Taming Wireless for Roofing Pioneer

In 1858, 21-year-old Henry Ward Johns “set up shop” in the basement of his New York City tenement building. Using his wife’s new clothes wringer and a tea kettle, he applied hot tar to cloth, creating the company’s first roofing shingles. By 1868 operations moved out of the basement and Johns Manville was on its way to a history of innovation, research, and protecting people and the environment.

In 2018, the company celebrated its 160th anniversary with an ever-increasing number of innovative, award-winning products used in a variety of industries including building products, aerospace, automotive and transportation, filtration, commercial interiors, waterproofing, and wind energy. A member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies, Johns Manville serves customers in more than 80 countries worldwide.

The Challenge

Driven by the need to protect its core value – People, Passion, Perform, and Protect – Johns Manville knew they needed help with telecommunications expense management (TEM). Another Berkshire company, and Mindglobal client, Benjamin Moore suggested they meet with Mindglobal. After meeting with Johns Manville, it was clear they needed help with two areas: their wireline management across a growing network of manufacturing plants and getting a handle on thousands of wireless devices used in the plants, distribution and logistics across the U.S. which relied heavily on wireless devices that were not being efficiently managed.

The Solution     

Mindglobal launched wireless expense management (WEM) in December 2017, followed by wireline in February 2018. The initial focus was analyzing the thousands of devices, users, and various rate plans to find potential savings. It only took a couple of months for Mindglobal to find big savings by working with carriers to drive plan costs down, dramatically lowering the average cost per device (CPD).

With quick proof on the value of WEM, expansion approval was given for Mindglobal to begin provisioning/staging all wireless devices prior to delivery to the users. This step included Apple DEP/Apple Business Manager enrollment which ensures users have the approved profiles for apps and network connections from the start, enabling them to open the box and go. Full mobile device management (MDM), using tools from Air-Watch, enables complete visibility into the device deployment and the ability to remotely wipe a device if it’s lost or stolen.

Over the course of Mindglobal work with Johns Manville, the wireless management has expanded to include all wireless devices deployed in their manufacturing plants nationwide.

The Results

In addition to lowering the average CPD by 27% Mindglobal’ rate plan optimization and implementation of a 24×7 wireless help desk for Johns Manville’s users accounted for an overall savings of over $500k since the project’s inception in late 2017.