Columbus Water Works Increases Driver Productivity by 15 Percent with NexTraq®

Challenge

Established in 1903, Columbus Water Works, a combined utility company that provides drinking water and wastewater services, as well as CSO services, has a large fleet of vehicles throughout various departments. Columbus Water Works needed to be able to track and manage their vehicles that provide service to more than 230,000 residents in a 250 square mile area, including the nearby Ft. Benning military base.

Solution

Columbus Water Works selected the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution after looking at several solutions due to its ease of use and robust functionality. Joey Murphy, Vice President of Finance and Customer Service for Columbus Water Works, said, “The NexTraq solution was very intuitive and provided all the ‘bells and whistles’ we were looking for in a solution. Additionally, we really liked the idling and routing functionality available.” Columbus Water Works proceeded with a pilot program and now has the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution on all 133 vehicles in its fleet.

Results

Originally, purchased to respond quickly to customer requests, the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution proved to be a valuable tool to increase customer satisfaction. Murphy said, “Being able to establish the closest vehicle to a customer service call enabled all of our groups – meter reading, meter services, water distribution, and wastewater collection – to respond quickly through a simple message from our dispatchers.”

According to Jason Jay, Asset Manager for Columbus Water Works, “We have improved driver productivity by 15 percent by being able to quickly communicate to the closest driver to a service call.”

However, the greatest benefit to Columbus Water Works has been a 25 percent increase in preventive maintenance tickets. Their fleet manager gets an automated email notification every time a vehicle is due for maintenance. Murphy said, “Our fleet manager was extremely happy when we implemented this feature as he has less vehicle downtime resulting in a more productive fleet operation.”

Additionally, Murphy says the implementation and training process was seamless. Adds Jay, “Once the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution was implemented, it took less than a day before we started running reports. We also have never had a problem with system availability; the NexTraq solution is just that stable and reliable.”

Murphy concludes, “Some of the more surprising benefits were risk management and safety issues. We can now reduce liability if we can prove where a vehicle is located. Moreover, as a steward of the community, we ensure that our drivers adhere to any and every traffic law by tracking speeding and monitoring driver behavior.”

To learn more information about how the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution can increase driver productivity and reduce maintenance costs, contact us online.

About Columbus Water Works:

Columbus Water Works supplies drinking water and provides wastewater treatment to the Columbus area including Fort Benning, as well as parts of Harris and Talbot Counties. They are reaching for extraordinary heights, setting a goal of being the nation’s best provider of utility services. This means not only integrating the delivery of safe water and collection of wastewater for the more than 230,000 residents of the Columbus region, but providing future generations with a legacy of responsible environmental stewardship of the middle Chattahoochee River watershed.