SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

February 15, 2011-Greenville, SC-Sustainable Management Systems (SMS) announced today that the City of Orangeburg's Department of Public Utilities (DPU), located in Orangeburg, South Carolina is the latest customer to select PIMS to help manage the public utility's pole inspection and maintenance program.  PIMS, a patent-pending pole information and management software system developed by SMS, allows customers complete, real time tracking of pole-related assets by using RFID technology.  Orangeburg plans to utilize PIMS "to help monitor, service and maintain its entire pole distribution network," according to John Bagwell, Director of the Electric Division for the Orangeburg Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU

DPU Anticipates Multiple Benefits From PIMS

Using PIMS the DPU inspection and maintenance teams will capture pole-specific information on a simple point-and-shoot basis, providing DPU with a number of important benefits including;

• A complete inspection record of poles and their related assets including visual imagery.
• Full integration between inspection and field maintenance including the use of real-time maintenance alerts to expedite response times and improve workforce productivity.
• Faster reporting and recovery of revenues related to third party or joint use agreements.
• Ability to quickly and accurately capture and disseminate pole "event" data related to storms and other natural disasters.
• Improved management oversight of inspectors stated vs. actual productivity
• Cradle-to-cradle recording of all tagged poles allowing for complete lifecycle analysis of key assets and compliance with existing and/or pending regulatory requirements related to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

In-Market Testing Validates PIMS Value

"Working with SMS we carefully evaluated the value of PIMS over many months of testing," said Bagwell.  "We concluded that this system provides us all of the functionality we are seeking to effectively manage our pole distribution network.  In addition, as we move forward with PIMS we also have the ability in the future to integrate this system with our other divisions and software programs such as GIS OMS and CIS. DPU is also evaluating YardTrack, an RFID-based inventory and asset management system.  Should we choose to use YardTrack we can develop a complete understanding of the performance lifecycle of all the high value assets used in our distribution network, from the time they first arrive on our yards to the point at which they are disposed of," said Bagwell.

"After several months of working with DPU we couldn't be more excited to see DPU adopt the PIMS technology" said SMS President & CEO Barry Breede.   Importantly, we believe PIMS can have a dramatic, positive impact on productivity and the workflow processes deployed by DPU.  Our studies have consistently indicated that PIMS can reduce overall inspection and maintenance time by at least 60%," said Breede.

About Sustainable Management Systems

SMS is the industry leader in providing RFID-based technology solutions for the on-going tracking, inspection and maintenance of utility assets.  Based in Greenville, SC, SMS offers customers two primary product suites, Pole Information Management System (PIMS) and YardTrack.  PIMS is powered by TagNet™, a robust RFID platform & database solution offered by Stratum Global, a key business partner of SMS.  SMS consists of professionals in RFID and utility asset management and is privately held. For more information visit their web site at www.sustain-usa.com, or contact them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 1-888-792-1445.
 
About Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities
 
For over 100 years the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities has operated one of the largest municipal electric utilities in the state of South Carolina, serving both the City of Orangeburg and surrounding area.  DPU is comprised of multiple operating divisions providing area residents and businesses with gas, water, wastewater and electric services. For more information visit their web site at www.orbgdpu.com.