Leading International Fulfillment Company
Connects Robots and IoT Devices to Secure and Automate Inventory
Operations and Improve Productivity
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today
announced that Distribution Management, a leading fulfillment and
supplies network, is standardizing on Aruba wireless, switching,
and security solutions across all of its locations to enable
digital transformation initiatives to support the company’s rapid
growth and increasing customer demand.
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Distribution Management uses robots,
which rely on secure wireless connectivity powered by Aruba, to
assist with inventory management. Photo: Distribution
Management
With headquarters in St. Charles, Missouri, and five
distribution centers across the U.S., Distribution Management
operates a supplies and order fulfillment network that can reach 99
percent of the country within one-to-two days. The company also
operates a Foreign Trade Zone that services international needs,
and offers managed services for printer fleets, dispatching
technicians for troubleshooting and repair, as well as supplying
printer repair parts.
As Distribution Management has grown and seen increased demand
from customers, modernizing and streamlining operations, and
improving efficiencies and employee productivity, have become key
objectives. According to Tom Huck, Distribution Management’s
Director of Infrastructure Technologies, the company realized it
needed to upgrade its network infrastructure to achieve these
objectives.
“We knew that the underlying network foundation would be
critical to advancing all of the modernization and expansion
efforts we had in mind,” Huck said. “It was pretty clear our
existing network couldn’t accommodate our growing needs.”
As the company planned for expansion into larger warehouse
spaces, with an increasing number of IoT devices on the network,
and new distribution models that would include replacing
traditional conveyor equipment with robots, it realized their
legacy Cisco network had to be replaced. After evaluating new
solutions from both Cisco and Aruba, Distribution Management chose
to standardize on Aruba across all of its sites.
Working with partners Insight and InterVision, Distribution
Management began installing Aruba access points, mobility
controllers, and access switches, as well as ClearPass, so the
organization can authenticate every wired and wireless device that
accesses the network and begin implementing consistent role-based
policies.
According to Jim Adelmann, network administrator for
Distribution Management, the new Aruba network is accelerating the
organization’s warehouse digital transformation, allowing the IT
team to connect a variety of crucial devices including robots to
the network for automated inventory management. The robots use the
wireless network to check in and “call home” for real-time order
details that indicate where to go within the warehouse and how to
process orders.
Other devices and applications benefiting from the Aruba network
include Zebra barcode printers and wrist-mounted TC52 devices,
which warehouse employees use to scan, pick and pack inventory,
QubeVu hardware which is essential in viewing and analyzing the
dimensions of packages coming through their warehouse so they can
be processed properly, and RingCentral softphones for
videoconferencing and employee laptops and mobile devices.
From an IT perspective, Adelmann said the Aruba network is
providing the kind of reliability, redundancy and always-on
connectivity that Distribution Management needed to move forward
with their expansion and modernization efforts confidently.
“Had we stuck with Cisco, we would have spent twice the amount
of time getting the network up and running. With Aruba, network
management is so easy – we had everything rolling within a week,”
Adelmann said.
Adelmann also noted that the modularity of the Aruba solutions
allowed the IT team to stage everything ahead of time and that the
uptime has been “through the roof,” freeing up the IT team to focus
on more strategic initiatives. Added Huck, “Lost productivity
translates into lost revenue. That’s why having a solid network
foundation was so vital to supporting our digital initiatives and
meeting our growth and expansion needs.”
To date, Distribution Management has installed the Aruba
infrastructure in three of its five distribution centers and plans
to continue its roll-out to its additional two centers in the near
future. In 2021, the company also plans to continue its move to
role-based access control with ClearPass, and will evaluate Aruba
Central for management, as well as Aruba User Experience Insight
sensors to provide additional troubleshooting and diagnostic
capabilities.
Said Huck, “We now feel confident that as our business grows and
evolves, our network can grow with it, supporting whatever
initiatives we undertake.”
About Distribution Management
Distribution Management is a national technology, fulfillment
and distribution provider specializing in automated order handling,
fulfillment and shipping of small package goods. DM is able to
reach 99% of the U.S. within one to two days and international
shipments within three days from its five strategically located
distribution centers. DM’s order accuracy rate of 99.9% is
reflective of the operational excellence and efficiencies that have
resulted from significant investment in technology and a dedicated
IT development staff specializing in integration, automation and
real-time reporting. The company operates Supplies Network, a
wholesale distributor offering IT consumables, equipment and an
award-winning Managed Print Services program, as well as DM
Fulfillment, an Omni-channel, value-add fulfillment provider. Visit
www.suppliesnetwork.com or www.dmfulfillment.com to learn more.
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is the global
leader in secure, intelligent edge-to-cloud networking solutions
that use AI to automate the network, while harnessing data to drive
powerful business outcomes. With Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform)
and as-a-service options, Aruba takes a cloud-native approach to
helping customers meet their connectivity, security, and financial
requirements across campus, branch, data center, and remote worker
environments, covering all aspects of wired, wireless LAN, and wide
area networking (WAN).
To learn more, visit Aruba at www.arubanetworks.com. For
real-time news updates, follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and
for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba
products, visit the Airheads Community at
community.arubanetworks.com.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210203005061/en/
Kathleen Keith Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
+1-707-529-4507 kathleen.keith@hpe.com
Jennifer Miu Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company +1
650-236-9532 jennifer.miu@hpe.com
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