Transporting Costly & Sensitive Equipment in a just in time environment.
Capital equipment is a critical component for data storage and many manufacturing scenarios. The working life of these tools and data racks can span multiple years supporting technology infrastructures around the world.
A Fortune 100 industry leader in technology systems approached Crane Worldwide Logisitic’s capital equipment specialists requesting assistance with the global transportation of integrated data server racks, a critical component of their IT infrastracture. Shipment errors, the mishandling and damage of products, and unreliable airlift and delivery times were some of the challenges the client was facing. White glove logistics needs specialist care.
Capital tools and integrated server racks are large, bulky, delicate, and extraordinarily dense. These characteristics do not always align with the usual palletized freight movements. Therefore, creating a network for handling the transportation of the equipment is critical. In this case, multiple service providers were being used, and the potential damage could result in the complete failure of a rack (est. $250k to 400k in cost). Inconsistency in procedures with multiple providers led to miscommunication, which resulted in missed delivery windows causing delays and requiring deliveries to be rescheduled. The challenge was to bring all the client’s different functional groups and the Crane Worldwide experts to determine the best solution. Increased communication and visibility across all parties were required to have accurate information regarding the shipments.
Crane Worldwide Logistics developed a direct unit load device (ULD) model that built visibility and control from pick up through delivery. A dedicated team of capital equipment specialists was deployed to ensure seamless communication for each shipment transaction. Bookings and flight verification were managed by the team to ensure clear communication paths and ensure that delivery crews were aligned in advance.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were put in place to ensure process and control over every shipment from loading to delivery. Consistent communication and photographs were provided by the Crane team, with the status of the order being updated two to three times per day. Daily updates were also sent to all internal parties involved with the shipment and visibility provided by Crane Worldwide’s C-View dashboard.
Crane Worldwide Logistics facilitated and supported a solution utilizing a streamlined, direct contact team with first-class service providers. A workable and documented process was developed, injecting clean hand-offs of responsibility for a turnkey delivery solution. Our client had previously experienced four damaged integrated racks and three ‘lost in transit’ out of eight hundred shipped servers with an on-time performance of 94.7%. Over five years of working with the integrated rack provider, Crane Worldwide has increased on-time performance to 99.3% globally and experienced zero losses for over 15,000 integrated racks, thanks to the visibility and process control.
At Crane Worldwide, we believe in trust, collaboration, and teamwork.
If you need support with white glove logistics services, please reach out below.
Let one of our client advocates build a solution that fits your logistics needs.
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Houston, TX 77073
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