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Bringing logistics in-house means taking on every inventory process your provider used to run. UIS USA did that on Wasp Inventory, built a 135-person logistics department within a year, and cut monthly departmental costs from about $10 million to $2.5 to $3 million, roughly 70% to 75%.
United Integrated Services Corp. is the Phoenix arm of a Taiwanese facility engineering firm, and it works as a general contractor on TSMC’s Fab 21 project in Arizona. For years, its logistics ran through an outside provider.
When the company decided to bring that work in-house, the inventory problem arrived first. For a general contractor, construction inventory management means tracking thousands of items between storage areas, yards, job sites and engineering teams. Every one of those processes belonged to someone else, and UIS USA had to take them over while building an internal logistics department from nothing.
A system that could carry the existing process through the handover rather than force a rebuild mid-transition. It had to scale from a standing start to a full department without a second migration a year later. Cost was an explicit criterion, and UIS USA evaluated other inventory management options before deciding.
The logistics provider was already running Wasp Inventory, so UIS USA took over the existing setup instead of moving to something new.
Teams use barcodes to identify and track inventory. Putaway transactions record what comes in, and pick tickets manage what goes out. Wasp DR6 mobile computers let crews scan directly from racks and the yard as material is picked and loaded onto trucks, and Wasp barcode printers produce the labels on site.
Connectivity shaped the setup. The site has no Wi-Fi, so the DR6 units hold transactions offline and sync once they are back online. John Horst, logistics manager at UIS USA, also checks inventory from his phone when he is away from a desk.
UIS USA reduced monthly departmental costs from about $10 million to $2.5 to $3 million, roughly 70% to 75%, by bringing its logistics operation in-house. Wasp Inventory is the system that operation runs on, tracking approximately 35,000 items across storage areas, yards and job sites.
The department went from zero to 135 employees across six divisions within a year, and about 350 engineering staff depend on the same inventory operation. UIS USA runs 80 Wasp Inventory licenses today and plans to move to 100 in the next phase.
That headroom matters. The project is in the third phase of an eventual 12 buildings, and the next phase runs two buildings at once, which requires the logistics department to double its capacity.
“We use Wasp Inventory every day,” Horst said. “I have a team of 135 people that rely on it, and all of our engineering team, which is about 350 people. Everybody uses it.”
UIS USA is a construction contractor, and the pattern applies to any operation taking logistics back from an outside provider.
If you are weighing the same move, start with the inventory processes, because those are the ones you inherit on day one. See how Wasp Inventory handles them, read the full UIS USA case study, or book a free consultation to talk through your own operation.
The inventory processes come first, because those transfer on day one. UIS USA took over inventory operations from its logistics provider while building an internal department at the same time, covering material that moves between storage areas, yards, job sites and engineering teams. Within a year the company had gone from no logistics department to 135 employees across six divisions.
UIS USA tracks approximately 35,000 inventory items in Wasp Inventory and uses the system daily to manage material moving through its operation. That operation runs on 80 licenses today and is moving to 100 in the project’s next phase, with a 135-person logistics department and about 350 engineering staff depending on the same records.
Yes. Wasp DR6 mobile computers capture transactions offline and sync them once the device is back online, which is how UIS USA scans inventory at a remote construction site where Wi-Fi is not available. Wasp covers the general case in more detail in how to track assets and inventory while offline.
A putaway transaction records incoming inventory to a storage location, and it is the counterpart to a pick ticket, which manages inventory as it leaves. Together they give you a complete record of what arrived, where it was stored and what has since been issued. UIS USA uses both in Wasp Inventory to track material from receipt through to the job site.
