Panasonic Toughpad tablets automate Ergon Energy’s field-based operations

From Panasonic Toughbook Ergon Energy case study 2015 (Download – PDF 426 KB)

Leading electricity distributor and retailer Ergon Energy has launched a major field operations automation project, with the first phase seeing the rollout of 500 Panasonic rugged tablets.

The Field Force Automation project (FFA) has introduced the Toughpad FZ-G1 tablets into a wide array of varying vehicle types and configurations. Through this, the Toughpad has increased the mobility and efficiency of Ergon’s field crews by enabling them to work either within the vehicle or by taking the Toughpad to the work site. The Toughpads had to meet strict selection criteria to ensure they were fit for purpose in the harsh environments that workers face on a daily basis.

“This is the largest single roll-out of Panasonic Toughpads to date. Over the years, Panasonic has supported a number of Australian energy providers with rugged solutions that meet the demands of the environments they work in, and that ensure organisations don’t lose productivity due to downtime from damaged equipment. We’re now seeing a move to rugged tablet technology to provide greater flexibility in the field. The Toughpad FZ-G1 provides the convenience and portability of a small tablet device coupled with the productivity of a PC and rugged reliability.” – Jason Lee, Product Marketing Manager for Toughbook, Panasonic Australia.

The rugged Toughpad is used in diverse and challenging environments that workers face on a daily basis, from coastal areas to remote mining towns.

The new Toughpads, coupled with an extensive systems integration solution and enhanced processes, are already saving Ergon workers up to as much as 45 minutes on the job per day. This has been achieved through a combination of intelligent job routing, data accuracy improvements and electronic workflows. The company is expecting further efficiencies as it moves to the next phase of the project.

“We as an energy provider have a responsibility of providing the most efficient services to the community. We also realised there is going to be much more competition in the retail electricity market driving more customer service work and with our old processes it would have been difficult for us to scale up without requiring more resources. Therefore we identified the need to revamp our processes by empowering our workforce with technology.” – Jason Ledbury, Program Director for Field Force Automation, Ergon Energy.