In many utilities, the underlying paradigm is that the department managers must watch and control meter readers. Meter readers need the meters to be in good condition, accessible and easy to read. In the meter shop, the work is mostly mechanical maintenance. The manager's focus usually is on meter-shop productivity, or the number of meters serviced each year, rather than accuracy. Meters must be reliable, and the fewer makes and models the meter-shop manager has to deal with, the better.
Meters typically are a commodity product.
Meter shops are wary of new technologies, particularly those with parts that don't move. Because these managers deal with operations only within their respective departments, they lack a big-picture understanding of utility automation. The managers don't appreciate the impact they have on other utility departments. Managers tend to optimize departmental activities by which their supervisors measure productivity, primarily because no one wants to reduce staff. But none of the managers has a broad, process-oriented perspective.