CASE

In the fall of 2002, Integral acquired another conglomerate in the industry sector of equipments for logistics. This sector is represented by a large number of diverse brands and products. The newly acquired entity is called PortB, which has a customer base for its products that does not overlap much with Integral's customer base. Both companies share a very critical dependency on some key mechanical /electromechanical technologies; and they also have their highest revenue margins in installation and maintenance of such technologies.

The two companies also share some similar external pressures such as providing very high availability for the products serviced by the installation and maintenance organizations. In addition, Integral must comply with very high safety requirements for all of its products, and in case of life being put at risk, dispatch times must be under 1 h in city environments and 2 h in the countryside. This is the regulated delay between a safety related alarm and having someone on the spot to solve the problem or verify the false alarm. Both companies have clients operating on very tight delivery plans often with guaranteed delivery times. So, they must ensure a very high degree of product availability and very short intervention times even in the roughest physical environments.