ATCO Gas deployed over 80 rugged Toughbook tablet devices, vehicle-mounted across its mobile workforce. The result: greater service efficiency and safety by replacing paper-based processes with automated systems supported by Panasonic Toughbooks.
Western Australia’s largest natural gas distribution company, ATCO Gas Australia, owns and maintains a network extending through over 13,500km of gas mains and service lines to provide connections to approximately 683,000 customers in Western Australia including residential users, businesses such as restaurants and large-scale industrial users. To service this large-scale enterprise, customer service teams are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to respond to gas odour calls and emergencies involving natural gas.
ATCO Gas and Toughbook join forces
When ATCO Gas wanted to go high-tech and incorporate a Field Mobility project to achieve greater service efficiency and safety by replacing paper-based processes with automated systems, Toughbook CF-H2 Field Tablets were chosen to carry out this important job.
Incorporating the Field Mobility solution has enabled ATCO Gas to bring the latest technology to field staff, allowing them to become a modern mobile field force.
“The Toughbook CF-H2 Field Tablets were chosen for their rugged capability and have been received very positively by the field team. The tablets support the mission-critical service delivery required by ATCO Gas, and have proven to be robust and reliable in the harsh day-to-day environment experienced by crews. They are built to withstand extremes of temperature, with a sealed magnesium-alloy chassis that is resistant to dust and water.” – Alan Dixon, President ATCO Gas Australia
The benefits of field mobile Toughbooks
ATCO Gas Australia deployed over 80 rugged Toughbook tablet devices, vehicle-mounted across its mobile workforce. The Toughbooks have been installed in the ATCO Gas fleet of duty vehicles to replace their aging and unreliable mobile fax service.
Under the old system, communication and status updates with the field workforce was limited to mobile phones and trunk radios. Field crew locations and status had to be verbally communicated, while job dispatch and management was paper-based, with dispatchers and planners faxing job information to the crews.
The new electronic, paperless system used by field and office staff eliminates the need to receive and complete paperwork for every job. Allocation, receipt and completion of job notifications now occur in real-time, and risk assessments are completed electronically by field staff on their tablets at the start of each job. Instant messaging has also been implemented between the field staff and the control room.
“Panasonic has been deploying rugged tablet devices for more than 15 years. Toughbooks are built from the ground up to deliver rugged reliability in the extreme, remote and sometimes dangerous locations where utilities companies like ATCO operate.” – Jason Lee, Toughbook Product Marketing Manager, Panasonic Australia
Field Mobility: Electronic, paperless system used by field and office staff
• Allocation, receipt and completion of job notifications occur in real-time
• Take 5 Job Risk Assessments completed electronically at the start of each job
• Eliminates the need to receive and complete physical paperwork for every job notification
• Users can access procedure and safety manuals and other job attachments such as Dial Before You Dig plans.
• Access to GIS maps (shows the location of gas reticulation assets
• Handwritten drawing and notes can be added electronically to a job notification
• Instant messaging capability between Field and Office staff
Following on from the success of the project, ATCO Gas Australia is planning to continue to expand the solution to maintenance crews across Western Australia.
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