Case Studies
Savi’s award-winning supply chain visibility solutions help organizations world-wide and across industries.
Challenge: A Global 50 Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company averaged 25,000 North American truck shipments per month. Because there was no system in place for real-time monitoring of inventory in-transit, operation team members were unaware of real-time disruptions, rendering them unable to avoid or mitigate late or non-delivery for their customers. A new strategic cross-docking […]
Challenge:
A Global 50 Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company averaged 25,000 North American truck shipments per month. Because there was no system in place for real-time monitoring of inventory in-transit, operation team members were unaware of real-time disruptions, rendering them unable to avoid or mitigate late or non-delivery for their customers. A new strategic cross-docking network was unable to realize high-efficiency targets because the inbound Estimated Time of Arrivals (ETAs) were inaccurate ─ reducing the number of goods that could be cross-docked. The Transportation Management System (TMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems did not receive real-time information and rarely received shipment plan updates. As a result, this CPG company employed hundreds of people to make check calls to carriers, drivers, and customers to update ETAs manually. This manual process was time-consuming, error-prone, and latent. Often, disruption reports were received well after they occurred, leaving logistics teams unable to mitigate late delivery impacts.
Solution:
Savi worked with this customer to implement Savi Visibility™, our live streaming in-transit tracking and ETA solution. The CPG company asked their truck carriers to send Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and telematics feeds to Savi, while Savi set up an automated feed from and to the CPG’s Transportation Management System (TMS) to log planned shipments.
After ingesting the data from the carriers and the TMS, Savi’s massively scalable machine learning platform began to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to build algorithms to much more accurately predict both inbound and outbound ETAs. The Savi Visibility user interface provides map, list, and reporting views of the real-time status of all shipments. Predictive alerts, such as “Trending Late” and “Trending Early,” were determined using customer-specific thresholds of time, distance, and amount predicted late. Predictive ETAs and alerts were sent to users and the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, enabling synchronization between TMS, Warehouse Management System (WMS), and yard management operations.
Result:
With a continuous live streaming view of all shipments in transit and real-time alerts for the 5-10% of shipments that required attention, the burden on operations diminished dramatically, making far fewer check calls necessary. Planners were able to focus on mitigating or avoiding disruptions of shipments that would otherwise have arrived late.
The substantially improved inbound ETA accuracy enabled more inbound loads to be synchronized with outbound shipments, increasing the percentage of loads to be cross-docked and reaching the original efficiency target of regional cross-docking centers.
In addition, the feed from Savi’s big data platform allowed the TMS to be continuously updated with accurate ETAs, rather than a static planned ETA or late and inaccurate EDI messages, keeping both the planning, operations, and customer teams up to date in real-time.
After the new system was implemented, the CPG was able to achieve:
- 22% improvement in cross-docking efficiency and orchestration
- 17x increase in ETA accuracy
- 350+ hours/week productivity gained per transportation lane
Historical and predictive analytics helped bring about additional transportation improvements. With a robust historical ETA data by lane, carrier and distribution center, and the Savi Insight platform, our customer was able to easily view aggregated performance and benchmark those areas to investigate possible improvements holistically.
Knowing the actual average ETAs and the likely variability gives the CPG company actionable insights about in-transit inventory levels, helping them to reduce safety stock or avoid stock-outs.
Finally, early outreach and collaboration with their customers when an unavoidable disruption occurs, as well as more accurate shipment ETAs overall, has brought improved customer satisfaction.
WHAT WAS NEEDED Kenya agencies were looking for a technology solution to reduce cargo diversion within the country’s borders. Trucks carrying oil and gas were of particular concern. Our customer, SGS, had to work with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to implement the identified solution that would address these challenges. ACTIONS TAKEN The answer was […]
WHAT WAS NEEDED
Kenya agencies were looking for a technology solution to reduce cargo diversion within the country’s borders. Trucks carrying oil and gas were of particular concern.
Our customer, SGS, had to work with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to implement the identified solution that would address these challenges.
ACTIONS TAKEN
The answer was to use the OMNIS system from SGS, a service first used in Ghana to help solve similar issues of keeping track of cargo, collecting badly needed government revenue, and making sure goods are delivered to the people who need them.
The technology engine behind the OMNIS system is the Savi Mobile Tracking System™, an integrated combination of specialized software and hardware that enables continuous tracking of cargo.
Using this technology, we are assisting Kenya’s existing customs processes so that trucks entering Kenyan territory are equipped with a permanent tracking device which transmits its position through the GSM/GPRS network.
Electronic seals fixed on containers are then coupled with the trucks using RFID. Predefined transit corridors have been configured into the system for geo-fencing purposes. Trucks which drive off course are immediately identified and the customs control room notified.
If the seals are tampered with or broken, an alarm is triggered, so customs can take immediate action. This monitoring is performed on all transit consignments.
WHAT WAS NEEDED Ghana is a major road transit corridor to the landlocked countries to its north, including Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Goods traveling in transit through Ghana are not subject to import duties and taxes. However, as cross border trade increased, so did instances of cargo being lost or diverted into the local […]
WHAT WAS NEEDED
Ghana is a major road transit corridor to the landlocked countries to its north, including Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali.
Goods traveling in transit through Ghana are not subject to import duties and taxes. However, as cross border trade increased, so did instances of cargo being lost or diverted into the local economy en route. This was depriving Ghana of much-needed government revenue and created an imbalance in parts of the economy.
Our customer’s challenge was to find a state-of-the-art, reliable and cost-effective traceability service that prevented cargo from being lost or stolen, protected revenues and replaced an expensive, ineffective model that relied on escort officers.
ACTIONS TAKEN
Our customer, SGS , wanted to build on the existing GCNet Single Window and establish an electronic tracking system. The GCNet company – a joint venture between SGS and local public and private sector partners in Ghana – funded and worked with Savi to provide a turnkey, cutting-edge transit tracking solution to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The end result was an innovative solution driven by the Savi Mobile Tracking System™. This integrated combination of specialized software and hardware uses self-contained electronic tracking devices fixed to trucks to relay position data acquired by GPS and alerts to a fully equipped Transit Control center at Customs Head Office.
Officials can track cargo in real time and communicate with mobile teams on the ground to intervene quickly and effectively if needed. Information can also be uploaded onto the GCNet ePortal or website so that haulers and owners can keep informed of the progress of their cargo.
OUTCOME
The Savi Mobile Tracking System is fully operational – covering both the south-north and east-west corridors through Ghana and monitoring between 2,500 and 3,200 trucks per month.
Ghana and Burkina Faso Customs are cooperating with a goal of implementing the first end-to-end cross-border transit tracking system in the region by expanding the Savi Mobile Tracking System to Burkina Faso and beyond.
Thanks to this solution, our customer SGS was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the World Customs Organization for rendering exceptional service to Ghana Customs.
A top biotechnology company that manufactures medications for neurological disorders uses sensors and visibility to monitor shipments of finished goods to maintain patient safety, comply with regulations and ensure brand integrity.
How a Top Biotechnology Company Saved $1 Million in an Hour with Real-Time Visibility
A top biotechnology firm manufactures medications for neurological disorders, such as muscular dystrophy or dementia. The company must carefully monitor shipments of finished medicines to maintain patient safety, comply with regulations and ensure brand integrity.
Challenge:
Damage, theft, diversion, fraud and counterfeiting of high-value medicines are all significant issues for the pharmaceutical industry today. To protect patients and revenue, this biotech firm needed visibility to in-transit inventory from their plant to the customer distribution center. The firm also wanted to identify any areas that posed a potential risk for supply chain disruptions.
Solution:
To comply with the need to understand exactly where the biotech company’s finished goods were in transit, in real time, Savi provided sensors that tracked the location of the truck using GPS satellite pings and an electronic tamper detection that sent a signal if the sensor cable was cut.
A sensor was placed on every truck. The route the driver was to follow and the Points of Interest (PoI) for origination, stops and destinations were defined and geofenced in the Savi Visibility™ platform. Alerts were configured to notify the company’s Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) to out-of-band conditions such as defined early or late pick up, early or late arrival, and excessive dwell time.
Result:
One shipment of cold-packed finished goods raised an alert due to excessive dwell time greater than 30 minutes for an unplanned stop. The GSOC checked Savi Visibility and saw that the truck was stopped in a church parking lot along the planned route.
GSOC operators called their carrier to ask if the truck had broken down. The carrier was unaware that there was any problem, but once they contacted the driver, found that the truck had in fact broken down. Without consulting the company, the carrier dispatched another truck to pick up the load.
Once the new truck was dispatched, the carrier called the biotech company to let them know the truck was on its way and would arrive in a few hours to pick up the load and take it to the destination.
However, the goods were cold-packed and the packaging would only hold the medicines at the required temperature for a limited time. The GSOC operators used the Savi Visibility ETA from the original truck’s current location to determine that the new truck could not get the goods to the destination before the cold pack would expire.
Expiration meant that the goods could spoil if the temperature was out of compliance. Worse, it was Friday and the distribution center closed early and would not reopen until Monday. Missing the operational time for the distribution center meant the temperature-controlled goods would have to sit over the weekend and would definitely spoil.
The GSOC operator realized that the new truck could return the goods to the origination where there was refrigerated storage before the cold-packing expired. The GSOC instructed the carrier to route the new truck back to the origination point which saved the shipment.
From the time the excessive dwell time alert was sent to the time the new truck was rerouted back to the origination was less than one hour, keeping the cold packaging well within the mandated expiration window. This decision saved the company $500,000 in profits.
ROI Calculation:
Cost of solution/shipment = $25
Cost of testing cargo safety = $1,000,000
Cost of cargo = $15,000,000
Profit on cargo = $1,500,000
In this case, one shipment more than recouped the entire annual cost of the visibility solution, much less the cost at a per shipment level.
If the cold pack time window had expired, the company would have been required to test the medications to see if they were out of the temperature range and therefore spoiled. The cost of the testing is $1 million.
If the temperature was out of range and the shipment spoiled, the profit and the cost of the goods would be lost as well as the $1 million spent on testing. Instead, the new truck arrived at the destination before the cold package expired—saving $1 million testing cost, as well as the cost and profit on the shipment itself.
The shipment was safely stored over the weekend and the shipment went out the following Monday without incident to the destination.
Using Savi Solutions to Improve Cross-Docking and Inventory Turns
Using Savi Solutions to Improve Cross-Docking and Inventory Turns
What was needed
A logistics service provider needed to improve cross-docking efficiency for their customer. Before using Savi, their customer was planning their dock schedule every twenty-four hours. When shipments were late (or early), often there were people waiting around, or there were not enough people available to unload and load at the mixing center. Late shipments also brought penalties for not delivering “on time, in full,” aka OTIF.
Actions taken
The logistics service provider turned to Savi solutions: Savi Visibility™ and Savi’s analytics software, Savi Insight™
Outcome
The accuracy of ETAs improved by 90%. More precise ETAs allowed them to plan their dock schedule every six hours instead of every twenty-four hours, which resulted in a more efficient use of labor—no standing around waiting for shipments to arrive. Improved cross-docking also brought a decrease in OTIF penalties and an increase in inventory turns, which made them a hero with their customer.
One of over fifty such sites in the world, the U.S. Army’s Sierra Army Depot covers fifty-nine square miles, and includes over 1000 buildings that enclose over 5 million square feet of storage space.
One of over fifty such sites in the world, the U.S. Army’s Sierra Army Depot covers fifty-nine square miles, and includes over 1000 buildings that enclose over 5 million square feet of storage space. With tens of thousands of assets stored onsite at any given moment, hundreds or thousands of military assets including tanks, personnel carriers, weapons, clothing, equipment and related supplies can move in and out of the depot every week.
What was needed
The U.S. Army’s Sierra Depot covers fifty-nine square miles, and includes over 1000 buildings that enclose over 5 million square feet of storage space. With tens of thousands of assets stored onsite an any given moment, and with hundreds or thousands of assets moving in and out of the facility every week, detailed knowledge of asset status, location and security is critical. Without real-time asset knowledge – of location, of status, and of security — it could take days or weeks to manually search through the depot to find specific equipment.
Outcome
Total asset visibility. With Savi, Sierra Depot achieves near 100% knowledge accuracy for assets stored in and across the hundreds of thousands of containers, pallets, vehicles, and shipping crates within the 59 square mile depot. Thanks to the Savi platform, Sierra Depot has been able to drive down personnel costs, improve response times, and decrease asset spoilage owing to environmental factors. With Savi, Sierra Depot has increased efficiency in virtually every part of its operation.
The United Stated Air Force (USAF) is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. With over 300,000 personnel on active duty, USAF physical assets include over 10,000 manned and unmanned aircraft, combat air vehicles, cruise missiles and ICBMs, based and deployed throughout the world.
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. With over 300,000 personnel on active duty, USAF physical assets include over 10,000 manned and unmanned aircraft, combat air vehicles, cruise missiles and ICBMs, based and deployed throughout the world.
What was needed
The USAF is held accountable for a vast number of assets spread around the world including aircraft vehicles, tools, and related equipment. Determining asset location and condition at any given time is crucial to USAF operations. At one time the USAF utilized manual data capture methods to collect asset information. A better approach was needed as multiple GAO audits showed that manually collected asset data was often inaccurate, untimely or missing. More recently, the USAF, like other military branches, has been asked to do more with less, leading to a reduction in the number of Air Force logisticians. Faced with smaller staffs, larger workloads, a quicker working pace, and a history of audit shortcomings and asset management inaccuracies, the USAF aggressively sought to automate asset tracking and logistics reporting.
Actions taken
Savi responded to the USAF’s requirements by creating a specialized version of its logistics informatics platform. This end-to-end system collected real-time information via bar-coded USAF assets, including asset location, status, and other data, from DoD-compliant active and passive RFID tags. After collecting and consolidating the data, Savi converted it into actionable operational information and presented it to USAF logisticians and decision-makers in the form of online or offline reports. The Savi platform was also easily integrated with existing USAF ERP and other back-office software systems for streamlined accounting and auditing.
Outcome
With real-time information at the fingertips of decision-makers, the USAF realized immediate benefits from its rollout of the Savi platform. During the pilot phase of deployment, USAF man-hours associated with locating accountable assets were reduced by 80%. In addition, over 99% of their assets were immediately located, and over $60K of accountable equipment was located off-site and returned to accountable units. With a fully automated data collection system, error-prone manual methods have been eliminated, further reducing manpower needs while improving the quality and accuracy of USAF asset data.
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. With more than 70,000 employees and more than 1,350 offices and laboratories around the world, they are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity.
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company. With more than 70,000 employees and more than 1,350 offices and laboratories around the world, SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Savi has established a strategic exclusive alliance with SGS, one in which Savi provides the technology solution for their Omnis service offering. Savi Tracking is the technology “engine” that drives this solution—it allows governments and other organizations around the world the ability to track assets and verify the real-time status of goods and materials with minute-by-minute updates.
What was needed
SGS is active in many business arenas, including inspection and verification of goods in transit within national boundaries or across borders. To gain a competitive edge in its consignment verification and logistics security business, SGS sought to develop a new integrated logistics and tracking offering that it could add to its global services portfolio. A key requirement of the ground-breaking service was real-time asset-tracking and comprehensive journey monitoring. SGS believed that real-time end-to-end consignment tracking, combined with continuous cargo integrity monitoring, would be a market-leading offering; and would give them an inside track on new business, especially where customers were deeply concerned about the loss of valuable assets in transit.
Outcome
SGS now delivers OMNIS, powered by Savi, a reliable solution to track freight movements using GPS, GPRS, and satellite technology that gives customers full in-transit visibility and real-time event management. Using Savi technology, OMINS monitors the precise location of a customer’s shipments at all times, automatically responding to unexpected or risky conditions with a wide range of alerts. In addition, the Savi platform allows for the creation of robust, customizable geo-corridors, which define a “safe zone” for shipments. Real-time alerts are sent to users if freight suddenly changes route, direction, or is delayed. With OMNIS, powered by Savi, SGS is beating the competition and winning new business in multiple geographies.
This large global company delivers advanced chemicals to customers by truck, rail and sea, to customers using state-of-the art ISO intermodal tanks, valued at more than $600K each.
This global company employs tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries around the world, providing liquid and gaseous chemicals. It delivers advanced chemicals to customers by truck, rail and sea, to customers using state-of-the art ISO intermodal tanks, valued at more than $600,000 each.
Challenge: Managing Reusable Shipping Containers
This chemicals manufacturer maintained an inventory of over 200 reusable intermodal ISO tanks to fulfill customer orders. These containers, each valued at $600,000-$700,000, were heavily used assets, and were often critical path items when evaluating shipping and supply chain issues.
Utilization rates of these containers drive profitability. Company executives knew that to achieve the best results, they needed real-time understanding of container idle times and deviations from movement plans. Knowing container location was essential for business success.
Solution: Real-Time Tracking & Alerts
Savi delivered a complete visibility platform, designed to meet the specific tracking and reporting requirements of the company. The solution collected and consolidated real-time tracking data for the customer’s entire inventory of reusable containers. Also, the solution enabled complete route management and monitoring of containers to and from customer locations.
Savi presented the information to the company via dynamic real-time mapping reports and through tight integration with legacy reporting systems, providing an enterprise-wide understanding of overall shipping and business dynamics.
The platform also generates real-time alerts to inform decision-makers when containers experience any deviations from the shipment or movement plan. In addition, the Savi solution facilitates the presentation of cargo and shipment data to the company’s clients through externally facing reporting.
Results: Better Utilization & Lower Costs
With access to actionable sensor data and reports in real time, the company was able to achieve many business improvements, including:
- Better load balancing and container utilization
- Reduced costs
- Better understanding of shipment status
- Less exposure to costly expedited shipments and demurrage fees
- More accurate predictions of future container needs
The combined effect of these improvements also meant the company was able reduce how often it needed expensive short-term rentals of additional container capacity.
Externally facing reports helped customers make better decision and use of reserve stocks while waiting for deliveries, improving customer satisfaction. By implementing the Savi solution, the customer achieved greater profitability.
The United States Army is the largest national military force in the world. NATO is a intergovernmental military alliance between 28 member nations across North American and Europe. NATO and Australia have developed meaningful, practical cooperation in a great number of areas, most notably in the fight against terrorism, research and technology, and non-proliferation initiatives.
The United States Army is the largest national military force in the world. NATO is a intergovernmental military alliance between 28 member nations across North American and Europe. NATO and Australia have developed meaningful, practical cooperation in a great number of areas, most notably in the fight against terrorism, research and technology, and non-proliferation initiatives.
What was needed
It is no surprise that the most challenging, most fluid, most dynamic supply chains support military forces wherever they are deployed. And as the nature of warfighting and peacekeeping evolves away from single-nation efforts and towards multi-national collaborations, the need to have precise, real-time logistical information in the hands of military planners and logisticians has become more critical. At any moment, there are literally tens of thousands of physical assets in motion across an operational theatre. Not surprisingly, the US Army, NATO and its Allies have aggressively evaluated and deployed technology to create real-time reports on asset location and status to give decision-makers the information they need to successfully complete their assigned missions.
Actions taken
The US Department of Defense turned to Savi, a pioneer in active RFID technology, for a solution that would provide real-time information on asset location and status. Savi delivered a complete software and hardware solution that automated the entire process of asset tracking and reporting. The Savi platform includes active RFID technology to broadcast asset location and status to sensors deployed in depots, warehouses, and forward areas. The Savi-designed software collects the real-time data from the sensors and converts it into actionable reports, including real-time maps, tabular reports and automated email alerts, to quickly put the most accurate data into the hands of the decision-makers who need it. Finally, the Savi platform is completely integrated into the Army’s back-office management and accounting software enable precise fiscal controls and auditing.
Outcome
Savi SmartChain more than meets the demanding requirements of the US Army. The system successfully provides logisticians with “total asset visibility” — real-time knowledge of the location and physical status of assets in operating theatres. The hardened active tags that Savi developed now define the standard asset tag used by the U.S. Department of Defense for all material. The network of Savi sensors has been expanded to create what is today the world’s largest integrated RFID-based tracking network.
The mission-certified success of Savi SmartChain directly led to NATO’s and the Australian Defense Force’s decisions to deploy the Savi Technology platform to track their national military assets and to facilitate seamless logistics management of assets between national forces in coordinated operations. With “total asset visibility” these allied forces are able to confidently plan and execute complex missions in harsh environments.
The F-35 Lightning (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter) is the U.S. Department of Defense’s next generation aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and U.S. allies. The F-35 introduces an array of cutting-edge technologies, including advanced airframe, autonomic logistics, avionics, propulsion systems, stealth, and armament.
The F-35 Lightning (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter) is the U.S. Department of Defense’s next generation aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and U.S. allies. The F-35 introduces an array of cutting-edge technologies, including advanced airframe, autonomic logistics, avionics, propulsion systems, stealth, and armament.
What was needed
The F-35 Lightning II Program (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter Program) is the Department of Defense’s generation strike aircraft weapon systems for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and our allies. The F-35 introduces an array of cutting-edge technologies, including advanced airframe, autonomic logistics, avionics, propulsion systems, stealth, and armament. Not surprisingly, the F-35 is one of the most complex aircraft ever manufactured, extending traditional manufacturing techniques with unique custom-built forms and tools. To add to the complexity, F-35s are assembled at a 680-acre, 153 building site. To keep costs down, the manufacturing teams share these expensive tool sets (often with 100 or more components). The tools are moved from building to building across the site to the teams that needed them for their work. Previously, a manually operated tool inventory system had been used to keep track of these specialized tools. To minimize manufacturing delays, and provide greater operational efficiency, the Prime Contractor, one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, sought to provide manufacturing decision makers with accurate real-time reports on the tool location, condition and status of the unique specialized tools so that they could be more responsive to the needs of the manufacturing teams.
Actions taken
Savi SmartChain was an ideal solution for this urgent need. By collecting tool status data from active and passive tags placed directly on the tools, the Savi software was able to present decision-makers with real-time information describing tool location, condition, and status. Thousands of tools were tagged and incorporated into the new tool logistics system, which collected the logistics data and converted it into real-time reports on tool locations, condition and status. Online information displays, as well as email alerts detailing status or special conditions, gave manufacturing decision-makers unprecedented visibility into the tool-based processes. At the same time, the Savi platform was completely integrated into the legacy enterprise software systems that the Contractor depended upon, so the back-office accounting, compliance, inventory and audit systems had complete access to this valuable data stream.
Outcome
Thanks to Savi SmartChain, manufacturing efficiency increased. Idle tools were put into service more quickly, lost tools were located, and overall scheduling accuracy increased. And because Savi SmartChain automates the data collection process, manual entry errors were completely eliminated. Finally, the end-to-end integration of Savi with legacy in-house systems reduced the human effort required to prepared externally-facing reports for government mandated accounting, compliance and audits. Savi SmartChain was a prime contributor to the overall success of the F-35 project, countless man-hours were saved as management gained a greater visibility and understanding of the location, status and usage patterns of the specialized assembly tools.
A globally recognized leader, this innovative Company delivers a portfolio of over 5,000 technology-based products and solutions, including specialty chemical, advanced materials and plastics, to customers in approximately 160 countries.
A globally recognized chemical manufacturing leader, this innovative company delivers a portfolio of over 5,000 technology-based products and solutions, including specialty chemical, advanced materials and plastics, to customers in over 160 countries. The company’s products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 companies around the world.
The Challenge
GPS tracking of trucks is old news. But for many industries, accurate location information about trucks isn’t nearly enough to ensure that customer commitments and environmental requirements are being met.
In the chemical industry, for example, trucks operated by independent carriers frequently carry sensitive, caustic, volatile or hazardous materials that must be monitored constantly throughout their journey for safety, cargo integrity, and security.
In these cases, the risk of failure is simply too great. There are financial, environmental and possible human costs at stake.
One global chemical company turned to Savi to gain access to the real-time sensor data that they needed to monitor gain tighter control of their business.
Solutions
For accurate, continuous display of asset location information, combined with asset cargo condition, integrity and security status, Savi deployed its in-transit visibility solution to collect and process data collected from GPS and in real time.
Savi also delivered seamless integration of the asset tracking data stream with the customer’s existing enterprise software infrastructure. Savi was able to integrate GPS information from each shipment with environmental data and security/integrity monitoring, combining this information into a map-based real-time information display.
In addition, Savi’s solution helped this chemical manufacturing client to easily implement geofencing — defining journey corridors and anticipated journey timeframes for its shipments. Now, when a shipment is off the planned route or delayed, decision-makers receive real-time alerts and can quickly take action.
Results
Since the deployment of the Savi platform, the chemical company has reported improved customer service, faster identification, and resolution of in-transit problems and reduced fulfillment lead time.
In addition, the manufacturer now has more accurate and timely auditing of demurrage bills and has been able to eliminate manual, error-prone ad hoc processes to capture and enter data.
As a direct result of access to real-time supply chain data, the customer has improved its bottom line, enhanced security and maximized customer satisfaction.
Bell Helicopter is a leader in vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for commercial and military applications, and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Today there are about 13,000 Bell Helicopter aircraft flying in more than 140 countries.
Bell Helicopter is a leader in vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for commercial and military applications, and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Today there are about 13,000 Bell Helicopter aircraft flying in more than 140 countries.
Owner of Bell Helicopter, Textron is one of the world’s best known multi-industry companies and a pioneer of the diversified business model. With total revenues of $11.3 billion, Textron is ranked 236th on the FORTUNE 500 list of largest U.S. companies. Textron’s network of businesses includes Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Jacobson, Textron Systems and other market-leading companies.
What was needed
Bell Helicopter, a Textron company, needed to implement a solution to meet the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) mandate that all DoD suppliers must mark any products valued at greater than $5,000 with a unique serial number (UID) and relevant bar code. This mandate was established to help the DoD track and monitor physical assets through the DoD supply chain.
In addition to physically labeling each part or product with a unique serial number and bar code, DoD also requires its suppliers maintain a data repository, compliant with UID registry requirements. The supplier must be able to produce UID reports on demand.
Actions taken
At a minimum, the solution had to provide:
- An enterprise-wide, web-based distributed data collection and production component
- A scalable data repository
- An effortless way to produce tags for marking the parts
After determining that implementing in house would be far too costly to create and maintain, Bell Helicopter turned to Savi for assistance. Savi recommended and deployed Savi Technology to generate the unique IDs and barcodes and to store the needed information in an DoD-compliant UID registry.
Bell Helicopter opted for a phased implementation, starting with UID generation and management for 10 major parts from one aircraft. To facilitate permanent part marking, the Savi team integrated our software with Bell’s laser-marking equipment so that metal plates could be automatically marked with the required UID information for each part.
The Savi technology repository met or exceeded all the DFARS and Mil Standards for the collection and storage of data and the production of reports that the DoD requires. Bell Helicopter quickly expanded its implementation to completely fulfill the DoD requirements.
Outcome
At Bell Helicopter, the Savi solution completely achieved its business goals. Parent company Textron, aware of the success of Savi at Bell Helicopter, elected to implement Savi’s technology at two of its other divisions: Textron Marine & Land Systems, and AAI.
Each company maintains its own secure sub-schema fully protected from outside intrusion. The companies populate the technology using secure Internet connections, where it is maintained in the repository until required by the DoD.
Combined, these three large-scale DoD suppliers maintain a repository of over 42,000 UIDs.