Armored Car Company Loomis Increases Safety with Wireless Apps

Wayne Sadin, CIO at Loomis, knows that no amount of technology will eradicate crime. But he's counting on a new enterprise wireless application to shrink Loomis's exposure to it. Guards will use a smartphone system to replace the tedious, error-prone paperwork they normally fill out by hand, making each stop on a route faster. Computerizing the fieldwork of guards cuts the amount of time - and thus the level of vulnerability - at each stop, Sadin says. Plus, the real-time system produces more accurate information sooner about inventory - customers' money - in transit each day. Loomis can then offer the data to those customers, such as banks, retailers and restaurant chains.

Loomis is also dealing with an issue of its own making: Sadin and his team had to convince the rest of the company that this wouldn't be a repeat of a similar system tried two years ago but abandoned after six months. This time there's different software, hardware, interface and architecture, says Derek Pickett, director of enterprise systems at Loomis. "We learned a heck of a lot from that project," says Pickett. And as the new application moves from pilot to deployment, Loomisis still learning.

When the Boston-area facility gets the wireless application later this infographicsyear, guards will be trained in how to use ruggedized Motorola devices. A combination cell phone and scanner, the MC70 models are that tell them where to stop and what to unload or pick up. Trucks are loaded with that day's deliveries. That may include cases of quarters, rolled and boxed, headed to a store or restaurant. Departures are staggered every 20 or so minutes. A team of two or three guards might make more than 10 stops on a route. Trucks start coming back mid-afternoon to unload. There's only one door open at a time at the loading docks.

The interface allows keypad typing and tapping on menus. A built-in scanner lets guards check in and out bar-coded packages filled with cash, coins, checks, food stamps or postage stamps. Depending on where the package originates, either Loomis or the customer places the bar codes. Then in real-time over AT&T's cellular network, all the data is sent to Loomis' Oracle E-Business ERP system in Houston.

Early results from a pilot in Houston in January and a subsequent rollout there in March show guards spend less time recording route information than they did before on paper. This lets them finish stops more quickly, which decreases their physical risk, says Chris Squier, an operations manager in Houston. The new system also eliminates 30 to 40 pieces of paper on each route, including delivery sheets, manifests and customer signature forms, Squier says.

Meanwhile, Loomis still must plan for the certain risk that criminals will steal some of the thousands of pounds of money the company moves, Sadin says. "We pick it up, deliver it and guard it with our lives."

The Person Behind It

Wayne Sadin

CIO, Loomis

Wireless enabled logistics services can help the company retain customers, providing a competitive advantage.

Leonard Simmons

Global Products Manager of Mobility, CSC

Building core business applications for wireless capable phones is still a relatively new concept for midsize companies like Loomis.