Drive Efficiency With LXE Vehicle-Mount Computers
Source: Field Technologies Magazine
Integrated Solutions, April 2009
Improve Project Collaboration With Document Management
James G. Davis Construction Corporation (Davis) is a general contractor based in Washington, D.C. The company provides preconstruction services, general contracting services, design-build, and sustainable construction services. Davis needed a way to improve the management of project-related content for its larger projects — those involving more than just a few project members. The old content management system used a combination of Windows folders, Outlook .pst files, and FTP sites to store project files. Additionally, files were not easily searchable in the existing storage system. "The system was fine for smaller projects involving two or three project members who trade emails and exchange documents," says Chris Scanlon, vice president of operations support and information technology at Davis. "But we have large projects involving many people, and we needed something to manage all that project content and all that correspondence."
STORE PROJECT CONTENT IN A SECURE PLACE
The company needed a system that would allow it to store project content in a single, secure place where both in-house and external project members could access it. The solution had to include a searchable repository and provide anywhere access via the Web. Also, the system had to include email records management. "People were archiving email in personal .pst files, so project-related email was not accessible by all the project team members," says Scanlon. Therefore, the solution would also have to allow them to incorporate email with attachments and electronic faxes.
Davis researched several companies and chose ColumbiaSoft's Document Locator, a document management system. Project-specific folders are set up in a secure, managed repository. Through their Web browsers, remote project team members can work with project documents and related information held securely on-site. The IT department doesn't need to set up and administer separate FTP sites, and users simply log in from their Web browsers to a project collaboration website. The rest of the repository, used for internal purposes, remains protected from outside access. As for managing project email, Document Locator's integration with Microsoft Outlook email enables Davis to capture and manage all project email, attachments, and electronic faxes. When faxes and emails arrive, project team members click a button on the integrated Document Locator Outlook toolbar to save them in repository project folders. The faxes and emails are automatically full-text indexed as they are imported, making their content searchable. Document Locator has improved team collaboration and has made it easier for everyone to find project documents. In addition, the system has enabled the company to work more efficiently, resulting in better-organized and better-managed projects.
James G. Davis Construction Corporation (Davis) is a general contractor based in Washington, D.C. The company provides preconstruction services, general contracting services, design-build, and sustainable construction services. Davis needed a way to improve the management of project-related content for its larger projects — those involving more than just a few project members. The old content management system used a combination of Windows folders, Outlook .pst files, and FTP sites to store project files. Additionally, files were not easily searchable in the existing storage system. "The system was fine for smaller projects involving two or three project members who trade emails and exchange documents," says Chris Scanlon, vice president of operations support and information technology at Davis. "But we have large projects involving many people, and we needed something to manage all that project content and all that correspondence."
STORE PROJECT CONTENT IN A SECURE PLACE
The company needed a system that would allow it to store project content in a single, secure place where both in-house and external project members could access it. The solution had to include a searchable repository and provide anywhere access via the Web. Also, the system had to include email records management. "People were archiving email in personal .pst files, so project-related email was not accessible by all the project team members," says Scanlon. Therefore, the solution would also have to allow them to incorporate email with attachments and electronic faxes.
Davis researched several companies and chose ColumbiaSoft's Document Locator, a document management system. Project-specific folders are set up in a secure, managed repository. Through their Web browsers, remote project team members can work with project documents and related information held securely on-site. The IT department doesn't need to set up and administer separate FTP sites, and users simply log in from their Web browsers to a project collaboration website. The rest of the repository, used for internal purposes, remains protected from outside access. As for managing project email, Document Locator's integration with Microsoft Outlook email enables Davis to capture and manage all project email, attachments, and electronic faxes. When faxes and emails arrive, project team members click a button on the integrated Document Locator Outlook toolbar to save them in repository project folders. The faxes and emails are automatically full-text indexed as they are imported, making their content searchable. Document Locator has improved team collaboration and has made it easier for everyone to find project documents. In addition, the system has enabled the company to work more efficiently, resulting in better-organized and better-managed projects.
Corru-Kraft, a division of Amcor Sunclipse, is a supplier of corrugated materials that operates three plants in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. The company wanted to replace its existing vehicle-mounted computers with units whose enhanced flexibility and dependability would increase efficiencies throughout the company's manufacturing facilities. Twenty-two LXE VX6 vehicle-mounted computers, installed at Corru-Kraft's Buena Park, CA, plant, are helping to achieve this goal.
In 2006, Corru-Kraft decided that upgrading the vehicle-mount computers and RF (radio frequency) infrastructure of its manufacturing facilities would be instrumental in maintaining its focus to increase efficiencies going forward. At the time, all three plants had a combination of vehicle-mount devices from LXE, whose 1280 and 1320 terminals the company had been using for several years on a Cisco 900-gigabit wireless network backbone and units from another company. Communications were managed via the AIX and IBM AS/400 server platforms. "This wasn't an ideal situation for us," says Rich McMasters, project manager of manufacturing applications. "The other vendor's units were not that dependable."
ENSURE THE PROPER MATCH
Corru-Kraft was impressed with the reliability, ruggedness, and versatility of LXE's products, as well as with the service it had received as an LXE customer for more than a decade. Once again, Corru-Kraft turned to the vendor, asking first for assistance with an upgrade of the Buena Park plant. LXE conducted a comprehensive site survey of the facility. Based on the survey and a thorough assessment of Corru-Kraft's needs, LXE recommended that the plant be fitted with its VX6 vehicle-mount computer, along with a Cisco 2.5-gigabit wireless network backbone. The Buena Park plant currently utilizes the vehicle-mount device on seven forklifts and seven clamp trucks.
The VX6 has sparked significant operational improvements in Corru-Kraft's Buena Park plant. Malfunctioning devices can be quickly exchanged for working ones, without any worries about platform compatibility. An ability to handle varied equipment power requirements means the units can be moved from one type of equipment to another; for example, a VX6 used on a forklift is easily relocated to a clamp truck. System connections are retained more consistently, and lost connections are recovered faster.
In 2006, Corru-Kraft decided that upgrading the vehicle-mount computers and RF (radio frequency) infrastructure of its manufacturing facilities would be instrumental in maintaining its focus to increase efficiencies going forward. At the time, all three plants had a combination of vehicle-mount devices from LXE, whose 1280 and 1320 terminals the company had been using for several years on a Cisco 900-gigabit wireless network backbone and units from another company. Communications were managed via the AIX and IBM AS/400 server platforms. "This wasn't an ideal situation for us," says Rich McMasters, project manager of manufacturing applications. "The other vendor's units were not that dependable."
ENSURE THE PROPER MATCH
Corru-Kraft was impressed with the reliability, ruggedness, and versatility of LXE's products, as well as with the service it had received as an LXE customer for more than a decade. Once again, Corru-Kraft turned to the vendor, asking first for assistance with an upgrade of the Buena Park plant. LXE conducted a comprehensive site survey of the facility. Based on the survey and a thorough assessment of Corru-Kraft's needs, LXE recommended that the plant be fitted with its VX6 vehicle-mount computer, along with a Cisco 2.5-gigabit wireless network backbone. The Buena Park plant currently utilizes the vehicle-mount device on seven forklifts and seven clamp trucks.
The VX6 has sparked significant operational improvements in Corru-Kraft's Buena Park plant. Malfunctioning devices can be quickly exchanged for working ones, without any worries about platform compatibility. An ability to handle varied equipment power requirements means the units can be moved from one type of equipment to another; for example, a VX6 used on a forklift is easily relocated to a clamp truck. System connections are retained more consistently, and lost connections are recovered faster.
Newsletter Signup
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more