Introducing |
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A project has been approved to introduce mobile Pocket PC or Personal Hand Held Computers into the Wormald Portable Fire Equipment business as stage one of a technology enhancement project. The goal of the project is to efficiently automate the dissemination, collection and processing of test and inspection data. The solution makes use of mobile personal computers communicating via a wireless network, much like a mobile phone, to transfer information that has traditionally been printed on hard copy run sheets, distributed and processed manually. |
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Project Background Wormald has previously implemented a system that electronically transfers service calls direct from the company’s ERP System (PRONTO), to a mobile phone carried by our Fixed Field Service Personnel. This project is known as mService (Mobile Service).
This technology works by transmitting a service call from the office or despatch desk to the field personnel. It allows the field personnel to accept and execute a work request, thereby confirming a specific activity directly into our reporting system electronically through GPRS technology.
The Portable Fire Equipment business has elected to enhance this initiative, by firstly utilising the current technology, and further incorporating the standard routine inspection associated with portable fire equipment as an addition to the existing scope of works for mService.
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Overview The mobile hand held computer application called XFire (crossfire) provides a mobile service job management tool. It contains a list of service jobs assigned to the service technicians, allows the technician to accept new jobs, and to perform the routine maintenance associated with the service process.
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Each month routine testing data is transmitted to mobile personal computers carried by the individual Field Portable Technicians. The information transmitted enables the Technician to identify the precise piece of fire equipment (Fire Extinguisher, Fire Hose Reel, Fire Blanket, etc.) scheduled for routine maintenance. Also available on the device is the location of the equipment, the level of maintenance to be carried out, as well as any other information relevant to the particular service. The Technician uses the device to scan a barcode attached to the equipment which locates the data required for inspection. Once all equipment associated with a particular location has been inspected and updated, the customer is then able to review all work performed and sign off on the job for acceptance. Upon validation of works performed the data is then transmitted to the company’s central computer system.
All information is reviewed by the office administrators prior to invoicing.
The invoicing process will be automated direct to the customer at a future date.
It must be noted that the Record of Service documentation will now be sent with the invoice and not left on site as previously experienced.
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This project is well underway with a pilot scheduled for later this year on a small group of metropolitan based technicians. It will then be progressively deployed throughout the country.
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The deployment of this project will start in Sydney with a pilot planned for August – September 2005.
Wormald is currently installing Bar Codes to all of our clients existing Extinguishers, Hose Reels and Fire Blankets in preparation for full deployment on metropolitan sites expected October 2005.
It is intended that the project will be implemented over time, starting;
Sydney October 2005
Brisbane December 2005
Melbourne December 2005
Adelaide January 2006
Perth January 2006
Stage 2: Will include all regional sites throughout Australia and will be implemented progressively during 2006.
Stage 3: New Zealand to be introduced with deployment expected mid 2006.
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Inspection of equipment. Each service site could have a number of items of equipment associated with it. All items of equipment must be accounted for and marked either pass or fail. In addition the technician can flag an item for removal to the workshop. An item can be removed to the workshop for numerous reasons but will most often be an extinguisher that requires a Level 4 service routine.
Each time a service process is completed, the required details, signature and parts associated with the process is sent back immediately to the interface database.
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Form Navigation. An overview of the application forms, including the navigation between forms, is shown below.
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The Process illustrated below provides a high level end to end overview of the procedure.
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The Device selected for this project is an Intermec 761 and is part of Intermec’s rugged enterprise mobility range of products. The device is specifically designed for use in harsh environments and can withstand multiple 5-ft. (1.5 m) drops to concrete and is sealed against rain and dust. Radio and scanner options are integrated, not add-ons, which means they are tested to the same ruggedness standards, and don’t compromise the environmental or functional characteristics of the unit.
