles)
Contact: Mike Lawler, Purchasing & Fleet Manager

Quick Fact: Western Utility Contractors has been in business for 13 years and services Telecommunications as well as Electrical, Sewer, and Water Utilities.

Challenge: Western Utility had several vehicles stolen, only to be recovered days later stripped of over $35,000 in tools. They needed to find a way to prevent any further thefts of company vehicles and their valuable tools. WUC also needed to know where their vehicles were at any given moment so they could be dispatched in case of emergency situations, such as cable or phone outages, traffic signal outages, or sewer and waterline breaks.

How it was solved: Western Utility installed GPS Insight and found it has been the solution to their problems and much more. They initially decided to install GPS Insight tracking units in every fleet vehicle, knowing that while they couldn’t prevent their vehicles from being stolen, at least they would know the vehicle’s location in real time and could relay that information to police before any tools could be taken. The ability to see their vehicles in real-time has allowed for more efficient dispatch, leading to decreased response time. Mike Lawler reported that, “Knowing where our entire fleet is at any given time gives our project managers the capability to efficiently locate and dispatch the nearest crews to respond to any and all emergencies. When we locate the nearest crew, we are able to use the maps provided and route the best (shortest) way to the emergency location. This eliminates managers having to pull up MapQuest to get the suggested route.”

The GPS Insight solution has also helped Western Utility save on fleet operating costs. “The potential areas of savings are many”, Lawler stated. The diagnostic reporting has allowed Western Utility’s mechanics to efficiently maintain the work trucks by “diagnosing problems as they occur, saving us time and money that would have been spent in bringing a vehicle into our shop, hooking up our diagnostic computer, finding the problem, ordering parts and then finally making the repairs”. WUC also reports even further savings on their bottom line from the GPS Insight speeding and excessive idling alerts and reports, which forced drivers to slow down and shut off their vehicles. Mike Lawler said, “I can’t imagine that any company that has a fleet of vehicles big or small would not benefit from a tracking system that pays for itself.”

How Western Utility Contractors believes GPS Insight can help other companies like yours:

• Always knowing your vehicles’ location means service technicians will be more efficiently dispatched, resulting in quicker response times.
• Keeping your vehicles on the road longer by receiving diagnostic trouble codes before engine problems occur.
• Saving on fuel by having your drivers reduce speeding and idling.
  

PDF: 

GPSI_CaseStudy_Western-Utility.pdf