Under One Roof

Diebold Inc., based in Canton, Ohio, is known as a supplier of ATMs, security services and software. But there's more to Diebold than just moving money.

Few consumers know, for example, about Diebold's business-to-business offerings, which include refurbishing and remarketing ATMs as trade-in units for financial institutions. These services are managed by Diebold Global Asset Management Services (DGAMS), a division of the company.

Earlier this year, the responsibilities of DGAMS were expanded to include monitoring, tracking, reprocessing and disposition of canceled sales orders as well as refurbishing of customer-owned inventory. The current space that DGAMS occupied couldn't accommodate the additional business demands, so Diebold began a facility expansion project.

Instead of simply moving the DGAMS operation into a larger facility to meet its increasing needs, Diebold used the expansion as a strategic opportunity to decrease operating costs, reduce transportation spending, minimize multiple handling and optimize workforce assets across the entire organization.

“Most companies don't look at the strategic benefit of a new facility other than location,” says John Simon, vice president of customer finance and asset management services. “We looked at the new facility as a way to optimize the use of our number-one asset: our people.”

This philosophy is not new to Diebold. In 2004, the company combined its repair center in Seville, Ohio, with its DC in Mogadore, Ohio. (See MHM's articles, “Moving On Up,” “Using the Right Tools” and “Warehouse Moving Day”). This eliminated 35 miles of travel between the facilities and decreased response time on critical breakdowns from two to three days to same day.

Corporate management concluded it could optimize resources once again by consolidating four separate operating groups into one facility that would function as a return center. Inventory from DGAMS and the company's logistics division, Global Service Logistics (GSL), would be consolidated and moved to the return center. These two divisions would join the company's customer finance operation and PC Resources, a computer lab that supports the software and hardware needs of Diebold associates.

Site Selection

Diebold enlisted the help of Akron, Ohio-based Trommer & Associates, a firm offering manufacturing and distribution center planning services, for the entire project, from initial planning and site selection to facility design, material handling equipment selection and final implementation.

Consolidating operations that were spread out in different locations proved to be a difficult task, both in terms of site selection and the actual move. First, the building had to be in the Canton area to allow the company access to the region's 2,000 Diebold employees as well as to avoid relocating personnel. Second, the facility had to be large enough to combine operations and inventories of four locations as well as accommodate special projects, such as assembling ATM upgrade kits for customers, explains Don Kuzma, president of Trommer & Associates.

And, finally, the building had to accommodate multiple operations. “A standard, big-box facility would not have met our needs,” Simon points out.