ARCOS Software Enables Utility to more Efficiently Manage and
Dispatch Crews in Response to Unplanned Events
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has won an ARCOS®
2014 innovation award for the utility’s mobile application of ARCOS
software to automatically callout crews in response to electric and gas
emergencies. PG&E launched a pilot program in 2012 to introduce the new
technology and collect feedback from management and union employees.
During the pilot, PG&E worked with ARCOS to improve its mobile
application from view-only to interactive, so supervisors and field
employees can use smart phones to view rosters, request employees to
work and have employees accept work. Voice activating technology was
also developed during the pilot to encourage safe phone use. The result
is a faster, safer and more efficient response to emergencies.
“The success of this program was really driven by the collaboration,
discussion and input we received from PG&E managers and IBEW
representatives. Their efforts ensured we developed a transparent,
understandable and effective process that worked for our employees and
our customers,” said Barry Anderson, PG&E’s vice president of emergency
preparedness and operations.
PG&E began to introduce the new technology throughout the company in
2014, and the automated emergency response process for crew management
and dispatch has proven to be far more effective for PG&E than the
manual process used previously. Compared to the manual process, which
took 30 to 60 minutes to complete before the pilot program, automated
callouts are now completed in about 10 to 20 minutes – with some
callouts being filled in as little as 3 minutes. This process allows
PG&E to respond to gas and electric emergencies and restore service for
customers more quickly and consistently than ever before.
During the pilot program, PG&E’s management and union representatives
established workshops, weekly conference calls and other meetings to
share thoughts, suggestions and concerns about the new, automated
program. The end result was a mutually beneficial system for PG&E and an
improved process that other utilities can adopt as well.
At the ARCOS conference in March, representatives from several gas and
electric utilities from across the country expressed how this improved
application can help them respond to emergencies more quickly and
safely. ARCOS is now offering this new technology to other utilities.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco,
with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the
nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company