Case Study / TransPro Freight
Background
TransPro Freight is a company that provides truck deliveries for dry goods and perishable products from Canada to points all over the United States. In fact, it involves four different companies – TransPro Freight Systems, which is the logistics operation, two trucking companies serving two distinct markets in the U.S., and a fourth entity that is the maintenance shop. Technology is important to the business, and its customers expect the best. These customers rely on web-based tracking and tracing, a Warehouse Management System, customized reports, and inventory management at the company’s distribution centre in Milton, Ontario. There is also a vital communications system for TransPro drivers who require proactive email notification of the status of shipments. This is initiated through a simplified code system at the driver level.
Transport companies must have their systems working around the clock on a 24/7 basis, and TransPro is no exception. Indeed, this is a business that can never shut down. Its people need timely access to data – electronic route planning, field management software, etc. At the same time, the industry is traditionally labour-intensive; paper processes, telephone calls, and fax machines were and still are for many the order of the day. In fact, some companies still use a whiteboard to show what trucks are going where.
Challenge
TransPro had to upgrade its servers, and approached Xylotek™ in 2005. The 50 employees of the company had been experiencing a lot of trouble with technology. The system kept crashing, user accounts were locked out so users couldn’t access their email, and security was poor. The system was too secure since users couldn’t get in themselves. The backup systems weren’t working either, so there was a definite concern about business continuity in the event of a situation involving lost data. What’s more, this was the scenario just as an upgrade was taking place. And that was just task no. 1.
In the summer of 2007, TransPro was moving its head office from Mississauga, Ontario to Milton, and all the systems had to move with it. What’s more, everything had to be moved between a Friday evening and the next morning. It was an ambitious assignment. Whenever an organization does something like this with its IT systems, there is always a chance something can go wrong, with the potential for catastrophic results.
Solution
Xylotek™ was known to TransPro Freight in 2005 when it upgraded the company’s servers. At that time, Xylotek™ came in with a forensics approach to see what security holes existed, then made changes involving passwords, access privileges, etc. But the real test was the 2007 move from
Mississauga to Milton. Xylotek™ allowed TransPro to move from one plant to another, and from midnight Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, all the technology systems were moved and installed without a hitch. When people came to work on the following Monday morning, everything had already been tested.
Benefits
“Xylotek™ gave us ideas on how to protect us from power outages,” says Joseph Carusi, Vice-President of TransPro Freight. “Now our servers run on their very own power which is good for 45 minutes. In the event of a crisis situation, that can be crucial. But the big thing they did for us is that we have four companies all under one roof. They deal with each other and with outside people all the time. Once we had a security breach when a hacker got in and used our system as a spammer. Xylotek™ came in and blocked them out, and set up authorities for all our users.
“Today, with their help, we scan information rather than store paper. We have a complete redundant system so we will never be down, and in a business where you have to go 24/7, that is important.”