The Company

Vector provides the network to supply most major cities and large towns in the North Island with gas.  It has over 3,400 km of high pressure gas transmission pipeline and equipment - and all that equipment has to be maintained, in the field – some quite remote – in a safe and timely fashion to ensure continuation of supply.

The Challenge

The big challenge for Vector was “how to get accurate information out to the technicians in the field to facilitate maintenance of the transmission equipment”.  

Vector were cutting a CD every six months for the technicians, which they could use to view the engineering drawing from their laptops on site, however, as soon as the CD was cut, it was effectively out of date.

The Solution

Sharon Marshall was the Project Manager for the solution, and chose Matrix Applied Computing to integrate the system.

Surprisingly, the solution lay in a very clever Engineering Document Management System (EDMS) deployment across the web.

Marshall worked closely with Matrix over the implementation project, and reports, “Every query was dealt with in a timely and professional manner.  Matrix was friendly, and flexible, doing what they said they would and not charging us extra when we made some minor changes as the system went in”.

The Result

“With the implementation of the EDMS, technicians now have completely up to date information.  Not only that, they can update the information themselves while they are onsite”. The technicians have been equipped with digital cameras, and the pictures are being stored in AutoManager Meridian, alongside the drawings as they are taken.  Due to the remoteness of the sites, the photos are an invaluable record of the equipment on site.  

But how have these technicians adapted to the new technology?  Marshall reports, “They are working well with the new system.  Their job is easier as they have the ability to find the right document in a single search.”

So the engineers and technicians have more time to do their jobs rather than searching for documents, and thus give them more time to maintain the site equipment.

And overall, what’s been the net impact on Vector?  Marshall says “we have the ability to get the right documents, to the right people, when they want it, real time”.

As a result Vector has experienced an increase in EDMS efficiency, an increase in associated data accuracy and a simplification in the EDMS processes.  All of which benefits the end user of the gas – you and me.

For more information on EDMS, click here