QI Van Systems of Telford has secured a contract to supply Scottish Water with a series of customised conversions for operational support vehicles.

The contract covers eight operational groups and a variety of vehicles from small panel vans, up to a 4.6-tonne truck equipped for water jetting.

Currently, QI is processing 50 vehicles a month and around 220 different types have been delivered since production started in October 2006.

Scottish Water relies on a wide range of specialist vehicles which are essential to maintain its network infrastructure and the delivery of customer service.

A major vehicle upgrade programme has been launched as part of a multi-million pound investment by Scottish Water to meet the strategic requirements set out in its 2006 delivery plan and critical to Scottish Water hitting its Overall Performance Assessment (OPA) targets.

Formed in 2002, Scottish Water is an amalgamation of the three former water authorities.

The merger has resulted in the creation of a new unitary organisation capable of meeting the targets for service and development, set by the Scottish Executive and UK Water Industry Commission.

Fleet co-ordinator Dave Mosley said: ‘Following the merger we have combined three fleet departments, all of which did things slightly differently.

This latest investment has provided the opportunity to standardise our procedures and equipment allowing us to take a fresh look at the design process for vehicle specifications and their procurement.

‘An important step forward has been to establish user groups. They are specific to a role and this enables the user to have their input into the design of the vehicle provided to support that activity.

This didn’t always happen before.

Previously, vehicles were often procured at short notice, as funding was released and often under circumstances which prevented any detailed analysis of the requirements.

There were often mismatches and compromises between user requirements and the vehicles that were provided.’

This new approach also required the expertise of equipment manufacturers and van conversion specialists.

The decision to work with QI followed recommendations from other UK water authorities.