GE announced that the GE Field Force Automation, or FFA toolset that utilities rely on for optimizing field worker activities, has earned GE's "ecomagination" status for the environmental benefits the solution provides.

FFA is a Web-based, efficiency-building solution that optimizes mobile workforce operations through automated dispatch, paperless information sharing and intelligent worker assignment. FFA achieves these performance improvements while reducing the travel, personnel requirements and time spent in the field.

"Field Force Automation makes utilities smarter in a number of important areas," stated Bob Gilligan, vice president, digital energy for GE Energy Services.

"Crews get where they need to be faster and more efficiently. When they are on the job, crews have immediate access to the precise information they need to assess the situation and make the right decisions. They're saving time, fuel, paper and cost while delivering better service with a smaller carbon footprint. This is the smart grid at work," Gilligan adds.

To get an ecomagination, a product is evaluated for its ability to improve a customer's environmental and operating performance. It is a multi-tiered review process concluded with an independent, third-party audit.

FFA earned its ecomagination status by delivering performance improvement in three major areas. It has significantly reduced service crew travel times through its route optimization engine. If a utility with 27 crews previously using an in-house developed work management solution reduced traveling time on the audit day from approximately 140 hours to 95 hours. Assuming just half this level of savings each day, a utility with 1,000 field crews would reduce its service vehicle CO2 emissions by approximately 2,700 metric tons annually.

FFA has been automatically balancing multiple objectives including travel time, workload balance and preference for high-priority work orders. It has saved paper waste by enabling field workers to communicate electronically rather than by using paper for work orders and completion forms.

Also, FFA users experience better data quality from the digitization of processes, increased revenues from capturing previously non-invoiced work and offer better-informed decisions due to better insight into their operations.

Anamika Singh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anamika's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Harrison