Organization Background:

Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego) is responsible for development of technology to collect, transmit, process, display and, most critically, manage information essential to successful military operations. The Center develops the capabilities that allow decision-makers of the Navy, and increasingly of the joint services, to carry out their operational missions and protect their forces. SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego, Extremely High Frequency Satellite Communications (EHF SATCOM) branch, Code 2622, provides fleet engineering services to the warfighter.

Business Challenge:

SPAWAR EHF SATCOM branch needs to track high value government owned equipment and manage a very large configuration management database. One database contains over 10,000 stock parts. Their current configuration management software does not allow for efficient inventory and is quite time consuming. SPAWAR needed to reduce error, shrinkage, and tedious physical inventory processes.

The Solution:

IntelliTrack worked with Serco, Inc., a designer of innovative service solutions for the government, to bridge SPAWAR’s current configuration management software to work with Intellitrack’s Fixed Assets RFID for better inventory control. High value military parts and materials are tagged with a passive RFID tag and stored by location in the RFID system. As they are transferred to new locations or move through assemblies, inventories are updated using a handheld reader then imported through the existing software databases. Fixed Assets RFID allows for quick item location checks and allows the operator to change asset locations, reducing inventory time and human error. With the increased accuracy of SPAWAR’s parts database, fewer spare parts are purchased.

The Bottom Line:

IntelliTrack’s Fixed Assets application allows SPAWAR to use the machine readable portion of an RFID tag to complete their inventory processes, eliminating time consuming manual inventory.  SPAWAR is able to integrate IntelliTrack Fixed Assets RFID to its existing operational software and directly import data. By using RFID technology to inventory parts, error is reduced and inventory processes are made more efficient. “This, in the long run, will be a money saver throughout the years.” – Barry Jones, Serco, Inc.

Company Background:

The St. Louis County Fire Academy is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit educational organization that provides firefighter training for St. Louis County departments and districts.

Business Challenge:

The school was looking for a method of keeping track of not only its training devices and equipment, but also its extensive educational film library.

The Solution:

Betty Stoecklin found IntelliTrack, Inc. via the internet. She recalls looking at a few other software options, but IntelliTrack Check In-Out software was recommended. She chose IntelliTrack because the software is easy to set up and use.

The Bottom Line:

With IntelliTrack Check In-Out software, the academy easily knows the location of it’s assets, from self contained breathing apparatus used by recruits to the computers they use for instruction. The academy also uses IntelliTrack software to track a very large educational film library. Stoeklin said, “The academy is extremely happy with IntelliTrack software because it is easy to use and the information is available at the push of a button.”

Company Background:

Cook Incorporated is the largest privately held medical device company in the world. Established in 1963, it is a leading developer and manufacturer of catheters, wire guides, introducer sheaths, stents, embolization coils, vena cava filters, aortic endovascular grafts, airway management devices, central venous catheter devices, drainage products and other technologies in the area of minimally invasive therapy. Cook Incorporated is also on the forefront of developing next generation technologies that advance combination drug/device and biologic/device design concepts.

Business Challenge:

Cook was looking for an effective way to keep track of the components needed to manufacture medical devices. With so many different pieces required to make so many different things, it was obvious that some sort of data management software was needed.

The Solution:

The company seriously considered buying custom software. They were concerned that existing software was too antiquated or cumbersome to meet their needs. IntelliTrack Stockroom, an off-the-shelf solution, was easily adapted to their specific needs, saving many dollars versus custom software development. The fact that it is significantly cheaper than having custom code written was a real selling point for the people who approve purchases that the company makes.

The Bottom Line:

IntelliTrack Stockroom software has helped Cook to increase productivity by eliminating manual processes, and by improving morale. Employees no longer dread the tedium of inventory time.

Company Background:

One of America’s top 500 printing companies according to Printing Impressions magazine, the Fisher Group is one of the most flexible and friendly direct print providers in the country. The company was founded in 1958 by Richard Fisher and owned the first commercial web press in the state of Iowa. In 1989, Martin Fisher started a letter shop, giving customers a single source for both printing and mailing. In 1996, the company moved to an 110,000 square foot facility. They began operating four-and five-color heatset web presses with in-line finishing equipment, as well as non-heatset web equipment. The Fisher Group now has fifteen years experience offering “turn-key” printing and mailing services.

Business Challenge:

The Lettershop was a new venture for the company, and it was imperative that a detailed inventory be kept of all the materials going in and the finished products going out.

The Solution:

The Fisher Group uses IntelliTrack Stockroom to track Lettershop’s customer inventory which includes direct mail pieces such as envelopes, brochures, order cards, lift notes, letters etc. and also postal equipment. They started using Stockroom around 1994 with a tag and file system. They started using barcodes and added batch scanners around 1997. A couple of years later they upgraded to RF version 4.3 and bought new PSC Falcon scanners and a Datamax E class barcode label printer. A wireless network was installed so the company could have real time inventory info for internal and customer use.

The Bottom Line:

The company has gained a great deal of efficiency by using IntelliTrack Stockroom, including “real time” information availability, decreased receiving and picking times, and company wide inventory visibility. They have gone as far as requesting barcode label compliance from their vendors, so all they have to do is scan incoming materials. Traffic/Warehouse manager Tim Jack says, “I know by using Stockroom we are one step ahead of our competitors and have gained and won over customers because we are able to provide accurate and timely inventory.”

Company Background:

In April 2000, the Government of Ontario created the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLGC) through the merger of the Ontario Casino Corporation (OCC), established in 1994, and the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLC), established in 1975. OCC owned and managed the commercial casinos in Windsor, Niagara Falls and Mnjikaning First Nation land. OLC offered 12 lottery games and over 7,900 lottery terminals to more than 10,500 retailers.

Business Challenge:

OLGC was receiving 40-60 packages a day and each one was being cataloged by hand upon receipt and then manually entered into a database at a later time. Not only was it time consuming, the manual process left too much room for error.

The Solution:

Once IntelliTrack Package Track was installed, the time required to log incoming packages was cut by more than half. There was no longer any chance for error, either in the data entry, or with regard to a package’s whereabouts. IntelliTrack Package Track’s signature capture feature proves that the package was indeed received, and by whom.

The Bottom Line:

Support Assistant Karen Gabora says, “My co-worker and I are very satisfied with the speed and accuracy of this new software and scanner. It is very easy to use, which was a selling feature for us. You really can’t mess things up because all you can do is scan a package as incoming or delivered. That made training my co-worker much easier. I think overall we are happy that we made the move from manually entering data to the electronic version.”

Company Background:

The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded newspaper corporation headquartered in Sacramento, California. Currently, it owns twenty-three daily and community newspapers, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In the very near future, the acquisition of the Knight-Ridder newspaper group will be finalized, nearly tripling the company’s size. The Minneapolis Star Tribune will remain the largest newspaper and the Miami Herald will be the second largest in the group.

Business Challenge:

Upon acquiring Knight-Ridder, McClatchy’s fixed assets value will increase to nearly $2.5 billion. Vital to the company’s success is the ability to account for all that property at so many sites. Fixed assets accountant Ted Norris is in charge of the three year inventory cycle, making four onsite visits annually. With so much money invested in assets, McClatchy needed an enterprise fixed assets system.

The Solution:

Ten years ago, Ted Norris did an extensive search for tracking software. He remembers choosing IntelliTrack because of its flexible database engine, as well as its reasonable price.

Before using a barcode system, the company was using aluminum asset tags and cataloging everything manually. Now, every fixed asset is tracked by IntelliTrack Fixed Assets. Even items like land, buildings, and software are given tags that are kept in a binder so they too can be tracked.

The Bottom Line:

IntelliTrack Fixed Assets saves a great deal of time. Ted said, “Under the manual system I would have to spend an additional week or more reconciling unrecorded asset transfers and another large amount of time creating asset retirement transactions. But now, before finishing an onsite inventory visit, I am able to provide a listing of assets not found and an estimated NBV or loss on disposal. IntelliTrack reconciliations are part of the scanning process and asset retirements are created by a query using a specially created report based on IntelliTrack’s asset not found list.”

Company Background:

ORT SA is a Jewish-led, non-profit, Public Benefit Organization (PBO), specializing in education, vocational and job skills training, and community development for South Africa’s impoverished communities. The qualifications earned by ORT SA graduates enable them to build productive and self-sufficient lives.

Business Challenge:

ORT SA has many projects in South Africa, including a technical institute in Cape Town. They have many different properties and needed to keep track of fixed assets such as vehicles, computers, office equipment, and furniture. Before obtaining data tracking software, a large portion of the company’s assets were not accounted for in any way, and the possibility for loss was very high.

The Solution:

Honorary Treasurer Irwin Lipworth was told through a business contact at Kemtek Imaging Systems about the tracking possibilities available through the use of IntelliTrack software. By using IntelliTrack Fixed Assets software in tandem with a PSC® handheld scanner, all company property can be tracked with ease. IntelliTrack software makes inventory management a breeze, and the immediate appearance of data in the fixed asset register/report provides instant information about an asset’s location and maintenance status.

The Bottom Line:

ORTA SA provides a vital service for South African communities. The last thing they want to worry about is the status of their fixed assets. With IntelliTrack software, ORTA SA keeps their valuable assets working for the community, while keeping their management time and costs under control.

Organization Information:

The first Laramie County School District is located in the furthest southeast corner of the state of Wyoming. The district has 24 elementary schools, six secondary schools, and five administrative locations.

The Challenge:

To modernize its facilities, the Laramie County School District purchased a significant quantity of technology in a short period of time. They were previously using individual spreadsheets for each building to track, as best they could, various devices throughout the buildings. These spreadsheets were not connected to each other, nor to any central database. The district was about to receive a shipment of 4000 computers and monitors, and they wanted to avoid having to manually enter all that data into spreadsheets at the destination buildings.

The Solution:

Instead of manual processing, the District installed IntelliTrack Fixed Assets before receiving the huge computer shipment. The people doing the inventory were able to create a few items in the database and print out barcodes for all the machines. It only took a few weeks to tag all the computers. Dennis Pacheco, a LAN/WAN technician for the district, said that the people in the warehouse responsible for the actual relocating of the equipment were unable to keep up with the speed that the items were tagged and tracked. The district uses a pair of Symbol PPT8800 handheld scanners.

The Bottom Line:

Without IntelliTrack Fixed Asset, the District would have had to manually enter the data for each machine in the spreadsheet for the destination building. With a manual system, if something was moved between buildings, it had to be removed from one spreadsheet, and entered into another at the destination. Such a system leaves room for error or loss, not to mention inefficiency and inconvenience. IntelliTrack software eliminated these problems, so the district can track its million dollar plus computer inventory with ease.

Company Background:

The Passions daytime soap opera on NBC premiered on July 5th, 1999 and has been running ever since. The show was created by James E. Reilly.

Business Challenge:

Passion’s wardrobe department is responsible for over 11,000 pieces of clothing. It was essential to be able to track the day to day movements of these items. Though not a retail business, the wardrobe department sometimes operates like one, with lots of new clothing coming in, and plenty of clothing getting sold. As fashion dictates, things can only be worn so many times. With the large volume and monetary value of this inventory, the wardrobe department needed to keep inventory organized to prevent loss.

The Solution:

By using both IntelliTrack Fixed Assets and IntelliTrack Check In-Out, the wardrobe department tracks the massive amount of clothing they have at their disposal. They can tell the exact location of a particular piece of clothing at any time, whether it be onstage, at the cleaners, or in storage. By using customizable fields, they are able to assign certain pieces of clothing to particular actors or actresses. Now, when the accounting department does an audit and gives the wardrobe people a list of items it wants located, the IntelliTrack system knows the location of every item.

The Bottom Line:

With the help of IntelliTrack software, the Wardrobe department at Passions no longer has to worry about the location of their substantial inventory. They can instantaneously find the piece of wardrobe they need by using the software. NBC’s Tom Rotolo said, “Accounting audits are a breeze. We’re given a list of items to find in our inventory, and the system knows where they are!”

Stone Office, Inc., a contract furniture dealership and warehousing provider in Northeastern Pennsylvania started in 1958, provides full-service office systems and office furniture, space planning, and project management. As a multi-line commercial furniture and modular partition dealer, they represent approximately 100 different manufacturers of fine office furniture and wall systems. Stone Office also stores clients’ inventory in their warehouse and offers distribution and logistics services to customers.

Business Challenge

As Stone Office began to expand their facilities they were able to offer warehousing services to clients in need. However, they did not have an efficient system in place to track inventory, manage shipping and receiving orders, and provide up-to-date information to customers when they needed it. When it was time for an inventory, it became a scavenger hunt for the warehouse employees. Recorded by pencil and paper, Stone Office employees would hunt for inventory in different warehouse locations searching for a request. Stone Office needed to cut inventory time and increase their accuracy tremendously in order to respond quickly to customer demands. When a major client wanted to expand their relationship with Stone Office from furnishing their facilities to storing, managing, and shipping their inventory, Stone had the space, staff, and a 20 year business relationship they intended to support. However, they lacked an effective warehousing system. For Stone Office to act as a third party logistics provider it was necessary to employ a cost effective management system so they could continue to provide the customer service they were known for.

Their next challenge was to find the best system for their warehouse. Stone Office was no longer solely storing and tracking furniture. They needed to track an extensive inventory of equipment and finished goods. With 2200 to 2700 pallets circulating through their Dickson City warehouse, it was imperative to know what each pallet contained and where it was located at all times. In addition, each pallet required its own inventory. Some pallets contained up to 36,000 small items where others consisted of one large item. To determine the best system for the job, Stone Office called upon a friend and system consultant to evaluate several software solutions that would enable them to expand their services.

The Solution

A prior relationship with an IntelliTrack Sales Manager started a discussion with Stone Office about a new IntelliTrack product offering, IntelliTrack 3PL. At the time the software was completed, but had not yet been installed at a customer site and could only be offered in its beta form. If implemented correctly, IntelliTrack 3PL had the ability to greatly benefit Stone’s warehouse and provide support for their clients’ needs. IntelliTrack 3PL is an addition to IntelliTrack’s warehouse management software, IntelliTrack WMS.IntelliTrack 3PL provides web based inventory views, order and task management, and advanced billing capabilities in addition to basic warehouse functionality. With this system in place Stone Office would have the ability to provide up-to-date information to clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Stone Office had their consultant evaluate IntelliTrack’s 3PL software in addition to the other software applications previously selected. The consultant concluded that the beta version of IntelliTrack 3PL was as good if not better than the other software solutions evaluated. Based on an existing friendship and thorough evaluation, Stone decided to move forward with IntelliTrack 3PL and the beta process of installing the newly developed software application.

With an initial system requirements study, where all IntelliTrack warehousing solutions begin, IntelliTrack was able to determine Stone’s warehousing processes and business procedures. After a thorough analysis, IntelliTrack WMS RF was installed to perform base warehouse functions while moving through the first installation of IntelliTrack 3PL software. IntelliTrack 3PL’s beta process began during the summer of 2007 and lasted several months.

Beta projects are very difficult by nature and the challenge facing both Stone Office and IntelliTrack centered on an untested software package. It was often difficult for both companies to remain on the same page due to the range of Stone Office’s specific customer requirements compared to the needs perceived by IntelliTrack to standardize the software. In many situations like this, a logistics provider’s customer requirements often dictate just what the solution will be.

In resolving these issues, IntelliTrack invested significant hours modifying reports and making minor changes.  This resulted in adding features to the IntelliTrack 3PL offering that would benefit Stone Office and future IntelliTrack customers.

IntelliTrack often conducted work with the software application that was unseen by Stone Office.  While these delays contributed to a level of frustration on both sides, the ultimate product delivered was uniquely suited to Stone Offices customer. By December 2007, Stone Office was fully functional with IntelliTrack 3PL and had upgraded to IntelliTrack’s WMS RF Professional to provide and support additional warehousing functions.

In addition to tracking office furniture, Stone Office is now using IntelliTrack to store raw materials for fulfillment of a large manufacturer in the customer service and medical industry. Stone’s client is able to see into their warehouse through a web portal for updated information on their inventory at anytime. They can receive on demand information regarding shipping, orders, and tasks performed in the warehouse each day. IntelliTrack 3PL software allows warehousing personnel to perform physical inventory, move and change item and inventory locations, manage order entries, and easily pick and receive items for shipments. IntelliTrack’s system has also made it effortless for customer service representatives to obtain warehouse information and pass along details to a client.

The Bottom Line

Without IntelliTrack’s Warehouse Management and 3PL software, Stone Office would not have been able to support their clients’ needs. Now fully operational, Stone has been able to expand their offered services and increase business with their current clientele. Stone Office’s Vicki Krause, now knows instantly where items are located and no longer has to search the grounds to identify their existing inventory. In addition, Stone’s clients can now sit at their desk and obtain information regarding any of their inventories in the warehouse at anytime necessary. With IntelliTrack, Stone Office’s warehouse has the ability to handle large orders and shipments when required, saving them time and increasing accuracy tremendously.

With IntelliTrack’s software solutions, Stone Office has been able to grow a customer and grow their business by expanding their service offering. Going forward, they plan to offer inventory, shipping, and long-term storage of office furniture, inventory, and resources to new and existing clientele.