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Today’s complex enterprises are under intense scrutiny by forces within and without their corporate walls. This scrutiny is focused on efficiency, integrity and the bottom line. Areas of loss for these complex enterprises can often be traced to the management of assets both permanent and transitory. As business becomes focused more on a just-in-time model, the need for a given asset to be in the correct location, at the correct time and in the correct state is increasingly central.

The Solidarity™ system by Gray Hill Solutions integrates geographic information systems, 802.11x communications, asset management and other technologies, to physically and operationally track assets. Assets may move location, change state, be used, or be installed throughout the business process. All this would be captured by the system, and pertinent data relayed to decision makers in real-time.

What is Solidarity, and What Can It Do for You?

Solidarity is an asset management system that:
• uses geo-location technology to locate assets in real time;
• combines location information with all other existing classes of asset data; and
• gives critical information and control to those who need it, through web-based user interfaces which can communicate complex information through interactive maps and can generate detailed reports.

Using Solidarity, managers and workers in large, dispersed organizations can view progress in other parts of the building or on the other side of the world. Maps and reports can be tailored to the needs of the user, so that the right information gets to the right person, in real time. Supply and assembly chain issues can be quickly researched by anyone with proper clearance and a web browser. A smart log-in system allows a particular user’s interactions with the system to be defined specifically according to need, and all communications on the system are encrypted and secure.

Return on investment from such a system arises from many sources. The system allows tighter and more efficient schedules of production materials and shared resources, thus guarding against material loss, time loss and theft. The system will also provide real-time reports regarding plant or project operations that managers previously spent hours to write. These reports can now be produced automatically and more accurately.

Who Can Benefit from Solidarity?

All but the very smallest companies have significant quantities of assets which need to be managed. Furthermore, Solidarity applies the business rules for any industry to the management of assets. So, just about any business can benefit from Solidarity's capabilities, from manufacturers that need to keep track of countless pieces of inventory to real estate developers managing lists of properties and clients.

Why Is Mapping Important?

For many purposes, maps possess enormous advantages over text-based reports:
• they convey simply, immediately, and intuitively location data that would take pages or volumes to describe in words.
• they are a powerful data portal — spatial queries show where assets are at any given time, and selecting those assets allows the user to probe into asset-specific attributes, characteristics or business rules.
• they ensure at a glance that assets are where they ought to be. This helps safeguard against theft, or mere carelessness.
• they allow for analysis of spatial relationships between productive activities (and storage facilities), thereby promoting streamlining of processes.
The combination of mapping capability with customizable text reports ensures that an enterprise can get the information it needs in the most efficient way possible.

How Will Solidarity Affect Existing Operations?

Solidarity is designed to increase efficiency by providing comprehensive asset information in a usable way, with minimal disruption to existing systems and processes.

Solidarity can provide a complete asset management solution; or, it can be built onto the data and asset management systems already in place. That is, rather than tearing down the current system and starting over, an enterprise can choose to add capability to what is already there. It can also be designed around existing processes, so that the enterprise is not forced to adopt a new business model to realize Solidarity’s benefits.