Kenco is an award-winning third-party logistics provider with headquarters in Chattanooga, TN that provides customers with a wide range of services including warehousing, supply chain management, transportation and material handling. As an innovative company in a highly competitive field, Kenco is constantly incorporating new technologies and processes to better serve customers while improving its profitability.
While Kenco places considerable value on integrating its operations, initiating and sustaining collaborations across a large, widely dispersed workforce (over 5,000 employees across 90 locations) created significant cost and time burdens due to travel requirements. Searching for a technological solution, the company experimented with using traditional video conferencing tools such as Skype and FaceTime instead of on-site visits; however, these tools failed to reduce its heavy reliance on travel.
During the consideration process, the Kenco team evaluated approximately 20 telepresence solutions, seeking a technology that would reduce scheduling challenges by allowing a single user to easily initiate remote interactions. The company narrowed its search to two products that were appropriate for its needs, choosing Beam because of its superior value proposition. Unlike the nearest competitor, Beam offered integrated audio and visual components, while its taller stature, greater stability, wide-angle cameras, and more rugged construction promoted safer and more reliable operation in the warehouse environment.
Seeking to minimize costs while optimizing internal integration, Kenco purchased several Beams from Suitable Technologies, placing them in its corporate offices as well as in multiple warehouse locations around the country. The company’s employees adopted the new technology enthusiastically (even giving some devices affectionate nicknames), especially valuing the one-click presence via the Beam App, as well as the dynamic, natural quality of the remote interactions. Deploying Beam in warehouse locations has proved particularly useful to Kenco. Remote safety and security personnel can resolve on-the-ground technical issues, while employees-in-training are able to learn at the side of experts. In addition, the device’s 2 mph top speed permits in-depth tours and thorough oversight of even the largest facilities, while the 8-hour battery life easily accommodates a full day of driving and meetings with associates.
Beam’s ROI for Kenco was prompt. After only a few months, the savings on travel paid for several devices. Moreover, Beam’s novel combination of immersive interaction and unconstrained mobility has supported a variety of meaningful collaborations across distances, allowing Kenco to significantly reduce regular in-person visits to warehouse facilities by executives, safety teams and troubleshooting experts.
In addition, Kenco has provided customers with access to its Beams, realizing unexpected benefits. By permitting customers to “beam in” to warehouses, the company can address questions proactively, facilitate in-depth product inspections, and provide visual evidence of complex logistical issues, while reinforcing its commitment to collaboration and transparency.
As a Kenco employee based at a warehouse location stated, “It [Beam] gives the controller [pilot] on-site presence when they are actually hundreds of miles away. When escorting a co-worker around on the site end, I’ve been able to carry on conversations as though they were there in person and we’re able to point things out to each other as we walked.”