Feb/March 2007

It can be instructive to know how field service operations are run over on the other side of the Atlantic, where distances are greater and the numbers of users are often larger than in the UK.

Patterson Dental, which provides consumable dental products, clinical and laboratory equipment to dentists, dental laboratories, institutions and other healthcare providers, has just put in a mobile solution involving 654 of the 815 field service technicians at its 70 US branch offices.

At the heart of the system is the GoBook III laptop computer range from Itronix Corporation. These are running customised software developed internally by Patterson's information technology staff.

Alongside the computers, the company is using portable printers from Extech Data Systems. It has chosen the S3750THS series battery-operated 3in thermal model, which in fact was suggested by Itronix. They incorporate a Fujitsu print mechanism, which is said to reduce print time per receipt significantly compared with previous models. Patterson has also added 802.11b wireless networking capability with WPA security.

Until recently Paterson ran an entirely paper-based operation. Whether it was producing customer receipts or filling out parts order sheets, the company's field service technicians were required to perform the process manually, writing out the information by hand on triplicate forms.

The company says the system has increased productivity and reduced mistakes, as well as making the right impression on customers in terms of the service levels offered.