Yorkshire Water says it has achieved a range of benefits since deploying DigiCore's C-track solution following a four-month trial involving 60 vehicles in 2007. Benefits have included significant improvements in terms of customer interface in the field; response to leakage targets; and compliance around the water sampling function.

The addition of the latest 13 vehicles brings the total number of vans being tracked by DigiCore's C-track solution to more than 500.

The vehicles will be used by technicians that have recently been in-sourced having previously worked for a service partner. Each one will be fitted with a C-track device along with a panic alarm and driver ID. This will provide added safety and protection to Yorkshire Water's mobile workforce whilst giving office-based schedulers access to a real-time overview of the whereabouts of technicians to streamline the job allocation process.

Yorkshire Water will achieve further benefits following the integration of vehicle location information provided by C-track with an existing workforce management application. This will enable data to be plotted into a single view via the company's in-house GIS system that is available on all technicians' ruggedised mobile laptops.

Geoff Dyson from Yorkshire Water commented: 'Our vehicle tracking solution forms an essential aspect of a new maintenance strategy that supports our aspiration to become clearly the best water company in the UK. The latest developments will help us build on the operational efficiencies already achieved over the past three years working in partnership with DigiCore.'