Owen Electric Cooperative Inspection Process Case Study

This case study documents the transformation of the inspection process at Owen Electric Cooperative, a utility managing approximately 70,000 utility poles across northern Kentucky. Faced with a dramatic increase in utility pole attachment requests due to federal broadband initiatives, Owen Electric needed to enhance its inspection workflows to manage the surge without increasing staff. The study outlines the challenges of the previous manual and fragmented inspection methods, which led to inefficiencies and prolonged job cycles. By adopting Fulcrum, a customizable mobile app, Owen Electric streamlined its inspection process, reducing setup time by 98% and inspection duration by over 75%. The case study details how the unified platform allowed engineers to complete inspections more efficiently, significantly improving productivity and reducing turnaround times from weeks to days. The results demonstrate a consistent and repeatable process that enhances the overall workflow and capacity of the engineering team.