Customer Quotes
"Anyone can deliver a part, but the data and level of inventory visibility that Choice provides allowed us to improve our overall operation,"
"Without the critical data that Choice’s advanced technology provides,we cannot accurately track our assets. They have allowed us to significantly reduce our inventory, resulting in tremendous bottomline savings. We’ve also been able to improve our defective return process, putting returns into the repair cycle faster and reducing our investment in spare parts."
John Peterson
Vice President Logistics
Hitachi Data Systems
See how Choice helps the enterprise stay up and on, 24/7/365, in our Data Networking & Storage Datasheet.
Choice Logistics > News > Case Studies > Hitachi Data Systems
Background
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation provides Services Oriented Storage Solutions that enable heterogeneous storage to be dynamically provisioned according to business needs and centrally managed via industry-leading Hitachi storage virtualization software. As an integral part of the Hitachi Storage Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems delivers storage infrastructure platforms, storage management software, and storage consulting services through direct and indirect channels in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include nearly 60-percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.hds.com.
Challenge
Hitachi Data Systems supports its customers around the world with multiple levels of service commitments. For Fortune 500 enterprise class customers operating critical data centers, they serve as the “backbone” of many essential corporate processes where 24/7 availability is a requirement. A malfunctioning machine can make an enormous economic impact on a minute-by-minute basis. For instance, if an automated teller machine is unavailable, both cash and resulting interest that a financial institution can potentially earn is jeopardized. When an airline’s reservation system is down, thousands of tickets per minute cannot be sold. Even fundamental corporate data storage, such as records to maintain federally mandated Sarbanes-Oxley compliance are not accessible.
Service level agreement commitments dictate aggressive timeframes, often a matter of hours, to keep equipment functioning. To fulfill their commitments, Hitachi Data Systems must ensure that essential parts are where they need to be, when they are needed, around the clock. Dedicating every conceivable service part to maintain this equipment is a huge expense that is not cost effective. The strategic allocation of parts is paramount to meeting customer obligations, without significant asset investments. Hitachi Data Systems needed a reliable mission critical service parts logistics provider with the global breadth and expertise to help them meet their customers’ demands.
Solution
After working with a variety of providers and achieving unfavorable results, Hitachi Data Systems conducted a thorough due diligence process to identify a new service parts logistics partner. They ultimately selected Choice Logistics to manage their mission critical service parts inventory for their global base. As an added benefit, Choice’s sophisticated technology and infrastructure complemented Hitachi Data Systems’internal operations to create additional efficiencies.
With a network of more than 400 active strategic stocking locations, Choice helps Hitachi Data Systems consistently fulfill demanding service level agreements around the world. To accomplish this, Choice stocks and deploys mission critical service parts in more than 80 locations throughout North America as well as locations in Central and South America.
Results/Benefits
With Choice, Hitachi Data Systems was able to achieve well over 99% accuracy of service parts delivery on an enormous scale; stocking over 58,000 parts. This allowed Hitachi Data Systems to both meet and exceed its customers’ high expectations.
The results did not end there:
To benchmark performance, Hitachi Data Systems regularly participates in comparative surveys that analyze their service against competitors. According to the results, Hitachi Data Systems consistently achieves a top ranking, crediting Choice’s service parts logistics expertise as a primary contributor to this success.
Choice was recently recognized as Hitachi Data Systems’ 2008 “Preferred Logistics Provider of the Year.” This acknowledgment reinforces Hitachi Data Systems’ trust in Choice to help them consistently improve performance to meet the needs of their vast customer base. Choice emerged as the leader from a field of more than two dozen respected transportation and logistics providers.
The Hitachi Data Systems /Choice relationship has endured for more than eight years and continues to flourish. Because of Choice’s high level of performance, Hitachi Data Systems seeks to expand the partnership around the globe to continue to reap the benefits of Choice’s services and consistent performance.