Durability Makes Camcode the Choice of Major Gas Supplier

Millions of gas meters are in service today outside homes and businesses throughout the country, sustaining snow, rain and blistering heat.

For one major U.S. gas supplier, those extreme weather conditions were a primary concern when evaluating barcode options for their meters. They say there was only one choice that was durable enough for the job – Camcode’s bar code asset tags.

“Our meters sit outside for 20 or 30 years,” this gas supplier told Camcode. “There’s no other bar code badge (than Camcode’s) that has a chance of making it that long. It was much more durable than the closest competitor.”

“Our meters sit outside for 20 or 30 years. There’s no other barcode badge (than Camcode’s) that has a chance of making it that long.”

Camcode’s bar code asset tags play a critical role in tracking the status of meters from cradle to grave for this gas company. Each time new meters are taken into inventory, shipped out and installed, removed from service, or received and tested for accuracy, a technician must key in the six-digit serial number of the meter. This extra step is prone to errors, they say, and slows down the process.

That’s why all new meters installed by this gas supplier – an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 per year – now carry a Camcode bar code tag, making meter status changes and tracking quicker and more accurate. Over time, as more new meters carrying the Camcode bar code tag are placed in the field, the company expects those benefits to multiply.

“We expect efficiency and data accuracy to increase dramatically.”

“The barcodes are eliminating mistyped numbers and speeding up the time it takes to accurately manage and track our meters,” they told Camcode. “Down the road, we expect efficiency and data accuracy to increase dramatically.”

Today, this gas company is looking ahead to implementation of a new asset management system, a process that they say will be made easier having Camcode’s bar codes in place. “With the new asset management system we’re implementing, we will have to type in the serial number every time we touch a meter,” they said. “Since we’ll be doing this a lot more frequently, it will be a lot easier using bar code technology.”

The process of integrating Camcode’s bar code tags into new meter installations has gone smoothly, they say, and Camcode was able to offer the design, material and attachment method to best suit their needs, now and in the future. “In the future we’ll be able to use the bar code to complete orders and handle even more functions,” they said.