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Team effort with GE filled initial Wal-Mart order @ 514 per day
Kansas City, Kansas–May 1, 2006 – When GE needed help fulfilling its largest ever VeriWise™ trailer tracking order (with Wal-Mart, for 46,000 units), it turned to the mobile installation and deployment specialists at Velociti Inc. The two companies’ team approach resulted in the first 7,200 units being installed at 14 sites in 12 states – all in a record rate of 514 per day.
“Purchasers of trailer tracking systems often neglect the fact that in order to quickly realize the productivity and security benefits of their investment, fast and proper installation is a must,” said Deryk Powell, chief operating officer of Velociti. “It can be a challenge when these assets are in constant motion, and far from their home base in various parts of the country.”
Although GE mechanics install VeriWise at the 100 branches of its Trailer Fleet Services business -- and Wal-Mart had its own mechanics as well -- the initial deployment had to be completed in a short period while the trailers were available.
Enter Velociti. After a three-day training seminar, including one day at an actual Wal-Mart site, 80 Velociti technicians were staged at 14 Wal-Mart sites in 12 southeastern states. They worked with both GE and Wal-Mart to schedule trailers for installation. The technicians installed transceivers, antennas and power management devices -- as well as interior-mounted cargo sensors and solar trickle charging systems. Handheld association units were used to scan completed trailers and post critical installation data to a secure web-based project management system. The timely reporting enabled GE and Wal-Mart to maintain complete visibility of the project’s progress.
“Velociti is flexible in how we can either do installations single-handedly or augment installers at a customer or distributor site,” Powell noted. “We share the same commitment to perform these installs in a time-sensitive, safe and appropriate manner.”
During that critical first deployment, Velociti installed 5,800 units and GE mechanics completed the remaining 1,400 in parallel. The team effort resulted in meeting the overall commitment without negatively impacting trailer utilization for Wal-Mart’s distribution network. For the remainder of the order, Velociti has been helping GE’s 30-member Wal-Mart installation team complete job before the fall surge in trailer demand for holiday shipments.
“It’s terrific to know that when we have large and geographically complex installation challenges, we can count on both our GE mechanics and Velociti team to help us meet our customer commitments,” said Thomas Konditi, president and CEO of the Asset Intelligence business of GE Equipment Services. "We certainly expect more deals of this type, and our experience with the Wal-Mart installation demonstrates we have the resources available to help our customers use our technology sooner, and give them a much earlier return on investment."
First introduced by GE in April 2003, VeriWise consists of a fully protected, trailer-mounted transceiver, a discreet antenna, and a patented power management system. The system uses the Orbcomm low earth orbit satellite network, and is supported by the Asset Intelligence business with advanced research and engineering resources from GE’s four global research centers. VeriWise options include an interior-mounted cargo sensor and a solar trickle charging system to further extend battery life.
Trucking companies are using GE’s trailer monitoring technology to increase security as well as efficiency. VeriWise customers can avoid losing trailers, locate stolen trailers and the cargo they contain, or to detect and prevent unauthorized transport by “dropped” trailers in between loads—all situations that drive up operating costs for shippers and ultimately consumers.
More information is available at branch offices of GE’s Trailer Fleet Services business and at the Asset Intelligence website www.ge.com/assetintelligence as well as the Trailer Fleet Services Web site, www.trailerservices.com
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Kansas City-based Velociti Inc. was founded in 1989 as a division of Central States Thermo King. The company was created to provide mobile installation and service technicians that perform all aspects of technology deployments for the transportation, retail and warehousing market sectors. Velociti clients include many Fortune 500 companies from a wide variety of market segments, including transportation, technology, retail, food service, distribution and manufacturing. Velociti has achieved double-digit sales growth every year since 1995 and now offers service in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Western Europe. For more information visit www.velociti.us or call 913-233-7227.
Asset Intelligence and Trailer Fleet Services are two business units of Stamford, CT-based GE Equipment Services. Asset Intelligence, based in Schaumberg, Illinois, provides worldwide mobile-asset tracking and condition-monitoring products and services in response to the market’s desire for greater safety, security and productivity throughout global supply chains. www.ge.com/assetintelligence
Trailer Fleet Services (formerly known as Transport International Pool, or TIP) is a single-source provider for all aspects of trailer fleet management. Based in Wayne, Pa., for nearly 50 years it has been a recognized leader in over-the-road trailer solutions, which today includes everything from leasing, renting, financial services, insurance, maintenance, remarketing and asset tracking. GE’s Trailer Fleet Services business has 135,000 over-the-road trailer assets and operates a North American network of 100 branch locations staffed by a sales and operations team of 900 employees. Its website is www.trailerservices.com.
GE Equipment Services and Asset Intelligence: David Frail, 203/961-2281 or david.frail@ge.com
Trailer Fleet Services: Patrick Brennan, 484-254-0127 or patrick.brennan@ge.com
Velociti, Inc.: Susan Fall, LaunchIt Public Relations, 858-490-1050 or susan@launchitpr.com |
