Plumbing Medic, Inc., located In Gilbert, Arizona, is a locally owned and operated plumbing company. Plumbing Medic specializes in all major and minor issues for residential and commercial plumbing including to water heater repairs and installation, drain cleaning, sewer repairs and replacements, showers, garbage disposals, and bathroom remodels. They pride themselves on exceptional customer service, quality of products and ethical standards of both their services and employees. 

Business challenge

Since Plumbing Medic considers top-tier customer service as the foundation of their business, they were looking to obtain technology that could help guarantee well-organized, streamlined daily workflow. Plumbing Medic started researching GPS tracking technology to improve customer service, and also gain better visibility of their vehicles and mobile workforce, increase productivity and efficiency and improve employee accountability. 

Plumbing Medic’s drivers are spread out all over the Phoenix metropolitan area, so they needed a way to track their driver locations in between jobs to make better dispatch decisions and gain visibility over expensive company assets. Transporting expensive equipment and parts is a daily function for Plumbing Medic. 

“Our vehicles carry expensive equipment and parts, so it is important for us to know their whereabouts at all times,” said Tami Gurka, dispatcher for Plumbing Medic. "Without a way to track the vehicle, locations will greatly increase the chance of theft or lost inventory." 

Fuel card fraud is a significant challenge for many fleets. Unfortunately, some drivers take advantage and use company fuel cards to fill up their personal vehicles or purchase unapproved items inside the gas station. Plumbing Medic needed a fuel card tracking system in place to monitor fuel usage, when and where their technicians were filling up on fuel, and how many miles were driven to ensure all purchases were legitimate to help combat fuel card fraud. 

The resolution

Plumbing Medic implemented GPS Insight’s Vehicle & Asset Tracking Solution to solve their business challenges and make improvements to their operations. GPS Insight provides Plumbing Medic visibility of technician locations at all times. GPS Insight’s real-time mapping and ETA features increases Plumbing Medic’s dispatch efficiency and provides a better understanding of where all company assets are located, including expensive equipment and parts in the field, and how long it will take technicians to arrive at the next job site. 

To raise employee accountability, Plumbing Medic uses the solution to prevent unauthorized usage of company vehicles. Plumbing Medic sets custom times of day that vehicles are not utilized for work purposes to monitor activity exceptions. 

“We were able to identify one of our technicians using a company vehicle to cross state lines for personal use,” Gurka said. “We received an odd hours alert in the middle of the night that one of the vehicles was moving in another state.” 

By using GPS tracking to identify and correct this behavior, plumbing fleets are able to hold employees accountable and ensure company vehicles are only used for business purposes. 

Another challenge Plumbing Medic was able to solve with GPS Insight was eliminating fuel card fraud. By integrating their WEX fuel card data into GPS Insight’s platform, Plumbing Medic can now easily monitor all fuel card purchases. Plumbing Medic uses GPS Insight’s fuel card transaction reports to make sure fuel purchases and miles driven match up. By closely monitoring transactions, Plumbing Medic is able to ensure all purchases are valid and to easily identify if drivers are filling up where or when they shouldn’t be.

Present day

Plumbing Medic has made improvements to other areas of the business they did not expect. Using GPS Insight has dramatically simplified and improved dispatch. Before the technology was in place, Plumbing Medic’s dispatchers spent countless hours calling technicians in the field to get an update of their current locations. 

“On average, I would make 150 calls per day, and now I make virtually no calls because most communication is done via text messages through GPS Insight,” Gurka said. 

Using GPS Insight for dispatch has also allowed Plumbing Medic to increased response times during emergencies. When they receive an emergency call from a customer, Plumbing Medic can quickly send the closest and best equipped technician to the job site. 

Overall, using GPS Insight has allowed Plumbing Medic to provide the best service possible to their customers and improve their operation’s effectiveness. 

When asked why other fleet professionals should consider using a GPS tracking solution, Gurka said, “I highly recommend GPS Insight to any company with a fleet. GPS Insight provides unmatched tools and reporting that provide peace of mind. Try it; you will love it and wonder how you ever worked a day without it. You won’t want to work another day without it.”