Ubik Works News

Hacienda Security

In June, Trinity Builders began a large project to remodel a lovely, but neglected early-2000's Spanish Hacienda in North Dallas, and from the start, it was clear this home was something special. Solidly built, with Spanish tile roof, vaulted, exposed-beam ceiling, traditional gated entry and a sprawling yard in the heart of Dallas, it was a rare find.

But what made it a candidate for the unique talents of Tanner Belton, owner of Trinity Builders was that much of the home hadn't been touched since it was built — paint, carpet, cabinets and appliances were all dated and desperately in need of updating. Previous owners had even made a few modifications that were a departure from the Spanish traditions that inspired the original architecture, and large portions of the upper floor had never been finished at all.

Tanner's plan includes an upper floor with two new bedrooms, large bath, a media room and a data closet. The ground floor will get a complete kitchen makeover, a new master bath, dining room and living room. The garage will expanded to accommodate four cars. When it's completed in January, the house will be nearly 6500 square feet and no doubt the pride of the neighborhood.

So how did Ubik Works get involved? Wisely, Trinity Builders sought to secure the customer's investment in high-end appliances, granite countertops and, of course, its own stake in tools and equipment that would live on the job site for the duration of the project. So they called Ubik Works, and we set up a 16-camera surveillance system, programmed it to record motion traffic througout the day and alert, alarm and record suspicious human or vehicle activity during off hours. Then we set up the data network to allow us to remotely manage the cameras and DVR and the managmeent team to remotely monitor them.

Our partners at All Phase Electric did all the wiring.

Now we all sleep better at night.

 

Dispatch

Picture a landscape/hardscape supply company with 28 stores and over a dozen quarries spanning two western states. It was very successful, producing much of its own product, selling through its own stores, delivering with its own trucks. Sales were growing, its fleet was growing, and it was even starting to expand, buying a few smaller companies in strategic locations. Sounds great right? It was. But there were problems brewing.

It was running a couple hundred trucks, each with different driver requirements, different load requirements, different limitations. There were Semis, Tandems, Small non-CDL trucks, each with a variety of beds. Some could handle mountain roads, others couldn't manage residential neighborhoods. Some beds could take small rock like pea gravel, others coulnd't handle boulders or rip-rap. Special beds had to be used for mulch. Certain drivers were allowed on military bases, while others were not.

And all of this was tribal knowldge. It took over a dozen dispatchers to manage all those trucks, each of them familiar with his or her niche of trucks. Nobody really knew how to manage all the trucks, and when one quit, it was a nightmare finding and trianing a replacement. The cost of getting a new dispatcher up to speed was crazy.

And then there was their "dispatch system". It was a shared Excel spreadsheet. When a customer wanted a delivery, the salesperon would call a dispatcher on the phone and ask for a delivery at a certain time. The dispatcher would look at the spreadsheet and guesstimate which truck had the time to drive to the pickup location, load the product, drive to the customer and drop it off by the time the customer needed it, and do this without delaying a delivery already promised to some other customer.

The dispatcher would do this without calculating mileage, considering traffic conditions or knowing even who would be driving the truck that day. And guess what? If he or she couldn't find a slot and the customer was important? Sometimes it was easier just to delete someone else's delivery and put their own delivery in the slot. So what if your customer doesnt' get his delivery as long as mine does. Right?

So we built ... (more to come)