Custom Part from Stratix Saves Company Millions

Every day, millions of consumers across the USA drink this beverage manufacturer’s products, and it has an extensive logistics operation to get products from factories to retail locations. Distribution involves managing a fleet of vehicles, optimizing delivery routes, and coordinating with retailers to meet specific delivery windows, especially during peak demand seasons. To do that, the company relies on mobile devices in the cabs of vehicles with drivers.

Time For an Upgrade

When the mobile device solution the company had been using reached end of life, it wanted something new. The challenge was that the old devices were hardwired into the delivery vehicles, and rewiring hundreds of trucks would be incredibly expensive. Not only did the old devices have drastically different power specs and physical connectors, but the company didn’t want to void the OEM warranty on the new replacement devices.

Stratix Specialty Products Group to the Rescue

One of Stratix’s unique differentiators is that we don’t take no for an answer when encountering an obstacle. When we learned of the beverage company’s challenge, our Specialty Products Group engineers went to work.

We fabricated a custom add-on mobile that transforms the old wiring harness’s power output to match the new devices’ requirements, along with an adapter that allows the new plug to connect with the old socket. We even took our solution to the OEM manufacturer of the new devices and got their approval so that there was no danger of voiding the warranty.

The Outcome

With the Stratix adapter module, the beverage manufacturer was spared the cost of rewiring vehicles and the time that would put them out of service. In all, Stratix saved the company $2.5 million with our solution.