Lack of visibility into equipment created maintenance and billing issues. 

Buckeye Power Sales (BPS) provides on-site power solutions to businesses, contractors, engineers, municipalities, and homeowners. Founded in 1947, BPS serves customers across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and leases generators nationwide for disaster response. 

BPS offers a range of generators, but the company had one major challenge across all of their equipment: They couldn't track or monitor units to check if they were functioning properly. "Our generators could be at a site for days, but we couldn't check to see where a unit was, how many hours it had actually been running, or whether it needed maintenance," said Dustin Robinson, Power and Construction Equipment Operations Manager. “We also couldn't bill for maintenance services accurately and generate more revenue.”

BPS needed to modernize their equipment tracking and monitoring, not only to proactively maintain their generators and prevent damage, but also to provide better customer service while driving more revenue.

A flexible solution with one dashboard to easily access data.

BPS explored several equipment monitoring and asset tracking solutions, but ultimately chose Samsara. "At the start, we didn't know exactly what we needed, but the Samsara team sent us five different products we could test," said Robinson. "It was really valuable to have a company like Samsara who was willing to work with us to see what would be the most beneficial."

The BPS team also appreciated the ease of installation of Samsara's products. "We were able to put Samsara Asset Gateways in most of our generators within minutes," said Kaleb Cline, Service Coordinator at BPS. "Even for our older generators with outdated technology, we've been able to work with the Samsara team to find the best way to install them."

Cline also points to the Samsara dashboard as a key differentiator. "We can see dozens of data points from our equipment in one dashboard, which has helped us discover many opportunities for potential improvements to our business," said Cline. "As we expand our use of Samsara products in the future, it gives us confidence that we'll be able to use a single platform to see across our operations."

Better visibility into equipment drives $300K in revenue.

After deploying Samsara across their generators, BPS has seen a range of benefits, including more accurate billing and the ability to perform proactive maintenance, generating an estimated $300,000 in additional revenue. "In the past, we could get a unit back that was 1,000 hours overdue for service, which equals three or four service calls we could have charged to the customer," said Robinson. "Now, we get alerts when generators need maintenance, which allows us to not only protect equipment from damage and keep it in service, but also create more revenue." 

BPS has also been able to reduce the amount of on-site maintenance their technicians have to perform, which has saved more than 250 hours of technician time per year. "With Samsara, our technicians can log into the dashboard and troubleshoot issues from home," said Robinson. "They can see if the problem is minor, like if a unit is low on coolant, and advise the customer on how to fix it. It's been a big time saver for us."

In addition to saving time, empowering technicians with access to data has improved morale. "Samsara helps our technicians be more confident before they're even on a job site because they have an idea of what they're walking into," said Robinson. "They can spend more of their time advising customers and using their expertise, which also boosts customer confidence in our company."

With Samsara, BPS is also able to better prepare for assisting with disaster response. “We ship our generators nationwide for emergencies like hurricanes. Samsara allows us to know where our equipment is and make sure our units are working properly,” said Robinson. “Our generators serve places like hospitals and nursing homes. We can’t put a price tag on the peace of mind that comes with knowing Samsara is there to help us make sure our equipment is ready to help in a disaster.”