Customer Solution Case Study
/ Manufacturer Upgrades Operating System to Boost Productivity, Promote Mobility
“My first impression of Windows 8 Pro was, wow—this is fast. The second thing I thought was how versatile and customizable the software is to my work style.”
Lloyd Weed, Controller, Southern Spring and Stamping
Southern Spring and Stamping searched for a way to boost the performance of its existing PCs and increase its capabilities for mobile computing. Recently, the company upgraded several Windows XP desktop PCs to Windows 8 Pro, while also testing the software on a variety of devices. Through its use of Windows 8 Pro, the company has benefitted from faster system performance, increased productivity, and greater flexibility.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published September 2013
Business Needs
Based in Venice, Florida, Southern Spring and Stamping specializes in designing and manufacturing high-quality machinery components, including compression springs and tooling for industrial presses.
To manage complex bills of material for numerous, concurrent production jobs, employees at Southern Spring must rapidly locate inventory and order status details. The company depends on the performance of its desktop computing infrastructure to keep pace with its complex production process and to scale to handle large order volumes.
For more than a decade, Southern Spring used the Windows XP operating system on most of its desktop PCs, for both office staff and front-line factory workers. Employees appreciated the stability and ease of use of Windows XP. In particular, company leaders valued its straightforward interoperability with business-critical applications, including a program called JobBOSS, the production management software that Southern Spring uses.
More recently, employees have reported a decline in their PCs’ performance while handling specific functions. For example, they’ve noted that searching for records within JobBOSS has gradually become more time consuming. Executives were also aware that support for Windows XP is set to expire in 2014. They wanted to avoid the risk of running non-supported software, which could expose the company to security risks and prevent it from getting the most out of its investment.
Company leaders also wanted to increase the mobile productivity of its workforce. Specifically, they saw an opportunity for stock pickers to update inventory information in real time from practically anywhere—even from a forklift in the warehouse. Employees typically recorded this information manually from on board the forklift and then entered updates into the JobBOSS system in batches when they returned to their PCs, a process that took up to two hours per employee each day.
“We were interested in finding a way to boost the performance of our PCs and provide employees with greater flexibility,” says Lloyd Weed, Controller at Southern Spring and Stamping. “At the same time, we wanted to ensure that any new technology we introduced was easy to use and fit the way our employees work.”
Solution
Executives at Southern Spring consulted with TechHouse, an IT services firm and member of the Microsoft Partner Network based in Sarasota, Florida, about performance and feature enhancements to the Windows 8 Pro operating system. “We enjoy developing agile solutions that enable our customers to be successful,” says Kathy Durfee, Owner and Founder of TechHouse. “Southern Spring required an innovative approach to its mobility and reporting needs, and Windows 8 provided the flexibility and increased productivity that the company needed.”
Southern Spring ultimately tested the use of Windows 8 Pro across a variety of job functions, from accounting to production. For several weeks, Weed used Windows 8 Pro on a Lenovo ThinkPad Twist, a laptop that converts into a tablet. “My first impression of Windows 8 Pro was, wow—this is fast,” says Weed. “The second thing I thought was how versatile and customizable the software is to my work style. I love being able to resize and organize the tiles based on the applications that I use most often.”
Beyond the dramatic increase in processing speed and responsiveness that he has experienced with Windows 8 Pro devices, Weedalso enjoys the ability to quickly move between apps using a simple swipe gesture, along with the ability to run two apps side-by-side using the touch-enabled snap feature.
Production staff enjoy the dynamic search capabilities that Windows 8 Pro offers. “We constantly have to match up part numbers with available inventory and purchase order information,” says Janine, an inventory clerk at Southern Spring and Stamping. “With Windows 8 Pro, I can just start typing, and the results are automatically displayed in seconds.”
Based on its evaluation, Southern Spring is looking to expand its use of Windows 8 Pro in the coming months. “All of the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Weed. He and other company leaders are especially excited by the opportunity to eventually use the Windows 8 Pro version of JobBOSS. That application is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2013.
Benefits
By using Windows 8 Pro, Southern Spring and Stamping is experiencing the following benefits:
- Faster system performance. Weed and other employees at Southern Spring have found that Windows 8 Pro delivers a substantial performance increase when compared to Windows XP. Employees are impressed by how quickly they can perform search functions and shift between applications, just to name a few basic functions. “The processing speed is definitely much faster with Windows 8 Pro, and on top of that, the way the software is designed means I use fewer inputs—basically fewer clicks or gestures—to get to the information I need,” says Weed.
- Increased productivity.By taking advantage of the performance and user interface enhancements offered by Windows 8 Pro, Weed has already found that he saves at least two hours a week on a single reporting task. When the company is able to use the Windows 8 version of JobBOSS on mobile computing devices, Southern Spring expects to save each of its four stock pickers 10hours each week. “Eliminating the need for manual reentry of data in our inventory management process will drive enormous gains in efficiency,” says Weed.
- Improved support for flexibility and data protection.With Windows 8 Pro, Southern Spring gains enhanced support for flexible, mobile work styles without sacrificing control. Employees can use advanced tools in Windows 8 Pro to customize the Start screen and work from practically anywhere with greater ease. At the same time, company leaders gain peace of mind that the devices employees are using are highly secure, whether they are tracking inventory in the warehouse or accessing work files from home. “Although our employees are more mobile, we can still manage our new Windows 8 Pro devices with the same standardized approach we’ve always used to manage our PCs,” says Weed.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published September 2013