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When Unisys decided to outsource the operation of its Elk Grove Village, Ill., Worldwide Distribution Center last year, it was the biggest-but not the first-project of its kind for the $6.6 billion information-technology giant. The company already was in the process of outsourcing the operations of its 46 U.S. distributed parts warehouses.
But handing over the Elk Grove Village facility's operations to a third party had to be handled with particular care. The facility stocks and supplies highvalue critical parts for Unisys systems around the world. Those systems serve most of the world's largest banks, handle airline passenger reservations for five of the 10 largest carriers, and are central to operations of stock-market trading floors. That is, they cannot afford even brief downtime.
In fact, high-priority shipments must be on the dock for next-flight-out shipment within 20 minutes of receiving the order. "Any interruption could be instantly catastrophic," says Howard Downey, vice president of logistics for...