Jan/Feb 2006

Automated routing and scheduling is said to have transformed the job planning function of a leading independent meter-reading specialist, Lowri Beck Services.

The company has integrated the TruckStops routing and scheduling system from MapMechanics into its own in-house mobility application, and says this has not only relieved field teams of the route-planning task - potentially improving productivity - but also reduced travel time and distance. The system is now planning the routing of over 10,000 visits a day.

Previously, visits were allocated centrally to the dispersed network of meter-reading staff, who then had to plan their own call sequences for the week. Now the company's Oracle-based in-house work management system feeds call requests to GeoConcept, the geographic information also supplied by MapMechanics, and the routing team use this interactively to allocate the jobs.

The calls are then passed to TruckStops, which automatically schedules them optimally, respecting time window constraints and other detailed requirements.

 

These pre-planned schedules are then fed via the GPRS server directly to the handheld terminals or PDAs carried by the operatives. The result: a significant reduction in "dead time" travelling between locations, and the opportunity to reschedule as necessary.

The system has delivered "huge business savings," says managing director Bob Vernon. It has also helped the company compete on a more equal footing with other, larger meter-reading organisations, he adds.

Lowri Beck handles meter-reading for around a dozen electricity, gas and water suppliers such as EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power.