Albert Sanchez is always looking for ways to improve efficiency at Riverside, CA based Johnson Machinery, a Caterpillar earth-moving dealer and Hyster Lift truck dealer that serves the heavy-equipment, power-generation and material-handling needs of Southern California. Sanchez, the vice president of Parts and Support Services, has kept his eye on methods of tracking and monitoring the location of employees to improve efficiency, capture savings and provide superior customer service. "Over the past 10 years, we have seen a need to be able to track where our service trucks are in a more effective manner than having to call by radio or cell phone," he explains.

In September 2003, Sanchez found his answer in Portable Internet, Inc., a 5-year-old Park Ridge, NJ based software company that delivers mobile workforce management solutions using global positioning satellite (GPS), inexpensive wireless phones and Internet technologies. Portable Internet's® software is helping hundreds of companies improve productivity, customer service, profitability and safety.

Johnson Machinery sought to replace an inefficient call-in system that had inherent problems: People would forget to call in as required; a dispatcher might not be manning the desk when the phone rang; and the communications disrupted the workday. The 60-year-old company reviewed many alternatives and the associated costs to finding a flexible system that suited the business and would provide a real return on investment.

Johnson implemented the Portable Internet GPS Tracker™ Edition to track and dispatch field-service trucks and equipment rentals. Between an imperative to reduce soaring fuel costs and to bill clients only for services provided, Johnson needed a real-time solution that was flexible and easy to use. "This has an affordability about it," he says. "The other systems were so expensive that I couldn't see any return on it." Johnson made an initial investment of about $20,000, plus the annual subscription to Portable Internet for 130 users throughout the enterprise. Johnson didn't want a truck-mounted solution that couldn't be turned off, and Portable Internet provided a one-stop approach that incorporated the rugged Nextel®  i58sr mobile phones and laptop PCs already in use at the company.

With Portable Internet's GPS Tracker, Johnson dispatchers can answer a customer call about the availability of technicians and low-bed trucks, used for transporting heavy equipment like forklifts, as quickly as looking at the computer screen. "We run 18 low-bed trucks, and at least half of those are dispatched every hour all day long. We're looking to track the efficiency of our low-bed drivers - how they get from one job site to another and what time they arrive and leave," Sanchez explains. Dispatchers like the tool because they get real-time information rather than waiting to see the timecard the next day. This dramatically improves resource use and ensures fair billing for customers.

The system also helps locate someone who might be late to a call. Sanchez explains, "We might have a customer call in that someone hasn't shown up for a 9 am call, and we can see that he's stuck on the 91 in traffic," a notoriously slow-moving freeway connecting the Inland Empire to California beach cities. "We can give an ETA, or we can show that the guy is actually on the site working."

The implementation of Tracker was relatively easy, but the training process involved a culture change. "We didn't want a 'Big Brother' solution," he emphasizes. And that's a valid concern. Johnson Machinery Co. is a family-owned company that has grown from the original 12 employees to more than 500. The company worked with employees to stress safety and efficiency. "We were only looking to track business-related issues," Sanchez explains. Other training involved teaching dispatchers to monitor one dedicated machine throughout the day in tandem with customer calls and getting employees to turn off the radios, to avoid usage costs and battery drain.

The next step is using Portable Internet's technology to bill real mileage rather than estimated mileage and to create a true time clock. Sanchez says the implementation is not far enough along to quantify savings. But he adds, "Maybe we're driving a few less miles, and we don't have empty low-beds running up and down the highway."

Sanchez is thoroughly satisfied with the deployment. "We've found Portable Internet to be a very worthwhile product," he says. "It's everything that they said it was." From training to support, Portable Internet and Nextel® both deliver.

Now Sanchez is keeping his eye on the mapping aspect of Tracker and plans to evaluate Portable Internet's GPS Forms™, which provides customized forms, work order dispatch and location-stamped data collection. A major goal: being able to bill a customer immediately. "One of the things that we've always wanted to be able to do is substantially shorten the time from the last date of labor (LDL) to invoice. That's how I see Forms may work to our benefit." As quickly as Portable Internet delivers the data, the customer would receive an invoice - adding yet another layer of efficiency to Johnson Machinery's business processes.

Sanchez says he's been recommending the Portable Internet solution to his peers, including those attending a recent Western Area CAT Dealers Association meeting. "Dealers across the country should find out just how easy it is to enable better customer service and improve efficiency using the Portable Internet solution," Sanchez says.