Serving northern Illinois, including the Chicago metropolitan area, ComEd operates one of the nation’s largest and most complex electric distribution systems, supporting a mix of urban, suburban, and industrial customers.

ComEd manages extensive overhead and underground electric distribution and transmission infrastructure, and coordinates daily operations across a network of warehouses, service centers, and laydown yards that support field crews (employees and contractors). Its operations involve high volumes of cable conductor and other critical materials that must be staged, deployed, and redeployed efficiently to support construction, maintenance, and reliability initiatives. 

ComEd continuously evaluates technologies that improve visibility into field operations, strengthen coordination across teams, and support data-driven decisions—without disrupting established workflows. 

The Opportunity: Advance Real-Time Visibility Across Distributed Cable Operations 

Cable is one of the most critical—and costly—materials in utility operations. Across the industry, reels of wire and cable conductor routinely move between warehouses, service centers, laydown yards, and job sites. However, visibility into those movements, overall cable inventory and how cable is used in the field can be limited. 

Traditionally, inventory tracking relied heavily on manual processes, spreadsheets, and estimates. While basic records existed for work order dispatches, cable pulls, and reel returns, teams lacked real-time insight into round trip efficiency of cable installation, including where individual reels were located, how much cable remained on each reel, when and where cable was put into service, and whether partially used reels were available for redeployment. 

For utilities, this lack of visibility can create operational silos. Warehouse teams, field crews, and planners often work with incomplete or outdated information-gathering processes. As a result, cable can be over-ordered out of caution, underutilized, or stranded at job sites or yards. Reconciling inventory requires manual effort, and decision-making is often based on assumptions rather than verified data. 

Why the Status Quo Was No Longer Enough 

ComEd sought to improve existing processes by partnering with Wire Pulse. 

Across the utility industry, operators are under pressure to modernize operations and increase efficiency without adding complexity or disrupting field work. Utilities often scrap a certain amount of cable per reel, but with Wire Pulse, this can be reduced.

According to ComEd, Wire Pulse’s Reel Sense improves usable length per reel. Greater utilization of available cable may reduce scrap and the need for additional cable purchases. The potential impact of this efficiency is relevant to utilities that perform large numbers of construction and maintenance projects and use millions of feet of cable each year. 

For utilities, several factors can make improved cable visibility  a priority:

• Rising costs associated with cable procurement and waste
• Increased operational complexity across distributed locations 
• A need for better coordination between warehouses and field crews 
• Growing expectations for data-driven planning, traceability and reporting 

ComEd leadership concluded that improving cable operations would require more than incremental process changes. The utility sought reliable reel-level data that reflected what was happening across its operations and multiple locations in real time. 

What ComEd Required 

ComEd sought technology and processes to enrich its core systems with better physical-world data. 

In evaluating options, ComEd focused on solutions that could:

• Provide reel-level visibility, not just lot or SKU level estimates of inventory counts 
• Capture data automatically without adding burden to field crews 
• Integrate with existing workflows and systems
• Scale across warehouses, service centers, laydown yards, and contractors 
• Deliver data accuracy that operations teams could trust 

Sensor-Enabled Reel Visibility 

ComEd selected the Reel Sense platform to support its cable operations. The platform combines sensor technology with cloud-based software to track individual wire and cable reels and work orders across their lifecycle. Sensors capture physical-world signals—including time, motion, and location—while software dashboards provide real-time and historical visibility and alerts into reel status and usage. 

By deploying the platform across its cable operations, ComEd gave  teams greater visibility into:

• Where each reel was located 
• Whether a reel was in motion or static 
• How much cable had been used and how much remained 
• How reels moved between warehouses, yards, and job sites

This information was available through dashboards and reports accessible to relevant teams, creating a shared operational view across the organization. 

Turning Physical-World Data into Operational Insight 

Across the industry, teams may rely on estimates to determine which reels to deploy and when to reorder cable. Partial reels can be difficult to track, and opportunities to reuse them may be missed. 

With sensor-generated reel-level data, ComEd teams can now make decisions based on verified information. Planners and warehouse staff see which reels have usable cable remaining and where they are located. Field crews gain clearer visibility into available materials, helping reduce uncertainty and delays. They can identify and acquire “the best reel for the job.” 

The data also provides a digital record of cable assets as they move through the organization. This can support coordination between internal teams and contractors and reduce the reliance on manual, paper-based reconciliation. 

Rather than monitoring individuals, the system is focused on improving processes by providing real-time information about how cable is being used. 

Implementation and Adoption 

ComEd implemented the platform through targeted deployments before expanding its use across additional locations and teams. 

Because the platform integrates into existing workflows, adoption required minimal disruption. Field crews did not need to manually enter data, and warehouse teams were able to incorporate reel-level visibility into their existing planning processes. 

The focus on ease of use and workflow integration helped accelerate acceptance across the organization. 

As utilities across the United States seek to modernize infrastructure and manage increasingly complex operations, access to accurate physical-world data is essential. Cable operations, primarily managed through manual processes and estimates, can now be informed by accurate real-time visibility.