Family-owned and celebrating 70 years in business, Kelly Box & Packaging has grown into a leader in corrugated converting, serving customers across Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. From jumbo pumpkin boxes to custom retail packaging, the company is a trusted partner for industries that rely on durable, innovative packaging solutions.
But behind the scenes, its IT team was running into a wall with their legacy infrastructure.
As IT Manager Lindsey McNeal explains, Kelly Box’s aging IT infrastructure was built on VMware and HP servers and was becoming increasingly brittle and hard to manage. With no formally trained IT staff and limited bandwidth, every server-related issue created delays.
“Anything outside of really basic interaction with the servers required outside help,” Lindsey said. “That meant generating service tickets to our MSP, which added time and cost. With so much to do, the last thing I need is to be spending my time messing around with VMware configurations.”
With warranty deadlines looming and an ambitious Industry 4.0 roadmap on the horizon, which aims to leverage automation, IoT, and real-time data to create “smart factories,” Lindsey’s team needed a fresh start: an infrastructure that was intuitive, resilient, and future-ready.
Through their MSP, Allstar Technologies, Kelly Box was introduced to Scale Computing. Lindsey recalls the moment it clicked:
“As soon as I read that Scale Computing was all about processing more data closer to the edge, I knew it was the right fit. That’s exactly what we were trying to do.”
Unlike other edge solutions in the market, Scale Computing aligned directly with Kelly Box’s digital transformation goals: unlocking real-time data, powering predictive troubleshooting, and laying the groundwork for future AI initiatives.
From Proof of Concept to Industry 4.0
Kelly Box deployed Scale Computing in November 2024 and the experience exceeded expectations.
“Implementation was a breeze,” Lindsey said. “It was quick, painless, and when I did encounter a minor issue with a VM, Scale Computing’s support team was able to connect remotely and resolve it immediately. They treated me like I was their most important customer.”
That level of high-touch support gave Lindsey peace of mind. “In manufacturing, every single minute of downtime costs money. Scale Computing gives me the confidence that I won’t get a call at 3AM about the servers being down.”
Since deployment, Kelly Box has rolled out additional new edge devices and IoT sensors to collect real-time data from its machines on the plant floor. What began as a proof of concept quickly expanded, feeding data into a unified namespace that drives smarter operations.
The payoff of their investment has already begun: Kelly Box estimates they’ve saved $40,000 by avoiding expensive new hardware, achieving ROI in less than a year. Most importantly, Scale Computing has freed up Lindsey’s team to focus on strategic innovation initiatives rather than having to constantly troubleshoot infrastructure issues.
“Scale Computing has had a huge impact on our ability to be self-sufficient,” Lindsey notes. “It’s more user-friendly, quicker to learn, and it’s accelerating our Industry 4.0 journey.”
For Kelly Box, Scale Computing has become a springboard for broader transformation. The company plans to replicate its sensor deployments across all facilities and sees an opportunity to become a trailblazer in its industry.
“We don’t just to be more efficient, we aim to be a resource for our customers who are on their own digital transformation journeys. Scale Computing provides us with the right foundation to start from the ground up and take that full path forward.”
Her advice to other IT leaders: “Technology is moving too fast to get stuck in endless cycles of evaluation and testing. For us, Scale Computing has proven to be the most flexible, future-proof option.”
To learn more about Kelly Box’s IT journey, watch their video case study.