ALOM - Achievement in Management

Company: ALOM
Company Description: ALOM is a supply chain services and solutions provider serving the technology, automotive, medical, retail and utility/energy sectors. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, its team of strategists, technology engineers, and supply chain specialists operate globally from 19 locations. ALOM manages the physical supply chain from procurement, inventory, production, print, eCommerce fulfillment, and returns.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Management - Computer Software - Up to 500 Employees

Nomination Title: ALOM Management Team of The Year - Capacity Growth, Social Responsibility and Pandemic Response

In 1997 it took Hannah Kain 23 failed business plan presentations before securing SBA loan approval following pitch 24. Months later, ALOM was founded to provide software duplication and fulfillment services (ALOM stands for Advanced Logistics Operations and Manufacturing). Through a global partnership growth strategy, ALOM now supports its clients from 19 locations around the world executing supply chain programs for Fortune 500 companies representing automotive, technology, medical/healthcare, energy utility, and financial industries.

As 2020 opened the ALOM management team was successfully executing a 3year capacity growth strategy. Then the global COVID-19 pandemic struck and changed everything. Like many businesses around the world, the future of the company was in serious jeopardy. However, throughthe darkness some rays of light began to flicker.

Initiatives the management team hadenacted in 2019 positioned the company to not only weather the storm but to become a significantcontributor tohelp save lives.

During 2019, ALOM undertook a bold growth strategy that some feltwas contrary to industry trends. As the U.S./China trade war continued, safe money was on hunkering down. ALOM management took a bullish outlook believing greater US inventory space would be needed to assure store shelves were filled. ALOM beganexecuting a strategy to shorten supply chains and bring more control back to US shores. This strategy is now gaining industry traction as COVID-19 has demonstrated risk of reliance on a global supply chain model. Low cost manufacturing isn’t worth much if product unable to reach US markets.

In September 2019, ALOM opened a new 160,000 sq. ft. production and fulfillment facility in Indianapolis. The strategic imperative behind this bold measure was to add domestic inventory and production capacity and mitigate risk of having only one U.S. large capacity production facility should a major disruptive event occur. Now with 2 facilities, ALOM can readily balance production between locations and route orders to the facility nearest the final shipping address reducing delivery time and freight overhead.

ALOM increased its investment in supporting the medical and healthcare vertical. ALOM passed rigorous FDA facility inspections at both its Fremont, CA and Indianapolis locations earning ‘FDA Registered’ status. This, combined with ALOM’s ISO 13485 medical manufacturing certification position the company amongst the very top tier of medical and healthcare industry service providers. Through ALOM’s dedication to medical industry certification, we were positioned to quickly onboard and provide highly regulated medical relief program support. Today ALOM is assembling and distributing over 1 million COVID-19 test kits per month.

To support business continuity and disaster planning, ALOM established a rapidly deployable infrastructure and secure network/data management system to support a globally dispersed remote workforce.This investment paid off in an unexpected way by allowing business management and administrative staff to rapidly transition to a work-from-home remote access model at the onset of the pandemic. There was literally no downtime,servicelatency or data management decline during this transition.

ALOM passed stringent audits to achieve ISO 14001 (environmental management) and SOC 2 (eCommerce data security/privacy) certifications. Both certifications require companywide commitment and resources to achieve and demonstrate ALOM’s ongoing commitment to corporate social responsibility.

The bottom line is that through responsible business growth and continuity planning ALOM management positioned the company to provide continuous essential operations with no decline in service levels, and even add new medical program support to support medical relief efforts. During the pandemic ALOM management prioritized worker safety over profits. ALOM operated at significant loss due to pandemic-related business decline. However no ALOM staff were laid off or furloughed. Employee leave and sick time policies were expanded. ALOM rapidly deployed remote worker technology to administrative and support staff to work remotely. Essential on-site staff were provided extensive workplace safety measures including tented break areas, work station divider screens and medical grade PPE.

1. ALOM workplace COVID-19 protective measures in place and monitored.
2. ALOM opens expanded facility in Indianpolis, IN
3. ALOM achieves SOC 2 certification for ecommerce data security and end-user privacy
4. ALOM achieves ISO 14001 certification for support of world class environmental management program

List of attachments:
1. PDF presenting ALOM workplace COVID-19 protective measures in place and monitored.
2. Press release: ALOM opens expanded facility in Indianpolis, IN
3. Press release: ALOM achieves SOC 2 certification for ecommerce data security and end-user privacy
4. Press release: ALOM achieves ISO 14001 certification for support of world class environmental management program
5. Image showing 6 members of the ALOM Sr. Management team featured in this award submission.