Rain, rain, and even more rain! A perfect day, indeed, for a visit to a newly founded water supply company that is now the largest provider in the Netherlands. In May 2002, Vitens evolved from a merger of the Netherlands' three largest water supply companies: Nuon Water, Waterbedrijf Gelderland, and Waterleiding Maatschappij Overijssel. No less than 1.5 million households, companies and institutions in Friesland, Gelderland, Overijssel, the Northeastern lowlands and a number of communities in Drenthe, rely on Vitens for their supply of drinking water. As such, Vitens is responsible for ensuring the primary necessities of some 4 million people.

Centralization requires a mobile printing solution
Prior to Vitens being founded, the company Waterbedrijf Gelderland went through a reorganization that transitioned it from being a decentralized operation to having a centralized administration. Previously, the water supply company used to operate out of district offices, which were staffed by local people. The field engineers would stop by each day to collect their daily orders and to accomplish various administrative tasks.

Today, all incoming messages (either by telephone, letter, email or fax) from customers are being stored in a central database and the field engineers have a mobile office installed in their service vehicle. Vitens currently uses the Oracle Mobile Field Servicing system to streamline their dispatching operations (i.e. assignment of tasks and orders to the field engineers). Personnel in the customer contact center can now wire the orders to the laptop computer of the field engineer, who uses that information to execute the order and subsequently fulfills his administrative tasks on-site. The system allows the information to be returned into the central database, and subsequently be fed into other IT systems of the Vitens organization (logistics, time administration, customer information, finance, management information). Additionally, it is now possible to visually locate the position of the field engineer by means of a GPS, so that the response time to calamities can be managed more efficiently.

By using the mobile servicing system, the field engineer can drive to the first customer appointment that day without needing to stop at a central office. However, he must have the ability to download the local water network drawings in a digital format from a central database.

"If you have to repair a water pipe that is situated some 50 meters away from the street, it is very impractical if you have to go back and forth each time to consult the drawings on a computer screen. Therefore, a print out comes in very handy," says René Vets, a technician at Vitens. It is also very important that the customer signs off for the repair on a receipt form. As the field engineers are constantly on the go, it is necessary to print these forms on site. The centralization at Vitens, therefore, made a mobile printing solution become an absolute necessity.

Thermal printers: water proof, dirt proof, and weather proof
During the test phase of the new dispatching system, Vitens opted for mobile ink jet printers. Jos Lenoir, applications manager at Vitens, explains that they had already considered the purchase of thermal mobile printers but that they appeared to be expensive - a decision that they would reconsider later.

It soon became evident that the ink jet printers didn't readily withstand the extreme weather conditions and tough working environment that field engineers are often confronted with. For example, the technicians have to repair water pipes and do their administrative work in the service vehicle, so, mud, sand and water are an ever-present part of their work environment The service vans are also exposed, in summer as well as in winter, to all possible weather conditions. This presents a real challenge for using a mobile printer, and almost immediately there were technical problems with the ink jets.

Regular A4 paper became humid and skewed inside the ink jet printer, or the ink didn't adhere properly. The field engineers typically have dirty fingers and this didn't make it an easy task to feed single A4 sheets, one after the other into the printer. The interior of the printing units became dirty if the paper did not travel straight through the printer, and in the worst case, paper jams occurred. It can be very cold in the northern parts of Holland, which caused the ink to freeze, whereas in hot summer conditions the printing units tended to dry up. In rainy conditions, the ink became smeared and printed drawings or order forms were illegible in no time. Moreover, the ink jet system didn't appear to be user friendly: ink cartridges had to be changed all the time, the printing device was frequently out of order, and a service technician had to be called in on a regular basis.

"When you've had so many problems with the printer, people tend to show disbelief in that part of the new centralized system. You really have to make sure that the technician in the field has a minimum of trouble to efficiently operate the system. In other words, you have to make sure he can do his work as easily as he did before. Working with a laptop computer and a mobile printer must be flawless," explains Jos Lenoir. In order to regain the field engineers' confidence in a centralized workflow, Jos Lenoir went shopping for another mobile printing solution, and this is how he came to choose Pentax.

PocketJet II brings positive results and user satisfaction
Earlier this year Jos Lenoir made an appointment with a Pentax Technologies representative and he was given the opportunity to try out a thermal PocketJet printer. The field engineers who were given a PocketJet printer to use were extremely satisfied. Seeing was believing, and this positive feedback confirmed that the PocketJet was indeed the right choice.

For the next step, Jos Lenoir contacted PCA Mobile, the official dealer of Pentax PocketJet printers in the Netherlands. PCA Mobile has an agreement with Micropoint to the handle installation and service of PocketJet printers. This was an ideal arrangement, as Vitens had already cooperated with Micropoint for all of their hardware systems.

At this time, the PocketJet has been installed in 68 vehicles and the response is astonishing. Jos Lenoir concludes: "Despite the somewhat higher cost of ownership for a thermal printer, we save money on malfunctions and ink cartridges, and our users are extremely satisfied".

René Vets seconds this statement: "Thanks to the special paper from Pentax, we can now print our network drawings and orders without the risk of the ink being smeared. We are able to read the details off the drawings, even in rainy weather. It also creates a better impression for the customer when he gets a clean copy from us, without ink spots."

User friendliness is another important advantage of the PocketJet II. The device has only one part that needs to be replaced by the user: the paper. Vitens opted for paper on rolls, delivered in a sturdy metal container. One roll of Pentax quality paper is good for 100 sheets. The printer is so compact that it can be mounted against the wall of the office unit - an additional saving in space in comparison with the former printers.

The Pentax PocketJet is also compatible with all operating systems and is characterized by a very simple installation procedure - insert the diskette, plug in the cable, and you are ready to print. . Despite the fact that extreme operating conditions may cause a lot of dust to enter the vehicle, this mobile printer only requires servicing once every three months. Pentax also supplies an easy to understand user manual that describes in detail how the PocketJet II needs to be cleaned. The PocketJet user doesn't need a special training to perform simple maintenance tasks.

A good recommendation for others
Vitens has used the PocketJet II printer since May 2003. For the time being, the printer solution is only being used in 68 vehicles in Gelderland. As a result of the merger, Vitens is now unifying all their systems under SAP. The first SAP modules will be implemented in January 2004. A 'Vitens-wide' solution will be implemented for that dispatching system.

Jos Lenoir concludes: "We will expand our current workflow arrangement to include the companies in Overijssel and Friesland. Most certainly, I will continue to recommend the PocketJet to other companies who have a need for mobile printers, as I often hear from them that they are experiencing problems with printing."

You can find more information on www.vitens.nl and on www.pcamobile.com

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