Next Stop: Information Age

With more than 500 rail systems operating in 10 cities across the country, Sacramento-based STS needed to find a more efficient way to track inspection reports, said Kevin McGrew, director of quality assurance at the STS Vehicle Division. The company turned to mobile solution provider Bear River Associates, Oakland, Calif.

Before Bear River's system was up and running, each STS inspector would comb through railroad cars,clipboard in hand,noting what needed repair. An inspection report was then placed in a three-ring binder that remained on the vehicle. Later, photocopies of those reports were distributed to production crews, which would fix the problems and document those repairs in the binder.

"Up to 40 percent of an inspector's time was dedicated to administering paper rather than managing the inspection process," McGrew said. And because the binder was so often changing hands, it sometimes got lost, he said.

McGrew put together a team of about seven inspectors and production staffers to develop a project specification for computerizing their workloads. The group sketched out how they thought the computer forms should look and what elements should be available in drop-down menus.

"We strongly encouraged STS to develop the specification as a group," said Bear River President Anthony Meadow. "There's nothing like having people involved in the design of a solution. It helps us meet their needs and helps get users to buy into the system."

That was particularly important at STS, because most of its staff were unaccustomed to working with high-tech devices, McGrew said.

To power the solution, Bear River used several user-friendly applications. The mobile inspection system was developed using Satellite Forms from PumaTech and Microsoft Access.

Bear River deployed Palm handhelds so inspectors could document their findings without a need for pen and paper. All of the documented information is then synced with the back-end database at the end of each day. Also, inspectors can use the handhelds' infrared capabilities to send work orders to the production crews.

Meadow said Satellite Forms would be easier for STS to modify than forms based on a Bear River C++ application. The solution provider went with Access for similar reasons. "We did the initial Access reports, but STS can continue to create reports of their own," Meadow said.

McGrew chose the Palm platform primarily because of price. STS is using models that cost less than $150 each, so it's relatively inexpensive to replace lost devices, he said.

McGrew is already calling the solution, which was rolled out this past January, a success. He said inspectors, having helped develop the solution, immediately accepted the new technology. Many have even begun to use the handhelds to manage their schedules and read e-mail.

And this is just the beginning, said McGrew, who plans to work with Bear River in the future to expand the solution by adding digital cameras, wireless capabilities and a link to STS' ERP system.

"This has been a real shot in the arm for my staff, technically," he said.