Kawasaki Drives Improved Performance with Varsity’s Integrated Shipping Solutions |
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In 1966, Kawasaki launched its business into the U.S. motorcycle industry. Since then,
the company has expanded worldwide into the manufacture and distribution of ATVs,
motorcycles, utility vehicles, watercraft and power products as well as the manufacture of
engines for industrial equipment makers. According to Kawasaki, the secret of their
global success "is in designing and manufacturing products that offer balanced
performance, high quality, reliability, and excellent fit and finish."
With three shipping locations throughout the U.S., Kawasaki dispatches in excess of
6000 parts and accessories shipments per day. But their PC-based shipping system
didn’t have the performance necessary to handle this volume. Additionally, while their
PC version was satisfactory for one location, the additional two locations posed a
problem. "The architecture of the system didn’t enable the response time and throughput
speed we needed," said Paul Jollineau, Senior Manager of Parts Operations at
Kawasaki, "and when we tried to modify the system to meet our demands, the package
just couldn’t cut it."
Kim Donaldson, Parts Business Administrator added, "The system was fine as a standalone,
out of the box solution, but we needed a lot more."
Additionally, like many large companies, Kawasaki had begun a shift, directing
departments that once had stand alone software to switch to solutions that would
integrate within the business for a more efficient and streamlined workflow. With all
these factors, the Kawasaki Operations department knew that it was time for a change.
Because of the scale of integration, Kawasaki’s IT group lead the initial research of
shipping solutions, with the aid of the Operations group. "Ops could define what we
wanted, but if it didn’t work from the technical side, it was futile," said Jollineau.
Armed with a list of requirements that included improved throughput speed, accessible
and thorough customer support and documentation, integration with their other systems,
LTL and HAZMAT shipping capabilities, and product and company stability; Kawasaki’s
IT group did their due diligence. A short list of vendors was selected including Varsity’s
multi-carrier shipping solution for the iSeries.
"That’s the first time we even considered moving off the PC," said Ev Tapia, Operations
Systems Administrator. "For throughput and networking, we decided the iSeries platform
was the way to go. Our Varsity sales rep gave us a demo and GAP analysis to compare
Kawasaki’s processes versus Varity’s capabilities. Then, two of our staff went on Varsity
customer site visits. We’d hoped to get solid support and services from Varsity, but we
were cautious going in considering our experience with our previous vendor. When we
talked with Varsity customers, it was apparent that the technical support we needed was
definitely there."
After a rigorous selection process, Kawasaki chose Varsity and their products for their
stability, support, speed, and a host of other powerful capabilities.
Integration, installation, and testing have been conducted by Varsity Professional
Services engineers. Says Donaldson, "They’re wonderful; Kawasaki has very specific
processes and we’ve required several mods—Varsity was there to handle them."
Additionally, Varsity Professional Services developed a cross-platform interface to
enable Kawasaki’s data to flow between their iSeries platform and IBM mainframe.
"Varsity’s efficient data stream allows us to properly utilize our T1 line. It was maddening
when we would try and close up at the end of the day. Often, we would wait a minute
plus just to get a label printed. Now we have the ability to seamlessly transfer data
between our systems, and the increases in productivity are obvious," said Jollineau.
Kawasaki has seen measurable results with consistent throughput and double the
processing speed.
In addition, with Varsity, Kawasaki can now pack and ship at the same workstation.
Something that was impossible in their previous environment. "We knew that Varsity
had this capability and piloted it at one of our shipping locations," said Donaldson, "but
once the other distributions centers found out about this capability, they drove and
accelerated the change on their side—they were so excited."
"From the beginning we’ve said performance is key—performance before anything else.
We got that with Varsity," concluded Jollineau. "And like many large companies, we’ve
had special needs. Varsity has listened to those needs and has supported our business
objectives and processes—without question."
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