| Cambridge Technology Enterprises's solutions
featured in the Aviall case study by Nicholas D. Evans in his book 'Business
Agility. Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage' |
Excerpts from: Nicholas D. Evans - Business
Agility: Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Mobile Business
Solutions, page 128 – 131, Published by Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2001,
ISBN 0130668370.
Aviall, Inc. [NYSE: AVL] is the world’s largest independent distributor
of new aviation parts and a leading provider of inventory information services.
The company represents some 180 quality manufacturers and distributes and
markets parts to more than 13,000 general aviation operators and 300 airlines
worldwide.
For key customers, Aviall provided a FreeStock program where they performed
monthly onsite inspections of part quantities at customer warehouses and
replenished their inventory where necessary. This process was time-consuming
and manual. Aviall wanted a way to increase their level of service for these
customers, improve date accuracy while performing inventories, and to shorten
the cycle times in order to deliver the service to additional customers.
Aviall knew they needed an automated solution for the FreeStock program.
They implemented a wireless solution using software from Cambridge Technology
Enterprises together with Symbol SPT 1700 handheld devices [with a bar code
scanner] in order to better serve their customers and automate the process.
Their approach was to ensure strong user acceptance by first working with
Cambridge Technology Enterprises in order to develop prototypes that could
be demonstrated to end users. This interactive approach helped them to refine
the functionality on the device and test the solution early on.
While the Symbol devices already contained a wireless modem, the decided
to leverage both wired and wireless connectivity since in some customer
warehouses it was difficult to gain a strong wireless signal.
Aviall estimates costs savings of over $1 million due to the reduced time
to perform these parts inventories at customer warehouses. They have seen
the time requirement drop from about half a day to under one hour. Additionally,
the solution has enabled them to increase customer satisfaction with more
accurate reporting and more timely restocking, and to offer the [FreeStock]
service to more customers.
About Cambridge Technology
Enterprises Inc.
Cambridge Technology Enterprises (CTE), a CMMI Level 5 next-generation business
lifecycle solutions provider, has a focus on building and integrating business
applications. CTE’s core competency lies in its collaborative delivery
model, a solution delivery approach that aligns business, technical, and
user stakeholders; includes partner technologies and services as necessary;
and delivers end-to-end solutions on a fixed price and fixed time frame
basis.
CTE’s business model is based on a global delivery model foundation,
which stays close to the customer and yet optimizes the value of the solution
offered.
For more information, please visit www.ctepl.com,
or e-mail us at info@ctepl.com.
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