When the volume of Schwan's home deliveries dipped a couple of years ago, company executives looked to technology to maintain its relationship with customers.

The company focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and in turn found ways to streamline operations, said Michael Ziebell, vice president and general manager of Schwan's home service, who spoke at a Southwest State University seminar centering on the importance of GIS in business and other fields.

"New technologies will change the face of Schwan's home service and many businesses like it for years to come," Ziebell said. "I believe that we are among the first in terms of the commercial application of GIS. It provides a foundation from which you can work, so you always have the ability not only to analyze the customers for their behavior, but also their location and how we can serve them better."

The capability of gathering GIS data from 20 miles or more up in the air did not exist when the company formed 49 years ago, Ziebell said. With this technology, the company is able to use computer software to design more efficient routes, track customer purchases and times of delivery, and input a range of other variables.

In just one test area, GIS made it possible to reduce truck drivers' miles by 35 percent. Nationwide, drivers log 150 million miles annually, Ziebell said.

"If we could save 35 percent of those miles, at the price of fuel today, can you imagine the savings? It's not only good for business, it's good for the environment, the wear and tear on our equipment, the wear and tear on our people," Ziebell said.

Initially, GIS maps and software were of poor quality, Ziebell said.

"As it evolved, we were able to go with it, and then our applications and the building of our relational data base that supports all the mapping technology also grew in sophistication," Ziebell said. "So, we're now at a point where we really can deploy the tools."

Dennis Guse, an SSU senior who served as a summer GIS intern at Schwan's in the business development department, spent much of his time working on delivery areas to find inefficiencies in the routes.

"When you look at this on a map, you can easily see that you're traveling quite a distance to pick up customers that could be served more efficiently by a different depot," Guse said.

Plugging in various layers of other data allows the company to analyze its market base and target marketing tools, as well as a range of other activities, Guse said.

GIS route-planning operations for the entire country will be maintained in Marshall, said Dan Fosvick, Schwan's process development manager. Guse's internship was extended to continue working on GIS activities.

"The things that we see today will be nothing compared to what we see a year from now," Fosvick said.

GIS and other technology is evolving to a point where students in various fields need the training, said Charlie Kost, director of the SSU GIS Center. Kost recently was appointed to the 18-member Minnesota Governor's Council on Geographic Information. The council is mandated to promote the effective and efficient use of geographic information and to make recommendations that include policies, institutional arrangements, standards, education and stewardship.

"What's going to happen in the future is that the GIS tools will be served via the Internet and intranet. It will be served to people as they need them," Kost said. "This tool is going to be there on your desktop, so you need to learn how to do this. If students don't do it now, I can guarantee that two or three years after they're in a job, they're going to be back in school learning how to do this."

Kost took a phone call recently from a student whose wife wants to take his one-credit course, which focuses on using GIS software. She lost out on a job for lack of GIS skills, Kost said.

The university also offers two full-credit courses in GIS, but it lacks a certification program, said Geoff Cunfer, an assistant professor of environmental history who teaches the courses. The university's GIS Center is three years old.

Four students are enrolled in this semester's full-credit GIS class. Ten students were enrolled last fall and six the previous year.

"Enrollments are low because essentially no program on campus requires GIS," Cunfer said. "Students have very few opportunities to take optional classes. A few see that this is going to help them get a job, but until business has a required course, or political science, or environmental science has a required course, students can't justify taking the class because it extends their time on campus."

Most students who take the classes come out of the environmental science program, Cunfer said.

"Doug Spieles (an assistant professor in environmental science) held a job fair two years ago where he brought in people from the DNR, the forest service, and the question was put to them, what skills do students need to get jobs. Every single person on the program said GIS, and the students really heard that," Cunfer said.