Published on 04-May-2007
Validated on 03 Aug 2009
"Efficiency is key in our business. Our carriers and our customers have both been impacted by just how quickly we can respond. " - Dan Giddens, IT director, L&M Transportation Services
Customer:
L&M Transportation Services
Industry:
Travel & Transportation
Deployment country:
United States
Overview
Since 1977, L&M Transportation Services (LMTS) has been providing transportation solutions for refrigerated produce, dry freight, nursery and other loads. With locations across the U.S., LMTS relies on a centralized transportation management system in order to provide quality customer service.
Business need:
This system was running on two Dell servers, but the infrastructure had become outdated. LMTS needed to upgrade the company's infrastructure in order to support its mission-critical application.
Solution:
LMTS deployed the company's transportation management system on a single IBM System x3550 server.
Benefits:
The solution had an immediate impact, starting with a significant increase in application response time, enabling employees to handle customer inquiries much more efficiently. Improved system stability and reliability also means that the LMTS IT staff spends less time monitoring the system and performing maintenance activities.
Case Study
Finding trucks for loads and loads for trucks has been the mission of L&M Transportation Services (LMTS) since the company was incorporated in 1977. LMTS provides transportation solutions for refrigerated produce, dry freight, nursery and other loads. But the company owns no trucks or trailers and employs no drivers, says Doug Stoiber, director of business development. "We are a facilitator between people who need to move loads and people who have trucks that need to be moving," he explains. With only 52 employees, LMTS generates US$115 million in revenues per year.
Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, LMTS has seven satellite dispatch offices located across the country, from Florida to Washington. But the company's unique business model and geographic diversity pose some unique technological challenges. "All of our companion offices are connected to our transportation management system here in Raleigh," explains Dan Giddens, the company's IT director. "Our challenge every day is to serve up that software as quickly as we can."
However, as the company's original implementation on two Dell servers became outdated, that challenge became harder and harder to meet. "We might have a driver or a customer on the phone with a dispatcher, asking a question about a load," says Giddens. "If the system was bogged down, they'd just have to sit and wait until the application responded." LMTS needed to upgrade the IT infrastructure in order to support the company's mission-critical application.
A dramatic change
Things changed dramatically when LMTS migrated the transportation management system to a single IBM System x3550 server, and the most obvious benefit was a significant increase in response time. "We just about doubled our speed," reports Giddens. That means customer inquiries are now handled more efficiently, and employee productivity has increased.
Giddens says the migration was "just about seamless--we moved it over after Friday's business was completed, and Monday morning everything was in place." The impact was felt company-wide. As Stoiber notes, "The companion offices that are farthest away were the ones who gained the most from the new system. The IBM solution has pulled our company closer together."
While Giddens says he's pleased with the performance gains the company has seen with the System x™ solution, he's even more pleased with the impact it's had on his IT staff. "Our maintenance time is significantly reduced," he says, "and we're not having to monitor the system as closely. This frees up our resources to pursue new projects that are more beneficial to the business."
The first choice
The company vision of LMTS is to become the first choice in every market they serve. Stoiber says that the IBM solution is helping them achieve that vision by enabling more efficient customer service and enhancing employee productivity. Giddens agrees: "Efficiency is key in our business. Our carriers and our customers have both been impacted by just how quickly we can respond."
For more information
Contact your IBM sales representative or IBM Business Partner. Visit us at: ibm.com/systems/x
For more information about LMTS, visit: www.lmts.com
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
System x: System x3550
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2007 IBM Systems and Technology Group Route 100 Somers, New York 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America May 2007 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo and System x are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. For a complete list of IBM trademarks, see ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products, programs or services do not imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries in which IBM operates. Any reference to an IBM product, program or service is not intended to imply that only IBM’s product, program or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program or service may be used instead. Offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice. All client examples cited represent how some clients have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Performance data for IBM and non-IBM products and services contained in this document was derived under specific operating and environmental conditions. The actual results obtained by any party implementing such products or services will depend on a large number of factors specific to such party's operating environment and may vary significantly. IBM makes no representation that these results can be expected or obtained in any implementation of any such products or services. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.
