Recipe for success: Presidio tells of business-enablement success stories for Johnsonville Sausages, Reddy Ice

The food & beverage manufacturing sector faces a unique challenge in how retool and upgrade aging infrastructure while still remaining profitable. Business IT specialist Presidio points to two customers who successfully upgraded business applications using flexible technology leasing solutions.

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff January 26, 2009

Perhaps the most diverse segment of the manufacturing industry, the food & beverage sector faces remarkable complexities: juggling quality control and processing issues, competitive threats, and ever-shifting consumer trends—all while balancing supply chain management requirements and strict regulatory compliance.

Yet the primary challenge, notes Presidio Networked Solutions , a provider of advanced IT infrastructure and managed outsourcing solutions, is to stay at the forefront of innovation and adaptation of new technology while still controlling costs.

Presidio says rapid adoption of new technologies and business-critical applications can help processors and manufacturers streamline internal processes and reduce operational costs while keeping tight control over capital expenditures.

To demonstrate how the adoption of new network infrastructure can be achieved while significantly reducing up-front costs, Presidio cites the successes of two food manufacturing industry leaders: Reddy Ice and Johnsonville Sausages LLC.

Reddy Ice

The largest manufacturer and distributor of packaged ice products in the U.S., Reddy Ice produces nearly 1.9 million tons of ice annually from its more than 100 manufacturing and distribution locations nationwide. When the company’s technology infrastructure was approaching the end of its useful life and maintenance and leasing contracts were nearing expiration, Reddy Ice began planning an extensive overhaul of its technology infrastructure and the deployment of new, business-critical applications.

The project involved a complete network refresh, including data services, ongoing network monitoring and maintenance, professional services, even equipment financing. To minimize complexity, Reddy Ice selected Presidio as its single-source vendor to support both the technology integration and the new leasing contracts, ensuring a smooth, cost-effective and expedient migration.

To support Reddy Ice’s future growth plans and provide increased performance for its multiple internet-based and third-party hosted applications, Presidio replaced its existing routers and frame relay network using new Cisco Integrated Services Routers and carrier-grade infrastructure at each company location. The new infrastructure had an immediate impact, nearly tripling Reddy Ice’s aggregate carrier bandwidth and increasing overall access to the Internet by 700 percent company-wide.

With the highly scalable network and flexible equipment financing in place, Reddy Ice kept its up-front spending at a minimum and enjoys significant performance and feature enhancements, real cost savings, and the ability to easily deploy new applications and technologies in the future.

Johnsonville Sausages LLC

Johnsonville Sausages was looking to spread the cost of its IT investment across the useful life of its equipment and to obtain acquisition and asset management assistance to better manage its annual and monthly expense budgets. Because of its strong commitment to quality and excellence, Johnsonville was searching for a like-minded partner to help with its technology acquisitions.

Johnsonville selected Presidio Networked Solutions. The two companies have now built a lasting business relationship based on mutual trust that has spanned more than 20 years.

By leveraging strategic relationships with preferred vendor partners such as Cisco and IBM , along with flexible financing options offered by Presidio Technology Capital, Presidio has been able to assist Johnsonville in finding and implementing the solutions it needs at a cost structure that makes good business sense.

Presidio’s solutions have allowed Johnsonville to realize greater operational efficiency and solid ROI. With leasing and quarterly takedowns, Johnsonville has the flexibility to make regular strategic modifications to its data center and network infrastructure, allowing the company to take advantage of new technologies and stay on the leading edge of the industry.

“We are seeing a definite move towards new-technology leasing from food processing and manufacturing clients. Flexible leasing options offer companies a range of affordable alternatives to make replacing legacy technology with new infrastructure solutions and industry-specific business applications obtainable,” says Robert Necessary, president of Presidio Technology Capital, a division of Presidio Networked Solutions. “While the cost of purchasing and deploying new technologies and applications can seem prohibitive, Presidio offers both flexibility and support to make the adoption of new solutions both practical and affordable. Many of our customers have seen net savings well into double-digit percentages—with an immediate ROI.”


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