Manufacturer Migrates Production Systems and Benefits by Using One Trusted Technology Partner
Founded in 1890 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, the Glen-Gery Corporation is one of the nation's largest brick and stone veneer manufacturers. Known for its high-quality building products with a wide range of colors, textures, and sizes, Glen-Gery products are sold across North America through direct supply stores and its large distributor network. Since 2018, Glen-Gery has been a part of Brickworks Limited of Australia.
Challenges:
Our long-time client and partners at Glen-Gery reached out to us when they were challenged by an old piece of equipment that managed their production system. They had three servers, each of which supported a different function: production, web, and development. Because the machine was using legacy software, there was a knowledge gap in place from those who originally set the machine up and those who were currently managing it.
Glen-Gery and Weidenhammer are no strangers to one another. Weidenhammer has been Glen-Gery’s strategic technology partner for several years prior to this project. When these systems became unstable, Glen-Gery realized the value that Weidenhammer could bring in expanding their hosting and managing services to include these critical IBM iSeries-based systems. With Weidenhammer already hosting and managing many critical systems like, their complete virtual environment, network firewalls, wireless, and disaster recovery systems, this would allow Glen-Gery to focus on their core business goals and strategies and let their technology partner do what they do best, host and manage the technology.
Solutions:
Step one was to move these iSeries systems to Weidenhammer’s data center in Reading, PA. With any move, there are logistical concerns that need to be overcome – this requires planning, collaboration, and cooperation from many stakeholders. Planning began with Weidenhammer engineers working with Glen-Gery and others to ensure a smooth migration.
Once the move was complete, Weidenhammer was able to assess the issues with the systems and determine next steps to bring them back online and into stable production.
An added constraint during this time was the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the work to be completed had to be done onsite. Not only did it require excellent technical planning to ensure limited interruption to the business, but it required planning to ensure the safety of all parties.
Results:
At the conclusion of this project, Glen-Gery was once again able to rely on these systems for production tasks like manufacturing and web development. Additionally, Glen-Gery was able to fully-migrate all of their production systems to one trusted technology partner. This afforded them a level of continuity and service that would improve not only cost, but also in support and maintenance. Should any issues arise in the future, Glen-Gery can simply call Weidenhammer instead of spending time in attempting to coordinate support through multiple vendors.
This strategic maneuver allows Glen-Gery to benefit from Weidenhammer’s expertise and high-level of service in overseeing the physical hardware, software, and managed services. Most of all, it capitalized on an existing relationship to focus on making Glen-Gery’s workflow and workload more efficient.
The iSeries move was definitely a challenge and Weidenhammer saved the day!”
Emily Martin, Manager, IT Operations
