Axis group is the largest Car transportation company catering to the automobile industry in USA and Canada.

Opportunity: Allied Holdings, a subsidiary of Axis Group provided logistics services to Toyota. Allied was responsible for the transportation of Toyota cars across the continent of America from the Factory to the Distributor. The objective of the project was to provide Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) for a given vehicle to the Toyota Car Dealer.

Solution: The solution involved using three tier Java based Messaging architecture. The system was scaled up to accept millions of messages per day. The solution also used statistical methods to provide an estimate for Car Arrival based on historical data.

Take Away: A significantly complex system taking data from multiple systems and applying statistical analysis of historical data to provide intuitive result instantaneously and real time which is useful to the customer. To draw a parallel here, the DS will need the result of a significant amount of historical data on the market and outlet to suggest ways to increase sales.

CASE STUDY 2: University of Wisconsin – Wisconsin, USA Distribution Automation

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University of Wisconsin has long been recognized as one of America's great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Spanning 933 acres along the southern shore of Lake Mendota, the campus is located in the city of Madison.

Opportunity: Automating the receiving and distribution of packages across the vast facility including electronic proof of delivery for tracking purposes.

Solution: The solution involved using @Par software on mobile devices integrated with their ERP systems. This improved productivity of the distribution staff and increased University staff/student satisfaction.

Take Away: A large implementation with significant network infrastructure along with the complicated use of PDAs with an interface to the end customer through a proof of delivery signature and a wireless printing of the receipts. Keeping track of entire distribution activity on the field.

CASE STUDY 3: Health First, Florida, USA. Warehouse Automation

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Health First was recently ranked as a Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Network (IHN), for the second year in a row by the Verispan IHN Rating System, the USA premier rating system for local and regional non-specialty, integrated healthcare networks.

Opportunity: Health First runs central warehouse serving three large hospitals and several other clinics. It is 24/7 operation managing critical hospital supplies. Automating Warehouse operations including Pick Process, Put Away Process, Cycle Counting, Receiving, Delivery, and Equipment Tracking was taken up as part of a major step to ramp up operations.

Solution: The solution involved using @Par software on mobile devices integrated with their ERP systems. This improved productivity of the warehouse staff and distribution staff and increased Hospital staff satisfaction. Also this increased equipment utilization significantly.

Take Away: Entire supply chain activity on the field tracked centrally. Supporting critical healthcare activities 24/7. Tracking of equipment and messaging across the network to communicate within the supply chain execution team.

CASE STUDY 4: Banditos Margarita Factory, New Jersey, USA. Hospitality Automation

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Banditos is a chain of restaurants with Mexican cuisine based out of NJ, USA.

Opportunity: Banditos chain of restaurant was looking at improving customer service through use of mobile technology on the restaurant floor. Primary objectives were to reduce customer serving time, increase customer facing time and repeat customers and reduce stock wastage.

Solution: The solution involved using OrderUp software on mobile devices integrated with their billing systems. Wireless order taking revolutionized the way Banditos served customers and they are now on a growth path of opening restaurants across the country with a central management portal to manage all customer transactions.

Take Away: A quick and polished way of collecting data – order taking at restaurants gives us great insight into how to design screens to allow quicker-than-quick data entry. We have implemented a similar solution in The Nizam’s Club at Hyderabad.

CASE STUDY 5: Wholesale Distributors of ITC, India Sales Force Automation

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Wholesale Distributors of ITC for the distribution of their FMCG products across the country.

Opportunity: ITC Distributors planned to empower their sales force with handheld devices to be able to perform all tasks at an outlet without using paper. The activities included Order taking, Collection of dues, stock return information.

Solution: Smart Force application helped the sales persons download all the required information for the day from their billing system and helped them navigate through their route for the day with ease. Increased customer facing time, reduced overall payment due period and an increase in the sales of products previously not moving in the market were significant benefits from the implementation.

Take Away: A proactive approach to enable customer to improve and launch a pioneering way of doing field sales activity. A partnership approach with the customer to develop a solution that’s good for business and that can scale up to significant size based on a proven platform.