The variable message sign (VMS) manufacturer and creator of integrated ITS equipment, Bartco UK, and sister company, Mobile Visual Information Systems (MVIS), have achieved ISO registration in quality and environmental management, supporting the ITS supply chain both at home and abroad.
Bartco UK and MVIS have been registered by the NQA against the provisions of standards BS EN ISO 14001:2015 in environmental management, and BS EN ISO 9001:20115 and National Highways Sector Scheme 8 in quality management. The quality certification provides assurance that the companies’ products and services meet industry requirements, while the environmental standard is evidence that both are improving their sustainability through the increasingly efficient use of resources and reduction of waste. The ISO registration relates to the companies’ UK and international ITS manufacture, hire, installation, sales and service operations, while the Highways Sector Scheme 8 relates specifically to the companies’ overseeing, installation and maintenance of VMS equipment.
MVIS and Bartco UK’s general manager, Anne Ashmansaid, “ISO registration is an increasingly important qualification for transport management firms tendering for projects in the UK and abroad. Our registration will benefit both ourselves and our supply chain customers in the bidding process. Our priority is the customer, and to this end, we’ve always concentrated on creating and delivering the best ITS products and solutions and an unrivalled level of service. The new registration means that we can now improve our customer offer even further.”
The ISO qualification follows a year of significant corporate and technological developments for Bartco UK. In November 2016, it announced an international partnership with European ITS manufacturer, Signature Group (France). In the same month, it broke into the permanent ITS market, with the most energy-efficient fixed Remote Controlled Temporary Traffic Management Signs (RCTTMS) in the first generation of products designed to comply with new government standards. In a major MVIS contract, the company’s signs are currently in use on the north west UK’s motorway system, as part of a pioneering integrated journey time management system (JTMS).
Earlier this year, in partnership with Highways England (HE), MVIS developed a temporary ITS system that receives DATEX II real-time journey time data from HE’s National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC), collected from in-vehicle sensors. The data is used to calculate journey times from the locations of MVIS’ 11 portable Bartco UK VMS-C variable message signs along the MSM roadworks to the end of the affected stretch of motorway. The times are uploaded onto the desired portable VMS every five minutes. Configurable safeguards ensure that journey times computed do not fall outside the range made feasible by current speed limits, and that they do not conflict with messages on permanent VMS. The automated VMS messages may be manually overridden in the event of a network incident.
MVIS’ technical manager, Matt Felce, noted, “We are an innovative firm, and so were pleased to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Highways England to develop the first solution enabling real-time journey time information from NTOC to be displayed on portable VMS.”
