“Destiny technology has helped us to transform the administration of a major client contract, and has brought big benefits in time and costs savings. We’re now able to collect essential job information far more quickly and accurately than before, together with important photographic evidence.”
Rob Youster, IT Operations Manager, Edmund Nuttall Limited
 
The challenge

Edmund Nuttall Limited undertakes a full range of civil engineering activities for large and small scale projects, in partnership with both public and private sectors. The company’s dedicated Infrastructure Maintenance facility handles complex road and rail schemes, often working in alliance with clients. Cheshire County Council appointed Nuttall as its term highways contractor in late 2004, with responsibility for providing emergency cover, winter service, ground maintenance, street lighting maintenance and renewals, road marking and safety schemes, bridge works and resurfacing.

With up to 100,000 jobs per year completed by Nuttall crews across Cheshire County Council, maintenance sheets play a critical role in collecting information such as materials used, road name, job number, defect category, asset type, type of work and crew number. The traditional process involved job sheets being completed on site, and then driven back to the depot to be faxed though to head office, where they were scanned or filed, and entered into a computer system. With up to 400 faxes a day, job sheets sometimes went missing and data was being re-entered several times, with the risk of mistakes.

Recognising the need for a more efficient system, Nuttall introduced digital pen technology from Destiny. Rob Youster, Nuttall’s IT Operations Manager, was clear about the objectives: “We set out to improve efficiency and accuracy both for the client and for ourselves as the contractor, while also bringing cost benefits to both parties. We share the data collected in the field, so we have a common interest in making it as accurate as possible. In addition, we wanted to introduce photographic evidence to record the defect and the completed work.”

The solution

Armed with Destiny technology, workmen now use digital pen and paper to complete their job sheets, and then transmit them instantly via Bluetooth mobile phones, together with a time and date stamp. The handwritten forms are automatically converted into data files, and graphic files which can be viewed on-line and verified against the originals. Any queries on job sheets can be resolved on the same day that the work is carried out.

A key aspect of the application is that workmen can use their mobile phones to take “before and after” photos of repairs, and transmit them electronically together with the completed forms. These are then stored in a Cheshire Highways on-line photo gallery, with full search and view facilities and links to job information.

One of the primary benefits of digital pen and paper technology is that its principles are so familiar that very little training or change to existing working practices is required. As Rob Youster says: “People are used to filling out forms. I don’t know of any other system that can do so much with information supplied by a guy with a shovel standing by the side of the road. And it’s incomparably more efficient than the previous manual method.”

The results

Edmund Nuttall’s use of Destiny technology has produced startling results. Client inspections are down 50%, with corresponding savings in fuel costs and mileage. Quality control inspections by the contractor have been reduced by 80%. 27 inspector man days per year have been saved on verifying completed work, and 54 inspector man days per year saved in travelling. 46 hours per week have been saved faxing job sheets – equivalent to 101 days over a year. Environmental benefits are also significant, with reduced fuel consumption and more than 100,000 pieces of A4 paper saved. Six hours per day have been saved in re-entering data, and seven hours per week in filing job sheets. Office space has also been reduced, with less need for paper storage. The total estimated combined financial saving for Cheshire Highways and Edmund Nuttall is well over £80,000 per year.

There are important operational benefits too. For Cheshire County Council, time and date stamping can provide crucial data in defending third party claims for accidents on the public highways. They can also have confidence in real time data being available accurately and efficiently, and in work being carried out “right first time.”

Nuttall site operatives now have a system that’s quick and easy to use, with less paperwork and no bulky hardware to carry. And the company is gaining generally from single-point data capture, easy recording of KPI information, and significantly reduced administration.