Investing in Rugged Hand-held Devices: The Value of ‘The Buckeye Difference’

Terminal operation teams do their best work when they have the right tools for the job. As technology becomes more deeply integrated into intermodal, rail, and port environments, field technicians and other personnel are increasingly reliant on mobile devices in their day-to-day activities.

Anyone who has spent any time in the yard knows that terminal operators can’t simply buy tablets off the shelf at their nearest electronics retailer. From network compatibility to durability to required functionality, mobile device purchases must meet a long list of requirements.

So when your field team needs new devices, what’s the best path forward?

“It’s all about finding the right solutions for your specific use case, and Buckeye Mountain are experts in distilling those requirements and only giving you the technology that will fit in that space.”

Matt Hunter, Principal of Sales and Operations

While traditional device procurement partners want to sell you on a particular device or brand, Buckeye Mountain’s experts search through hundreds of hand-held devices to find the best-fit solutions for your needs. That customer-centric approach is how we make sure your business invests in technology that offers the best short- and long-term value to their operations.

The Industry-specific Challenges of Mobile Connectivity

The up-front purchase of hand-held equipment is just one expense to keep in mind when considering the long-term cost of these devices. Industry-specific challenges affecting device availability, longevity, and performance within your terminal yard can all affect the total cost of ownership for your devices—and they need to be accounted for when choosing appropriate hand-helds for your use case.

These challenges include:

Cellular and Broadband Compatibility

Excessive Repair and Maintenance Costs

Extreme weather, heavy machinery and the rigors of outdoor industrial environments all increase the need for ongoing device repair and maintenance. But investments into rugged devices designed to withstand this regular wear and tear can reduce repair and maintenance costs, extending device lifespans and reducing the total cost of ownership for your hardware.

On-going Device Management

Optimal hand-held performance is dependent on continual device management to implement software updates, monitor device health, and troubleshoot issues that may arise. Remote device management can be instrumental in minimizing disruptions to terminal operations, allowing certain management activities to be executed without removing devices from the field.

Device Downtime

When mobile devices are integral to terminal operations, unplanned device downtime can slow or completely halt certain field operations. These disruptions can have a ripple effect across your terminal, creating bottlenecks and other slowdowns that reduce throughput and frustrate your customers.

Failure to deploy rugged hand-held devices across your field operations only increases the risk of incidents that result in unplanned downtime—resulting in material costs that extend far beyond the repair or replacement of that device.

Five ways the ‘Buckeye Difference’ Differs from Traditional Device Procurement

When terminal leaders approach device manufacturers in search of new hand-held solutions, most of those manufacturers will quickly recommend certain products they’re trying to sell—regardless of whether those devices are a good fit for the customer’s needs. As a result, terminals risk procuring mobile devices that aren’t suited to their outdoor environment, intended use case, or other requirements.

But Buckeye Mountain isn’t trying to sell your terminal products we’ve already manufactured. Instead, our experts are solely focused on making sure you invest in hand-held devices that are best suited to your terminal’s unique needs. 

“We’re not going to try to fit a round object into a square hole, as so many manufacturers do,” says Hunter. “It doesn’t matter if the right technology comes from Panasonic, Honeywell, Zebra, or a different manufacturer. We cast a wide net to find the technology that fits.”

Matt Hunter, Principal of Sales and Operations

Here are five key ways Buckeye’s approach differs from traditional device procurement:

1. Tailoring solutions to specific use cases

Tablets and other hand-held devices are used across a wide range of terminal operations, including intermodal check-in, interactive kiosks, and mobile data units. Different terminals must also account for environmental factors such as wireless networking compatibility, extreme temperatures, heavy rain, and other outdoor conditions.

Rugged mobile devices are available to serve all of these specialized needs—and Buckeye Mountain’s experts have the industry expertise needed to ensure a successful deployment.

“Customers approach us all the time saying, ‘This is what we’re trying to do,’ says Hunter. “They might be trying to solve a problem at their gates, or they need a kiosk where the drivers can interact. And we’re able to say, ‘Oh, we just set this up for a different terminal. We’ve already solved your problem—here’s what it looks like.’”

Matt Hunter, Principal of Sales and Operations

2. Investing in Best-of-Breed Tech

Terminal operations run better when environments are built from a best-of-breed approach, ensuring that specialized use cases are supported by the best-fit specialized solutions on the market.

But for terminals managing technology procurement in-house, a best-of-breed approach is also far more resource-intensive. Each new technology acquisition can involve narrowing a field of hundreds of potential devices to a single, best-fit solution. 

Buckeye Mountain’s experts have dealt with devices from more than 450 different manufacturers over the years—and that deep industry knowledge allows them to quickly identify the mobile devices best suited to a customer’s specific use case.

“For example, when a customer says they want to look at best-of-breed hand-helds that are 5G and FirstNet compatible, we find the devices that meet those requirements and toss out the rest,” says Hunter. “We use our expertise to make things simple for the customer. Otherwise, they’re going to get overwhelmed.”

3. Providing Comprehensive Device Management and Support

Buckeye Mountain’s commitment to customer success spans the full mobile device lifecycle. After we’ve helped you identify and deploy the best-fit mobile solutions for your terminal, we provide ongoing remote device management and support to optimize device performance, assist in troubleshooting, and minimize device downtime that can disrupt your operations.

Our continued support is designed to maximize the overall return on your mobile device investment through improved operational performance and extended device lifespans. We don’t measure success by the number of devices sold—we measure it by the value we deliver for your terminal.

4. A Strategic Framework to Maximize the Value of your Device Investment

Any investment into rugged hand-held devices should be supported by a strategic framework that clearly defines the intended business outcomes, lifecycle support strategies, and long-term value generation associated with that technology acquisition.

Procurement teams and field operations leaders must work together to ensure alignment on these goals and agree on the best approach for managing implementation and ongoing support for those assets. 

This strategic planning is central to what Buckeye Mountain offers your terminal. Instead of selling your hardware without any ongoing partnership and support, we work with each terminal’s operations and IT professionals to set up plans and procedures concerning preventative maintenance, tech support, planned downtime, and other scenarios each facility will encounter across the lifespan of your hand-held devices.

5. Unrivaled Asset Management Expertise

Poor, inconsistent asset management practices can increase the occurrence of preventable repairs, resulting in more frequent operational delays and reduced device lifespans. For product manufacturers, lackluster asset management creates an opportunity to sell a new generation of hand-held devices to your terminal. 

But because Buckeye Mountain prioritizes long-term value creation, we offer “boots-on-the-ground” support for asset management that controls your ongoing device management costs and maximizes your ROI across the full device lifecycle.

“Customers who move away from our ‘boots-on-the-ground’ approach quickly realize they lose a lot of asset management expertise that Buckeye Mountain brings to the table. We do things beyond scope to ensure our customers are taken care of—and we have an internal structure for managing assets that other companies can’t match.”

David Fajardo, Manager of Field Technical Services

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Don’t buy Mobile Devices: Invest in Long-term Value Creation

Vendors that push certain hand-held devices and brands aren’t acting in your terminal’s best interest. You need a procurement partner you can trust—an expert hardware vendor who uses your unique requirements and goals to single out the best-fit solutions for your specific use case.

That’s what Buckeye Mountain does for its customers. We’re willing to comb through hundreds of different hand-held device options in search of the technology that offers exactly what your terminal needs—and then we continue to add value through ongoing support across the full device lifecycle.

We use our expertise to make the procurement process easier for your business, ensuring that your mobile device purchase is an investment that’s going to pay dividends for your on-the-ground operations.

See for yourself how Buckeye Mountain can streamline procurement and elevate business outcomes for all of your technology acquisitions.