Leveraging GPS to Boost Efficiency (and Revenue):
The Current Mechanical Story

Over the past three decades, Current Mechanical has established themselves as a reliable and successful commercial contractor in northeast Indiana, generating $20 million in sales revenue in 2006. Headquartered in Fort Wayne, Current is a service business operating 365 days a year on a 24/7 basis, and a member of the Linc Service® network. They handle mechanical work for major industrial building projects in the area, including process piping, heating/cooling, ventilation and refrigeration. Current has always been family-owned and proud of the reputation they’ve earned for quality work and attentive customer service.

Current first learned about GPS technology five years ago, and realized it could help them to manage their fleet more efficiently. “But we thought at that point we should wait until the costs came down and the technology became more established,” said Pete Smith, Current’s General Manager. Recently they renewed their search for the right GPS solution for their needs, and after much research chose Navtrak. “Other companies in our industry told us they were impressed with Navtrak’s product, and their people,” Smith explained. “They had the features we were most interested in.”

Current Mechanical operates a fleet of 32 vehicles, including service vans, utility pickups, delivery trucks and sedans. Their objectives for Navtrak were to increase driver productivity, improve response times to customers and cut down on practices that were wasting the company’s time and money. According to Smith, senior management at Current realized that a GPS tracking system would eliminate the inefficiencies and abuses they knew were occurring, and “if that would gain us at least one more billable call per day for each driver, it would increase our revenue.”

And while Smith admits that they wanted their employees to know their activities were being monitored, “we made it clear to them that getting Navtrak was primarily about increasing our overall efficiency so we could become more profitable. To be honest, I anticipated initially that we might lose a couple employees over it, but we didn’t lose anybody. Most of them realize that the technology is coming for everybody, and that in five years, every service company is going to have this on their vehicles.”

In addition to Smith, Current’s service manager, service dispatcher and warehouse manager are all using the Navtrak system daily to keep abreast of their fleet’s activity in real-time. Barb Baus manages dispatching for the organization, and says using Navtrak has made her job much easier: “I give it super-high marks ... it’s wonderfully easy to use, and comes in very handy for me every day. I’d say it’s close to a perfect system.”

• Unauthorized vehicle usage (during work hours) - Smith knew that drivers were taking long lunches, visiting other work sites, and lingering on runs to supply stores. "Guys figure they can get away with it because they're on a time and material call, and we're just going to back-charge the customer for that anyway," Smith said. But that didn't match up with Current's commitment to treating customers fairly.
  
• Unauthorized vehicle usage (after work hours) - Because they allow most of their drivers to take their vehicles home after work hours, Current needed a way to guard against unnecessary -- and costly -- abuses of that convenience. Side jobs and using company trucks for recreational purposes are common practices, Smith stated, but not acceptable according to company policy.
  
• Dispatching inefficiencies - With a growing fleet and a blind eye to where each driver was at a given time, efficient dispatching was becoming a major concern for Current. They wanted to be able to respond to customer calls and emergencies with increased speed and accurate information, so that drivers could be routed and re-routed quickly according to demand.
  
• Fuel economy - Fuel is a major expense for any fleet, but Smith felt that some of that loss could be prevented. "If we could just cut out inefficiencies in our driving, we could potentially save a good amount each month," he said. "But we didn't have a way to quantify (the inefficiencies)."

• "A safer fleet" - Smith has been pleased by the fact that, since Navtrak was installed, his drivers were behaving in a much more responsible manner. Both speeding and fuel consumption have been cut dramatically, saving Current money and helping their employees to stay safe and on the job.
  
• Marked reduction in unauthorized vehicle usage - Current was up-front with their employees about implementing Navtrak, and as noted earlier, the response from employees has been positive. "We told them they’re taking home a $30,000 investment that the company's made, and we want to protect that investment," recalled Smith. The significant reduction in side usage has decreased their monthly operational costs.
  
• Enhanced dispatching capabilities - Baus confirmed that Navtrak has definitely enhanced Current's dispatching capabilities: "Now I'm aware of where our drivers are at all times, whether they're on the road or at a job site. We get a lot of customers calling and wanting to know when our guys are coming, and with Navtrak I can look at the map and say five minutes, or ten minutes, or he's pulling up in your driveway. It's very impressive to them, and very helpful to me."
  
• Incentive for new sales - Current not only has found value with Navtrak in terms of increased efficiency, but also for increased sales as well. "We actually proclaim to prospective clients that all our vehicles have GPS on them," said Smith. "We use it as a sales tool, and a lot of people like that."
  
• Ease of use - Both Baus and Smith noted that they were able to learn how to use Navtrak very quickly, and haven't found the system to be complicated or difficult to get results from. For a major contractor managing multiple vehicles across multiple job sites and handling a constant stream of customer calls, this is no small thing. Current knew they couldn't afford to be slowed down with a long and drawn-out implementation.
  

Navtrak has enabled Current Mechanical to become more productive and profitable and has strengthened their reputation as a trustworthy and responsive commercial contractor. Implementing the system was simply the next step forward in Current's long tradition of service and excellence. Smith sums it up this way: "We wanted to become more efficient, more responsive to our clients, and to have some accountability within our fleet. Navtrak has helped us to achieve these goals."

A Navtrak Success Story
Navtrak, Inc.
www.navtrak.net