Vulcan Enhances Printer Uptime Using IoT
Use Cases
- Additive Manufacturing
- Time Sensitive Networking
Services
- Testing & Certification
About The Customer
Vulcan is a privately held company established in 1986 by Paul Allen and his sister Jody. The company was created to manage and oversee the family's diverse business activities and philanthropic endeavors. Vulcan has a workforce of 800 employees. The company's HR team is responsible for handling payroll, a task that involves printing payroll checks. However, they were facing challenges with the printers going down frequently, leading to delays in the printing and delivery of checks. The IT team was tasked with investigating and resolving this issue.
The Challenge
Vulcan, a privately held company founded by Paul Allen and his sister Jody in 1986, was facing a significant challenge with their payroll processing. The HR team responsible for payroll was experiencing issues with the printers used for printing payroll checks. The printers were frequently going down, and without any monitoring system in place, the only way to identify this issue was by physically checking each printer. This method was not only time-consuming but also led to delays in identifying the problem, which in turn caused delays in the printing and delivery of checks. The IT team was tasked with investigating the issue and finding a solution to ensure the smooth operation of the printers.
The Solution
The IT team at Vulcan discovered that the printers were not processing printing commands after falling idle. To address this, they decided to use LogicMonitor, an IoT solution, to monitor the printers and alert the HR team when the machines went into an idle state. This immediate solution ensured that the HR team was notified when their printers went to sleep, reducing the time taken to identify the issue. The IT team then tested if they could ping the devices via the collector to 'wake' them, eliminating the need for someone to physically re-activate the printers. The testing was successful, and this solution was implemented, ensuring that the printers were ready to operate at any given moment, regardless of whether someone was physically present or not.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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