Industries:
|
Offering Groups:
|
Solution Areas:
|
Regions:
|
Challenges:
|
Benefits:
|
Southern California Edison (SCE)
Fujitsu pen tablet PCs streamline processes for electricity field engineers
Southern California Edison (SCE) is a US electricity company serving over 11 million people throughout a territory exceeding 80,000 square kilometres in Southern California. The nation's second largest electricity utility, it operates more than 14,000 megawatts of generating capacity and manages a 19,300km-long power grid.
SCE is in the process of integrating nearly 1,000 Fujitsu Stylistic pen tablets, which are used to simplify the gathering and processing of information generated at various off-site locations. With the Windows-compatible pen tablets, the company has eliminated multiple support activities by merging them into simplified single-step transactions. SCE is enjoying the benefits of a dramatic reduction in time spent on office support activities and enhanced overall productivity.
Randy Daffern, Process Management Manager at SCE, is directly involved in the company's day-to-day use of Fujitsu's Stylistic pen tablets. He explained that SCE had been looking for a means to enable its workers at remote locations to complete jobs "on the spot" in order to streamline the company's data processing procedures. One of the challenges SCE faced was that these workers lacked extensive training in computer use; consequently, they required products that were easy for computer novices to learn. "The high-performance pen tablets have provided a quick, easy-to-use means for workers to input information while standing or walking - a natural solution for SCE's application," said Daffern.
It took over two years for SCE to find a pen tablet solution which best met the company's requirements. Six members of SCE's field staff plus two corporate personnel rated products on the basis of cost, ergonomics, speed, screen size and ruggedness. They evaluated vendors for their support capabilities and long-term corporate viability.
After conducting hands-on tests of Fujitsu's products over several months in 1994, and again two years later, the company selected the Stylistic pen tablets over offerings from IBM, Hammerhead, Norand, and Telxon. SCE chose the Stylistic tablets because of their superior price/performance, flexibility and ergonomics, as well as Fujitsu's commitment to and leadership role in the pen computing market.
Field solutions
Fujitsu's pen tablets are used by SCE in several applications, including field engineering, field accounting and maintenance inspection. The field engineering application is used to establish work, draft detailed maps for construction sites, decide material requirements, order materials, and create accounting documentation necessary for placing work orders. The field accounting application allows SCE construction crews to record labour and material installations and report this information to corporate accounting systems and structure records. The applications for the maintenance inspection system allow workers to inspect electrical structures in the field and report on them for maintenance activities.
One of SCE's key benefits from using pen tablets is the reduction of time required from office support staff to process off-site documentation. Fujitsu's pen tablets enable field staff to record information into the system only once while actively working at various locations.
The pen tablets have also eliminated the need to supply and maintain cumbersome reference materials at off-site locations. Now the most up-to-date information from construction manuals and engineering tables is stored directly on the pen tablets for easy and convenient access.
Because of the dramatic improvements these pen tablets have made to the company's data processing procedures, SCE has begun a full implementation of approximately 1,000 units. Daffern estimates that about 15 percent of his staff will use pen computers, 10 percent will use laptops and the remaining 75 percent will use desktop workstations.
Daffern is confident with the selection made for SCE. "The service Fujitsu provides is excellent," said Daffern. "This, in conjunction with competitive costs and innovative solutions to technical and financial challenges, will help make Fujitsu an excellent partner in the future when we hope to expand our field applications."
