With a global footprint and production system extending from Japan to China and Vietnam to Texas, the Motor Business Unit (MBU) of Toshiba International Corporation’s (Toshiba’s) Industrial Division depends on flawless logistics processes. In 2010, Toshiba moved some manufacturing for premium industrial motors from Houston to a factory strategically located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s international port. With plans for the new Vietnam plant to ship up to 1.2 million motors a year to the global market, Toshiba needed a highly efficient, collaborative supply chain relationship to support their aggressive growth goals and maintain service and quality standards.\n\nToshiba’s MBU in Houston searched for a solution to resolve cost and service failures with the incumbent logistics provider. With limited tracking and traceability, poorly defined and followed standard operating procedures (SOPs), a narrow focus on inbound transportation, and no visibility to freight costs, leadership felt the lack of internal supply chain expertise hindered their ability to grow. They needed creative solutions.

Perry County’s challenges building reliable daily schedules as well as monitoring a fleet of vehicles represented just a couple issues the agency faced prior to implementing Ecolane software. Difficult-to-maintain two-way radios had also been their standard but were costly and unreliable in the rural terrain which made up Perry’s operating area. Additionally, the agency’s dependence on manual scheduling led to inefficient, and often inaccurate, data entry. Reports which were subsequently run on that inaccurate data added to the headaches. One of Perry’s largest struggles was the staff’s inability to perform compliance checks on their provided services. Poor Data Entry, Cumbersome financial management, Difficulty managing route changes, Operational deficit.

With a large demand for paratransit service, Akron METRO was looking to upgrade their inadequate paratransit and AVL software for a fleet of 77 paratransit buses and 4 supervisor vans. They were forced to outsource some rides to a local taxi company because they couldn’t handle the capacity. The previous outdated system was unable to handle their large volume of trips. A more agile and automated platform was needed.

DDOT faced several challenges including poor communication between management and drivers due to reliance on paper manifests and outdated technology. Coordination between DDOT, the previous broker, and subcontractors was cumbersome due to manual scheduling processes. This resulted in limited visibility into driver data, scheduling, and execution, causing drivers to frequently run behind schedule. Staff had to manually collect all pick-up calls for the next day by 4:30pm and compile them into a report to send to each provider, leading to disjointed delivery of customer trips. Additionally, there was zero visibility into how trips were being booked, and the scheduling method often resulted in multiple provider vehicles being dispatched to pick up a single customer.

Technicolor faced the challenge of managing high volumes of parcel shipments efficiently and cost-effectively, ensuring timely deliveries for important product launches and movie premieres. The company needed a solution that could handle the increasing demand for physical media and entertainment-related devices, while also managing cross-border shipments and various transportation modes. The pressure to meet delivery deadlines and optimize costs across different transportation modes added to the complexity of their logistics operations.

BlueGrace Logistics, a non-asset based 3PL, was launched during an economic downturn in a highly competitive market. To succeed, BlueGrace needed to differentiate itself through technology. The company started with 18 employees in a small office and aimed to grow rapidly. The founder, Bobby Harris, recognized the need for a robust transportation management system (TMS) to enable this growth. He chose MercuryGate TMS, which he was familiar with from a previous venture, believing it could provide the necessary functionality and flexibility.

BC School District 67 faced several challenges in maintaining a secure and productive IT environment. The district needed to securely lock down the environment without reducing user capability and productivity or increasing overall IT support costs. Resource-intensive applications consumed excessive CPU and reduced performance. Additionally, the district had to manage security threats from both inside and outside the firewall, as tech-savvy students often ran unauthorized applications, installed keyloggers, and shared computers, exposing sensitive information. The IT department also struggled with managing policies and personalization across Citrix thin clients, desktops, and laptops separately, which was time-consuming and inefficient. Furthermore, the district wanted to optimize its thin-client servers by increasing user load without impacting the quality of service, as several critical applications consumed 100% CPU, resulting in significant performance hits and increased support calls.

The Mechanics Bank faced several challenges in maintaining the security and performance of their IT systems. They needed a proactive solution to protect against harmful executables and ensure their 32 branches could serve customers effectively. The bank's IT team was constantly dealing with unauthorized applications and plug-ins, which could introduce spyware and malware. This required tedious lock downs and time-consuming system maintenance. Additionally, the help desk was inundated with calls due to browser hijackings and altered registry settings, leading to user dissatisfaction. The bank also faced issues with CPU and memory-hogging applications, necessitating either additional hardware investments or better utilization of existing servers.

Banner Bank faced significant performance issues with its Citrix desktop environment, which supported 150 applications and 1000 employees. The resource-intensive applications caused performance degradation during activity spikes, affecting both employee productivity and customer service. The bank needed to increase capacity without investing in additional hardware and software licenses. On optimal days, they could only get six to nine people on a Citrix machine, and any spike in activity would cause system failures. The bank required more than 250 Citrix machines to keep up with the workload, leading to constant complaints about applications locking up or not responding.

CCI has approximately 260 employees working across the company’s offices in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. With many employees regularly working from home and travelling between CCI’s offices, the company’s IT department struggled to deliver a consistent desktop experience across the different locations and devices. The user base also experienced lengthy Windows logon times, with user profiles generally taking up to 15 minutes to load, which affected the productivity employees. Commenting on the problem, Trevor Walter, Team Leader of Technology Services at CCI, said: “The slow logon times, which could range anywhere from between 10 to 15 minutes and, on occasion, up to 45 minutes due to profiling issues with the previous solution, were a source of frustration for employees as well as a headache for our IT department. Simply put, every minute spent waiting by an employee to gain access to their computer was another minute lost in productivity. We were also struggling to deliver a consistent and personalized user experience for our staff, which we needed to change.” In addition, the organization was due to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 and wanted to minimize user disruption and the impact of a migration project on IT resources.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) faced rising costs and complexity in supporting an outdated IT environment. Users' personalization and policy settings were limited to a single, local machine, making it inconvenient for staff and students to travel between campuses and use different devices. Additionally, the university struggled with optimizing software licensing and managing applications that monopolized resources. KPU was committed to lowering desktop management and support costs while delivering a consistent end user experience with centralized user management. The organization spent three months reviewing solutions to assist with its virtualization initiative.

St. Tammany Parish Hospital faced several challenges in its IT infrastructure, including the need to implement Meaningful Use standards set by the federal government, slow logon times, and a lack of user personalization. The hospital's help desk was overburdened with issues related to user profile settings, and there was a need to enable proximity printing for clinicians accessing multiple patient rooms and printers. Additionally, the hospital was migrating from Windows XP to a virtual Windows 7 environment, which added another layer of complexity to their IT challenges.

Alstom faced the challenge of delivering high-quality, stable services with minimal ongoing costs. The company needed to ensure that their IT environment was managed efficiently while providing a consistent and predictable user experience. Applications like Excel and Lotus Notes were demanding on their systems, degrading the quality of service to users. Alstom was working to commercial SLAs with their customers, necessitating a solution that could ensure optimal performance and equal resource distribution.

Erste Bank faced several challenges including strict IT security requirements, an increasing number of mobile and home office workers, and a complex infrastructure spread across 80 different locations. Frequent loss of user personalization settings and an increased number of support calls, costs, and user downtime were also significant issues. The bank needed a solution that could provide secure and consistent access to IT services, regardless of the user's location or device, while maintaining strict security policies.

Ballard Power Systems, a leader in proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology, needed to consolidate and modernize their technology systems. They aimed to move away from stand-alone systems and find a centralized ERP that would provide better visibility into all areas of their operation. This corporate initiative led to the selection of Oracle SCM Cloud. However, Ballard also wanted to use barcoding and scanning to direct the flow of material through their shop floor. They needed an easy way to get shop floor information into Oracle SCM Cloud while leveraging its robust functionality and maintaining the simplicity of barcode scanning.

Kateeva, a rapidly growing start-up in the OLED display manufacturing industry, faced significant challenges in managing their complex manufacturing processes. Initially, they relied on manual, paper-based systems for inventory management, which were time-consuming and inefficient. The lack of an integrated inventory management system led to infrequent and inaccurate stock counts, causing a lag in data points and making it difficult to maintain control over inventory movement. As a result, Kateeva struggled to keep up with the industry's fast-paced advancements and needed a scalable solution to streamline their operations and improve inventory accuracy.

Michelman faced significant challenges with their outdated inventory movement processes, which led to considerable lag time between inventory movement and system updates. The lack of real-time visibility resulted in inventory shortages and over-stocking, hampering operational efficiency and business growth. In 2010, Michelman decided to overhaul their supply-chain technology by implementing JD Edwards 9.0 and RF-SMART automated data collection (ADC). They needed a solution that could seamlessly integrate with JD Edwards to enhance inventory efficiency and visibility.

Before implementing JD Edwards and RF-SMART, Select Harvests automatically recorded product as it arrived in their facility across weighbridges. Production receipts were then generated out of PLCs, and all data was integrated into their production floor as stock moved through their facility. However, the addition of JD Edwards posed a challenge: either replace all automation with systems that would integrate to JDE, or find a way to integrate the existing systems into JDE. In searching for a solution, the team at Select Harvests compared several options, but it was RF-SMART that allowed them to move forward with their JDE implementation and continue using their automation machines. “The value of RF-SMART is that it provides both the automation and data acquisition that we were looking to combine,” said Peter Holman, Group IT Manager. “It simplified the business problem of getting data into JD Edwards.”

BTD Manufacturing faced significant challenges in managing their inventory due to slow AX form load times, extra fields on AX forms, and the inability to use barcode scanning. These issues led to employees leaving AX forms open and forgetting to post their journals, resulting in inventory data inaccuracies. Monthly inventory verifications were costing BTD nearly $10,000 in labor and lost productivity. The need for real-time transactions to update inventory was critical to improve business efficiency and reduce costs.

With continued growth since implementing Dynamics AX 2009, Houweling’s set their sights on achieving more direct sales. To accomplish this, they needed to bring distribution operations in-house. The goal was to establish direct relationships with the buyers rather than going through a third party for delivery to customers. To achieve their business objectives, Houweling’s recognized the need to improve processes, move away from a dependency on paper, and achieve real-time visibility. It became evident that the only way to accomplish this was through the implementation of automated data collection. The company reviewed a number of automated data solutions, selecting a lower-cost competitor to RF-SMART. Unfortunately for Houweling’s, the results of this alternate solution did not deliver dependable functionality. Experiencing software crashes on a regular basis resulted in increased labor hours and a determination that the selected solution was not achieving their objectives.