Nacco Materials Handling Inc (NMHG) of Fairview, Oregon and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc of Thomasville, North Carolina have won CIO 100 awards for innovative practices in information technology.

The awards will be presented in a ceremony during a 23-25 August symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A project at NMHG has saved approximately USD2 million and improved customer satisfaction and time to market, the company says.

NMHG automated several processes and introduced a capability to track core processes in real time. NMHG incorporated the Teamworks business process management system from Lombardi Software Inc of Austin, Texas as a way to eliminate the risk of defective designs entering production.
The system allows for a change order release process to be rolled out at every product development location.

NMHG, a subsidiary of publicly traded Nacco Industries Inc, designs, manufactures and supplies forklift trucks and aftermarket parts globally under the Hyster and Yale brand names.

Old Dominion uses weight-sensitive forklifts with informational dashboards to more effectively move freight across a shipping dock. The project was included in phase two of the company’s dock yard management system.

A forklift operator can process freight by scanning a package, weighing it and following the handling instructions the system generates. Simultaneously, updates are sent to the dashboards. Supervisors use the dashboards to determine worker productivity and identify potential issues at the dock.

The constant updates allow supervisors to pinpoint productivity and quality issues in real time rather than wait for next-day reports. Since installation of the dashboards, Old Dominion has continued to improve its labour-to-revenues ratio.

Old Dominion employs 11,218, has 5,058 tractors and operates 20,000 trailers and vans as a less-than-truckload carrier with nationwide coverage. Old Dominion had 2008 sales of USD1.5 billion.

Candidates for CIO 100 awards fill out online application forms that a team of judges reviews for unique practices and substantial results. CIO editors review the judges' recommendations and vote on the final 100.

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