Telecoms giant Cable&Wireless Worldwide enlisted the help of an emergency logistics specialist to transport vital electronic components for a customer
Cable&Wireless Worldwide, one of the world's leading critical communication companies, reinforced its commitment to customer service when it pulled out all the stops to prevent disruption to the Middle Eastern trading operations of a major international bank. C&W Worldwide called upon Evolution Time Critical to transport a high value electronic component from Livingston to London in just three and a half hours so its engineers were able to make a repair before their 3:30 am deadline, ensuring trading continued unaffected. Having received the call late one Sunday evening, Evolution ensured the component arrived in the City of London before 3:00 am.
"We provide mission critical communications, so preventing our customers from suffering a network outage and providing the highest levels of service are of fundamental importance," explains Mike Barnard, Director of Customer Service, Cable&Wireless Worldwide. "Our networks have built-in resiliency, allowing us to re-route traffic across alternative paths in the event that external incidents such as fire, flood and extreme weather causes damage. If the repair involves the replacement of a rare part, we enlist the support of Evolution Time Critical so our engineers can be certain of receiving the urgently required component at any time of night or day under very tight timescales."
The emergency logistics services offered by Evolution Time Critical were originally developed for the automotive industry. Rapid transport solutions are in high demand among car manufacturers, who stand to lose millions in stoppage fees if production is delayed due to a component shortage. With manufacturers increasingly tending towards reducing inventory levels and sourcing components from developing regions, the strain on automotive supply chains is such that urgent deliveries can play a decisive role in keeping assembly lines running. Evolution provides a bespoke transport solution for each individual shipment, often using a combination of private aircraft, dedicated road transport and on-board couriers to make sure their customers' time critical deliveries arrive on time.
"It is simply not practical for companies such as Cable&Wireless Worldwide to keep high stock levels of specific components," comments Brad Brennan, managing director, Evolution Time Critical. "By drawing on our international network of logistics contacts, we can offer telecommunications companies a cost effective alternative to holding high levels of slow moving, high value items."
Evolution Time Critical has recently been presented with the Frost & Sullivan 2010 European Logistics Vertical Market Penetration award for its strong growth and performance in the emergency logistics sector.