American Pest Management revamps Field Service, Equipment Tracking
Business Situation
With headquarters in Takoma Park,
MD, American Pest Management,
Inc. has been solving pest problems
in the metropolitan Washington,
DC area since 1925. What with
keeping track of the locations of
traps and bait stations in the field
and documenting inspection results,
American Pest Management
scans around 200 devices per day.
Before moving to Microvision ROV
Barcode Scanner with Bluetooth, American Pest
Management used Dolphin Personal
Data Terminals (PDTs)—handheld
computers with an embedded barcode
scanner. However, the Dolphin
systems were expensive and didn’t
have much onboard memory—plus
the company felt that their technology
hadn’t kept up with the times. Sometimes,
the Dolphin scanners wouldn’t
read some barcodes, requiring the
technician to type it in manually.
Business Solution
Looking for a replacement device,
American Pest Management came
across the Microvision ROV Scanner
with Bluetooth, which worked
seamlessly with their Windows Mobile
smartphones (Sprint HTC Touch
Diamond), Sprint Data/Internet
package, and Marathon Data Systems
PestPac software. They liked
having an integrated solution that
offered phone and e-mail as well as
pest control tracking—and they also
liked the scanner’s compact, lightweight
size and affordable price.
Now when American Pest Management
technicians go into the field
to place a new trap or inspect an
existing one, they begin by quickly
scanning its barcode. Using Bluetooth
wireless technology, the ROV
Scanner instantly sends the data to
the PestPac software on the technician’s
mobile phone. American Pest
Management didn’t have to physically
integrate the ROV Scanner with
PestPac, as Microvision’s Scanner
Wedge software barcode-enables
any application that accepts keyboard
input. PestPac, in turn, brings
up a form where the technician can
enter relevant data (e.g., where the
trap was placed, what bait was used,
any pest activity noted). At the push
of a button, the technician wirelessly
sends this information to a SQL
Server database at company headquarters,
making the information
instantly available to management.
Benefits
- A Complete Solution : “It’s got everything we need—it works with our Windows Mobile phones, our Sprint Internet package, and our PestPac software,” says Mark Miller, Technology Manager with American Pest Management. “And data storage is no longer a problem: our smartphones come with about 4 GB, and we can add more with expansion cards.”
- Huge productivity increase: “We’ve experienced an almost exponential increase in productivity as a result of our scanner solution,” says Miller.. “For example, technicians don’t have to come to the office nearly as often as before. They can now leave from their home and go directly to their first job--which not only saves time, but also saves gas and wear and tear on our fleet.” He also noted that the company can now invoice the customer as soon as the technician leaves the site, rather than having to wait until he comes into the office—which could be a week later. Similarly, if an emergency arises in an area where a technician is working, a job ticket can be downloaded to his phone and printed on his Bluetooth printer.
- Easy to use: The combination of the small, lightweight size of the ROV Scanner with Bluetooth and its intuitive user interface makes it convenient to carry and a snap to use. “It just doesn’t get any easier,” says Miller. “You just point and click. It even gives you feedback sounds, so you know the scan worked.”
- Affordable: The cost of the ROV Scanner and the Windows Mobile smartphone adds up to around $500-$600—about a third of the cost of a single Dolphin scanner. “Plus now our technicians have phone and e-mail capabilities, which they didn’t before,” says Miller.
learn more
- Download this barcode scanner case study in PDF format
- Learn more about the ROV Scanner with Bluetooth