FrontLine on the Move
Mobile and paperless Maintenance and Materials Management
Overview
FrontLine on the Move is a suite of software components which allows low cost PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) handheld computers to communicate seamlessly with the FrontLine Maintenance Management and Stock Control modules. Choose one or more components, according to your needs:
In all cases, maximum accuracy and speed can be achieved when you use barcode labels and scanner-equipped PDAs.
Mobile computing technology offers you a quick and easy way to increase efficiency, productivity and profitability while gaining better control of your operations. Paperwork is eliminated and errors avoided when data is collected and transferred electronically - it's fast, accurate and frees up time to do more productive work.
Shire's handheld applications are ideal for any size organisation. From one person carrying out on-site maintenance, or managing a busy store, to a team of engineers working on multiple sites. If you have a geographically spread work force, you can use Shire's wireless or GPRS options to transfer data remotely – to further boost productivity and slash the lead time of management information.
Whatever the size of your organisation, Shire's low cost, easy to use handheld solutions can save you time and money – giving you the competitive edge.
FrontLine will work on a variety of PDAs running with the Palm or Pocket PC operating systems. PDAs are available to suit every organisation's budget and working environment. The price of an entry level PDA is absolutely minuscule compared with the guaranteed gains in operational efficiency.
Shire can supply a range of PDAs, including both ‘professional' and ‘ruggedised' designs - drop tested, submersible, IP67; ATEX (ATmosphere EXposibles) compliant; integral barcode or RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) scanner equipped.
Benefits
- Eliminate paper
- 'Free up' employee time for more productive work
- Reduce administration time and costs
- More accurate time-stamped data
- Better control of Health & Safety and regulatory compliance
- Clearly demonstrate Due Diligence
- Immediate gains with quick payback
What you can do
Work Orders- Send Work Order details and Permits to Work to a designated PDA
- Capture task start and finish dates and times - for accurate task duration records
- Record ad hoc job details, such as new breakdowns and faults, for download to the main system
- Add Work Requests for allocation following download to the main system
- Capture signatures - engineer's and customer's
- Record condition monitoring survey readings, status and comments for download to the main system - to automatically trigger usage-based preventive maintenance
- Record utility meter readings
- Full stock issue - capturing Work Order and asset information
- Fast stock-take
- Stock deliveries
We have provided below a simple cost calculator where you can enter your details and see the raw cost of running a paper-based system.
The calculation gives an insight into the typical running costs and takes no account of other hand held benefits, such as: Accuracy, Quality and H & S compliance. What price can be put on these?
Feel free to try the calculator as many times as you wish - simply enter typical figures for your operation and you will see a calculated cost for your current administration. If you wish, you can print off the results shown, to help you make a case for moving to a Shire Handheld solution.
As a modest estimate, moving to a paperless handheld solution should halve the cost of administration shown.
The Handheld option is a one-off investment with a low cost of ownership and rapid return on investment, in contrast to the ever rising year-on-year cost for administration of a paper based solution.
The calculation is intended to be thought provoking and you may wish to also take into account variables such as shift allowance, bonuses, over time and employer contributions.
| Calculating the Cost of A Paperwork System | As a guide | ||
| Number of Engineers (includes engineers across all shifts) |
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| Number of Administrators | |||
| Hourly Cost of an Engineer | £ | An engineer with a basic salary of £20,000pa working a 39 hour week has a cost per work hour of between £15 to £20 depending on benefits. | |
| Hourly Cost of an Administrator | £ | An administrator witha basic salary of £15,000pa working 39 hour week has a cost per work hour of between £11 to £13 depending on benefits. | |
| Average time in minutes spent processing paperwork by the engineer per shift | Time spent filling in job sheets or updating FrontLine | ||
| Average time in minutes spent processing paperwork by the administrator per shift | Time spent printing and issuing jobs as well as processing the returned work orders | ||
| Annual number of work days or shifts | An average 5 day working week = 260 days less bank holidays (8 days in 2004) & annual leave | ||
| Average number of work orders completed per week | or | Part of the calculation to work out the "other" costs i.e. Paper, Inks, Printer, Electricity etc.. | |
| Average number of work orders completed per year | |||
| Type of printer used (cost per sheet) | |||
| Laser | £ | Small Laser printer - Cartridge life 4500 pages, (B&W) 5% coverage - Typical cost = £100.00 | |
| Inkjet | Inkjet printer (B&W printing only) - Cartridge 19ml - 400 pages, 5% coverage - Typical cost = £20.00 | ||
| TOTAL ANNUAL COST | £ | Supervision and overhead charges excluded | |