Customer Spotlight: Lewis Tree Service

Lewis Tree Service (LTS) is a leader in providing of comprehensive vegetation management and storm emergency response services to utilities throughout the United States. LTS crews tend trees along highways, trim trees to clear power lines along streets and remove downed trees blocking roads and power lines after storms. LTS has earned a reputation for providing cost effective solutions tailored to meet the unique requirements of its customers. The Company leads its industry by walking the walk with major investments in advanced technologies that bring unprecedented efficiencies to its vegetation management services—while also enhancing safety and quality, whether deploying right-of-way maintenance or responding to a storm emergency.

More than 2,000 LTS vehicles that are primarily dispatched to clear trees obstructing utility lines, are equipped with Teletrac Fleet Director™ GPS-based technology with an array of Integrated Intelligence™ features—like crew on site verification, custom productivity reports, fuel consumption data and analysis, automated fuel tax reporting, real-time and historical vehicle location monitoring, and much more.

Virtually all vegetation management companies claim to boost efficiency while maintaining safety and quality, however, Teletrac technologies help LTS take vegetation management services and operational efficiencies to a completely new level.

“We expect our Teletrac deployment to pay for itself, and then some, within the first year,” says Michael Moser, Lewis Tree Service’s director of fleet and purchasing. Cost savings flow from various parts of LTS operations, he notes, including more efficient preventive maintenance, reduced fuel use resulting from less vehicle idling and more efficient routing, and an anticipated reduction in payroll costs due to supervisors being able to validate time cards.”

“At first we launched a pilot program with 400 Teletrac-equipped vehicles,” Moser recalls. “It was so successful we invested in Teletrac technology fleetwide.” A major benefit, he adds, was the ability to show customers—utilities—exactly how LTS delivers results. “These days, everyone’s careful about budgeting. Utilities want greater transparency regarding vegetation management services and charges. Teletrac’s integration and automation make it easy for us to generate these new, detailed reports to satisfy our customers new requirements. With Teletrac-backed operations, we are now at the forefront of this trend."

Advanced technology, however, isn’t the whole story. “Teletrac provides us with attention to detail and customer service that’s unique in the industry today,” Moser says.

This combination—Teletrac technology, service and support—enables efficiencies that show up throughout Lewis Tree Service operations. For instance, Teletrac’s Fleet Director SmartNav navigation and dynamic routing help LTS crews and equipment arrive at the right location at the right time, even when there’s no street address. Eliminating off-route miles also saves fuel. And onboard vehicle diagnostics and monitoring substantially reduce road breakdowns and resulting schedule disruptions.

As a bonus, Teletrac technologies make LTS fleet management more cost efficient by enabling use-based rather than interval-based preventive maintenance. LTS now replaces parts when monitored vehicle data indicate a part is actually wearing out, not when an interval schedule suggests it might wear out. Technology-driven practices like these keep vehicles and crews productive while eliminating unnecessary costs.

LTS also gains unprecedented flexibility. When a Lewis Tree Service customer needs more resources—equipment and crews—Teletrac systems let dispatchers know precisely where every rolling asset is located. With SmartNav, LTS rapidly dispatches the nearest available crews and equipment, particularly important in storm emergencies, like 2008’s devastating Hurricane Ike in which millions of people lost power because of downed lines.

Teletrac also enables LTS to directly monitor driver behaviors such as speeding and hard braking, enabling Lewis Tree Service to enforce safe driving more effectively. LTS holds its drivers accountable, with no excuses.

Further, extensive Teletrac reporting adds efficiency to LTS administrative processes, eliminating many sources of manual error, including crew logs. Automated reporting also lets LewisTree Service readily provide customers with documentation of any given incident, or a month’s data detailing an entire contract—making it easy for LTS customers to do analysis and cost justification—in real time, streamed to the customer’s desktop. By demonstrating value and efficiency, such analyses help ensure that customers stay loyal to Lewis Tree Service—and continue funding vegetation management initiatives.

Read About LTS and Fleet Management in CFO magazine