At a glance

Our telecommunications client needed a standardized system for ordering and tracking the equipment needed for construction of their nationwide network of cell towers.

Customer challenge

Each of our client’s four geographic regions had developed its own system for creating and managing bills of materials (BOMs) — lists of all equipment necessary for building and maintaining a cell tower — resulting in inconsistencies and varying levels of efficiency across regions. To establish continuity and uniformity of ordering processes nationwide, our client asked Logic20/20 to create an optimized process for implementation across all regions.

Approach and solution

Logic20/20 began with evaluations of each region’s BOM processes to identify what was (and was not) working well. We then built a set of best practices and created a custom ordering and inventory management tool backed by a suite of microservices. We designed the tool to accommodate the complexity of our client’s supply chain, which required coordinating with numerous business groups ranging from engineering to accounting to individual warehouses. The complexity of the product also required the solution to factor in detailed business rules based on technology, location, and other variables.

Our client launched the site to a pilot group and then nation-wide within two months. Since then, our team has continuously met the challenge of keeping up with the evolving needs of our client’s network.

We also delivered reporting tools that give senior leadership improved visibility into the procurement supply chain, enabling them to make faster, better-informed decisions.

Value and benefits - “the wins”

Our client now has a nationwide system for creating bills of materials and understanding what equipment they need to order and when. The new process saves them millions of dollars by preventing over-ordering and minimizing the amount of time inventory sits in the warehouse. They have also improved their ability to meet construction deadlines and reduced the need to re-apply for permits.

By consolidating scattered ordering practices into a single, streamlined process, we enabled our client to better monitor and control the flow of materials, and to ensure that every piece of equipment arrives exactly when it is needed.