National Grid — Utility and Telecom Fleets Magazine ... - AssetWorks

14 UTILITY & TELECOM FLEETS | M A R C H 2 0 0 7
Overall, Warner reports that CJ
Miller has seen significant savings since
implementing the ShopFax management
system. In particular, fleet utilization
is up 12 percent due in part to a
reduction in downtime. “Based on
benchmarks we established,” he also
relates, “we saved $886,000 in the first
full year we had the system and $2.284
million last year. ShopFax has proven
that it’s efficient, reliable and effective
because it gives us the knowledge to
understand our needs.”
National Grid*
MAXIMUS FleetFocus
www.assetsolutions.maximus.com
With a fleet of approximately 5,770
vehicles that travels an estimated 46
million miles annually providing electric
and gas service to its customers,
National Grid relies extensively on fleet
management software to keep its vast
operation in motion. For the utility’s
Fleet Management Department, the
most effective choice of software is the
MAXIMUS FleetFocus solution.
Today, the fleet department consists of
240 employees, including 179 technicians
and 22 supervisors working from
36-staffed garages.
Through acquisitions, National Grid
has become the largest electricity transmission
and distribution network in the
New England/New York region and now
provides electricity and natural gas services
to a growing number of customers. The
company’s experience with FleetFocus
began at the New England Electric
System (NEES) before it was acquired in
2000, and following the acquisition of
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation in
2003, FleetFocus was chosen as the system
to run the combined fleet.
“No two fleet departments implement
software in quite the same way,”
states Archie Bernardi, Manager of
Fleet Performance and Contract
Management for National Grid.
“When faced with mergers and acquisitions,
the challenge is to get everyone
on the same page as quickly as possible
while ensuring existing and new best
practices are implemented. We avoid
the headaches that come from costly
custom configurations and ground up
re-implementation by relying on the
built-in scalability of FleetFocus. The
software’s flexibility is critical to managing
our fleet’s growth.”
To address the challenges posed by
mergers, National Grid has relied on
MAXIMUS and a cross functional team
that includes fleet supervisors to evaluate
and develop company-wide policies,
procedures and FleetFocus system software
standards. Today, this core team
has become an ongoing committee driving
continuous improvement, expansion
and support. In addition, National
Grid’s IT Department seamlessly integrates
the software into the corporate
system building necessary interfaces
with work management, time entry,
financial and fuel management systems,
and updates them automatically from
multiple locations across multiple states.
FleetFocus has also added functionality
to National Grid’s utility fleet
operations in several areas, including
implementing fixed rate vehicle pricing
to effectively charge back clients for
vehicle use. Covering approximately
160 maintenance classes, the system
also adds actual fuel consumption and
costs to the monthly charge on a vehicle-by-vehicle
basis. This process is
credited with helping National Grid
operating departments manage fleet
assets by providing them with detailed
vehicle utilization information.
Other benefits of FleetFocus at
National Grid include capturing and
more accurately tracking employee
labor, as well as warranty claims to
ensure covered repairs to vehicles are
reimbursed. National Grid’s Fleet
Department has also developed performance
reports that shed light on key
metrics down to the garage level. This
information is used on an ongoing basis
to reduce costs and monitor trends and
identify areas for improvement.
In the summer of 2006, National
Grid completed an acquisition of New
England Gas and based on work done
during previous mergers, put the
FleetFocus application in place to manage
the company’s vehicle assets. In
addition, National Grid Fleet supervisors
quickly trained technicians and
staff. In February 2006, National Grid