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Mobile Computing


Utilities Opt to Automate Crew Scheduling, streamline work

For many utilities, scheduling each day’s construction and restoration work means manually organizing and keeping tabs on ever-changing crew schedules and resources. Managers meticulously update whiteboards dotted with color-coded magnets representing crews and trucks. Augmenting the...

Rugged Tablets for Utility Fleet Vehicles

In reports analyzing the response of power utilities to incidents such as Hurricane Sandy, or the more recent ice storms on the east coast, one item has been remarkably consistent—the conclusion that communication requires improvements. The concern is not hard to fathom. Knowing accurately when...

Telematics and GPS Tracking


The Truth About Field Data Management

Field data management: The value and challenge of asset health insight BY PAUL BARNETT, JOHN STEWART, Tennessee Valley Authority & PAT BROWN, Electric Power Research Institute Intelligent management and operation of assets is of major importance to electric utilities. In an era where assets are...

Casting Doubts on Global Positioning

Many fleet executives working at electric utilities have doubts about implementing global positioning system (GPS) tracking technology into their fleet operations. A number of doubts exist. For example, GPS technologies are designed to track a vehicle’s whereabouts; this can lead to trust issues...

Technology Adoption and Integration


Fleet Management Technology Report

Exploiting the full potential of global positioning system software BY RYAN DRISCOLL, GPS Insight North American electric utilities experience a number of challenges when managing fleet vehicles such as digger derricks and bucket trucks. A few of these include fuel consumption costs, maintenance...

ENHANCING REMOTE WORKER SAFETY

Remote field operations present the safety organization with a myriad of challenges when it comes to ensuring the safety of the people that you send out to work in the field every day. Without a doubt, this includes the line workers, but it also includes nearly every member of the staff whose...

Fleet Management

Fleet-wide Winch Line Standarization

Inspection, training, and safety support from the factory floor

BY BILL PUTNAM, Yale Cordage

Among the many tools on an electrical utility vehicle, the most widely and heavily used is the winch line. Offering the versatility of pulling, lifting, and setting equipment, the winch is found at the center of numerous critical tasks in the field. However, in the context of what the winch line is attached to—a truck often costing upwards of a quarter-million...

Fleet Management Articles