Small Business Resources, Business Advice and Forms from AllBusiness.com

Business Exchange

Doing whatever it takes

By:Morton, Roger
Publication: Logistics Today
Date: Friday, April 1 2005
Subject: Tape drives
HEADNOTE

StorageTek finds that staying close to home makes it easier to go global

Despite what you read in the papers, not all high-tech manufacturing has moved offshore.

For instance, the furthest StorageTek (www.storagctck.com), a $2 billion maker of tape drives, goes for its production volume is to Puerto Rico.

Most of the manufacturing is done in Colorado, where the company's headquarters and advanced manufacturing facilities are located, explains Jim Matney, StorageTek's director, global service logistics. Though manufacturing is local, Matney moves and manages StorageTek's global inventory of more than 80,000 service parts, which supports $800 million in service revenue and maintains consistent service levels for 22,000 global customers in 63 countries.

StorageTek has spare parts depots in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Its primary European distribution center (DC) is in the Netherlands, although it has spare parts depots in each European country.

In addition, make sure to read these articles: