Choice Logistics > News > Case Studies > Akibia
Background
Akibia (www.akibia.com) provides inn10vative IT solutions that enable global companies to optimize, secure, manage and support mission-critical infrastructure. The company partners with customers to deliver solutions that improve the availability and performance of data centers and security infrastructure. Combining expert consulting, integration and support services with world-class customer service, Akibia helps IT organizations maximize the value of the existing infrastructure, while mitigating risk and reducing complexity.
Challenge
Akibia works with some of the world’s largest and well-known companies in the world, including Sepracor and Bose, who rely on them to keep their mission-critical data centers up and running 24/7. Akibia’s customer’s equipment resides in a variety of demanding environments such as large corporations, financial organizations, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. With stringent service level agreements (SLA) that dictate two and four-hour system maintenance, Akibia is faced with a logistics challenge that requires them to have service parts, ranging from $25 to over $100,000, strategically stocked to ensure their obligations can be met.
With such an extensive amount of valuable inventory for a variety of different applications and systems, superior asset visibility to ensure that resources are being allocated appropriately is paramount. This in depth insight can prevent overstocking and unnecessary capital expenditures, which significantly reduces operating costs.
Solution
Akibia selected Choice Logistics for their flexibility and extensive experience in the delivery of high-tech, mission-critical service parts. The company now has access to Choice’s vast network of more than 370 strategic stocking locations, which provides the flexibility necessary to meet customer demands on a global basis.
Choice deploys approximately 1,300 parts per month on an as-needed basis, within a matter of hours.
Choice’s highly efficient solutions are customized to each client’s specific needs to improve processes and achieve cost avoidance wherever possible. Akibia’s planning group also receives detailed reports on a regular basis that provides analysis and identification of system inefficiencies, so that corrective action can be taken to improve workflow.
Results/Benefits
Consistent execution and 98 percent on-time performance have established Choice as an extension of Akibia’s internal logistics operation, as well as a trusted partner. Akibia relies on Choice’s four decades of experience, to warehouse and deliver spare parts around the world. Vastly improved cycle count accuracy ensures that decision-making is far more precise and allows Akibia to maximize their capital investment on inventory assets. Choice has consistently gone “above and beyond” expectations to assist Akibia in exceeding mission critical service commitments on a global basis.
Choice’s flexibility and creativity, facilitates Akibia’s entry into new markets by providing the required logistics infrastructure globally. Choice has demonstrated exceptional SSL start-ups that have allowed Akibia to be operational in a new region in a matter of two to three weeks, contributing to Akibia’s exceptional customer service standards.
With Choice Logistics, Akibia is able to meet and exceed their customer SLA obligations. Choice’s sense of urgency assures Akibia that their client commitments can be met daily and hourly. Service parts logistics is extremely complicated: by using Choice, Akibia can focus on their core competencies, including delivering exceptional 24/7 telephone support, best-in class engineering, as well as logistics management, and leave parts warehousing and delivery to the experts at Choice.