It's a common predicament for many small companies. Business is growing, but so is the amount of work coming in. To handle more business without adding overhead, companies have to get more efficient, and in some cases, more creative.
Excell Refrigeration in South Carolina
The 20-year-old company has grown steadily by providing construction and repair services on large refrigeration systems in supermarkets and other commercial enterprises. As Excell's business has grown, so has the paperwork. Excell has a four-person office staff to support 21 field technicians, who bill customers on a time-and-material basis. The company considered hiring another administrative worker to handle the growing amount of paperwork, but that also meant a 25% increase in Excell's non-revenue-generating workforce.
Excell gets creative
Like many small businesses, Excell turned to technology to increase its operating efficiency. Excell President Glenn Taylor and Service Manager Mike Driscoll had already implemented a leading software solution in the back office for service management, dispatching, and billing. Their next step was to find a way to apply those same efficiencies to the field technicians. Not only could this eliminate the need for an additional administrative position, it could also give Excell a competitive edge by improving customer service.
To increase efficiency in the field, Taylor and Driscoll knew they would need to find a mobile technology solution. First, they did their homework, confirming that their back-office software included mobile capabilities. Then they started looking for mobile devices that could support their dispatch, reporting, and billing operations.
Going rugged
Early on, Taylor and Driscoll determined that any mobile devices they used would need to be rugged. "Refrigeration repair technicians working in and around mechanical rooms need rugged devices that can withstand some abuse," Taylor said. "It's not that the techs don't care for their equipment—but it's a work area, not an office."
Based on this requirement and other considerations, Driscoll and Taylor came up with a solution using a Recon rugged handheld computer from Tripod Data Systems (TDS) (a Trimble company) and an MtP400 mobile thermal printer from Printek Incorporated.
The Recon rugged handheld gives Excell technicians multiple capabilities in a compact, extremely rugged package. For instance, Excell added GPRS to one of the Recon's two CompactFlash slots so technicians can receive their work orders wirelessly. The Recon's CF slots give users flexibility in customizing each handheld as needed. Currently, Excell uses an off-the-shelf solution for wide-area access using GPRS cards. But according to Dale Kyle, rugged handheld product manager at Trimble, "they can also reconfigure the Recon's mobile computing platform later if they need a different solution, such as a vehicle-area network using a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot."
Excell's Service Manager Mike Driscoll uses the handheld computer and mobile printer to create a punch-list of customer service items.
Taylor and Driscoll chose the Printek MtP400 mobile thermal printer for its features as well as its rugged design. "Not only has the printer been dropped from four feet up, it rolled six feet after the fall," Driscoll said. "Accidents happen, but these devices keep on working despite them."
The MtP400's 4-inch format and 80-column capabilities were also key selling points. "Our previous field documentation was in a full-page format," Driscoll explained. "We didn't want to put a lot of effort into redesigning the forms. The 80-column format on 4-inch paper allows us to just shrink down our old forms without major changes."
The Trimble Recon and Printek MtP400 mobile printer allow Excell to produce professional looking and accurate documents for its customers.
Adding efficiency and speed to service
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