DENSO MANUFACTURING CZECH is a leading manufacturer of air conditioning units and radiators for the automotive industry. The plant is part of the Japanese DENSO group and a key supplier to the Toyota group. It makes air conditioning units for passenger cars and supplies car makers across Europe.
DENSO ran a help desk built on Lotus Notes, and it had never worked well for the people raising tickets or for the team solving them. Few people used it properly. Many preferred to report problems by phone or in person. That left IT without one process to make sure every ticket carried the information it needed, had a clear priority and had a deadline.
Keeping the asset records up to date was just as hard. DENSO used QR codes, but they weren't scanned regularly, so changes never made it into the records. A stocktake meant working through piles of paper documents and checking figures against spreadsheets by hand. Responsibility for the records sat mostly with Finance, who focused on assets that mattered for the accounts. Cheaper items, such as peripherals and other small kit, were missing from the records even though IT needed them.
"Finance used to own the records, and they didn't hold everything, because some of the cheaper items just weren't of interest to them. Today we can see all of it." — Petr Urban, Security Project Manager, DENSO MANUFACTURING CZECH
When choosing a replacement for the legacy help desk, DENSO's priorities were clear. The new tool had to be as easy to use as possible, bring asset records together with requests and fit into the Microsoft environment without fuss. After several months of testing different systems, DENSO chose ALVAO. The support from the consulting team, which went well beyond the standard, was another important factor.
"We were given a consultant who worked with us on site. That made rollout and process set-up go smoothly. And when a snag turns up now, I know I can turn to support we can rely on."
— Petr Urban, Security Project Manager, DENSO MANUFACTURING CZECH
Employees now have one place to send their requests. Forms tailored to each service help them give all the necessary information up front. Requests are then logged clearly and placed in the right queues, each with its own process, solver and deadline. That prevents misunderstandings, and employees can follow the status of their requests at any time.
ALVAO gradually found its way beyond IT. The service catalogue now also holds forms and services for HR, maintenance, quality and other departments.
"We gradually extended ALVAO from IT to the whole company. Nine departments now have their own services in it, and people handle requests across the company through one place." — Ondřej Juza, IS Supervisor, DENSO
The service desk also helps when new people start. Before the start date, HR or the line manager raises requests for each department based on what the role needs. That might be an Active Directory account, equipment, access permissions or the right documents. Each request is assigned automatically to the responsible person in the department, with a deadline. On day one everything is ready and the new joiner can start work straight away.
ALVAO Asset Management gets its device data from two sources, the native network agent and Active Directory. In a complex production environment, records sit in a clear tree structure that mirrors the company's organisation, so IT can easily find which assets a particular employee has and where they are.
Every device record holds details such as serial numbers, technical configuration, where the device was bought, installed software and assigned licences. The network agent keeps the records matching reality, so the data stays up to date without manual entry.
Besides laptops and desktops, the records cover virtual servers, production terminals and small IT accessories. IT has a complete picture of the assets it manages across a large manufacturing site.
"We keep more than 1,000 endpoints on record, from laptops and mobile phones to servers. For each one we can see where it was bought, its serial number and what software is installed on it. That's why Asset Management gets so much use here." — Ondřej Juza, IS Supervisor, DENSO
ALVAO helped DENSO bring together the processes and information IT needs every day. The team now has a complete view of reported incidents and requests as well as the devices it looks after, including their full history.
ALVAO now covers around 80% of all IT work at DENSO. The team can manage its agenda better, and management has concrete data for strategic decisions and capacity planning.
"We record around 80% of all IT work in ALVAO. That gives us a good view of the team's workload, and management can see what IT is working on, what the priorities are and what capacity we have." — Ondřej Juza, IS Supervisor, DENSO
End users also no longer have to work out who to ask for what. They have one point of contact, can see how their request is progressing and know when to expect it to be done.
What started as an IT tool is now how DENSO runs internal services across the whole plant. Every request, whichever department it lands in, has a clear process, an owner and a deadline.
"If we didn't have our assets and tickets in ALVAO and handled everything through Excel and a mailbox, it would probably drive us mad. At our size we'd lose track very quickly." — Ondřej Juza, IS Supervisor, DENSO
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