Network installation and support company Staley Technologies has cut the cost of equipping their fleet by 68% by purchasing a combination of IDEAL Networks certifiers and network transmission testers, equating to a saving of over USD $1 million. The company has reduced the time taken to provide test results by a week and the amount of equipment needed by half.
Staley Technologies, based in Arkansas, USA, conduct more than 15,000 projects per year ranging from single-site installations to nationwide rollouts on projects like UPS surveys, WLAN designs and CCTV installations. Staley identified the SignalTEK™ NT transmission tester from IDEAL Networks was able to perform many tasks for which they were currently using certifiers, including wiremapping, link testing, port finding and transmission testing. The SignalTEK NT tester also uniquely works with copper and fiber cabling.
Jobs frequently require that technicians travel long distances and transport a large amount of equipment, which means space in the company vans is at a premium. By replacing the equipment in the 197-van fleet with this one compact, easy-to-use piece of equipment, it significantly reduced Staley’s equipment cost and space restrictions.
“Having a single, compact, handheld device saves valuable space on board – there is no other transmission tester that we can use for both copper and fiber,” says John David, Director of Corporate Safety and Training at Staley. “The device is also small and light, which is much easier to work with.”
By creating a clever mix of test equipment, investing in a full fleet of SignalTEK NT testers combined with only a small amount of more costly cable certifiers, the cost to equip the whole fleet of installers has been reduced by 68%, a savings of over $1 million.
“We’ve found that our clients place a high value on test results, and moreover, it is part of our strict quality control procedure to conduct the tests and retain the report of the results,” says John, explaining that it is also important to Staley that test data can be downloaded soon after testing.
Staley has managed to eliminate the issue of delayed test results by adopting the use of the free IDEAL AnyWARE™ app. This app allows users to transfer test data to their mobile device and share results with offsite colleagues without delay. Using the IDEAL AnyWARE app has enabled technicians to transfer test results almost in ‘real time’, meaning results are received up to a week sooner than previously.
David explains, “Before we were relying on technicians to download results to a laptop when they got to their hotel room or returned home. This delay meant the client did not have as quick of a turnaround if the results demonstrated faulty equipment or were not executed to the client’s satisfaction.
Being able to transfer test results directly from the job site has changed the way Project Managers work,” continues David. “Delays completing reports are a thing of the past, and as re-testing is also no longer required, work tickets are closed out up to two weeks sooner. This helps jobs to be completed more efficiently.”
