Case Study: Newell Rubbermaid achieves proactive iSeries monitoring and rapid incident resolution with Fortra's QSystem Monitor and QMessage Monitor

Back-Office Automation Pays Off for Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid — the maker of brands like Paper Mate, Graco and Rubbermaid — runs its European operations from an OS/400 iSeries data centre in Sunderland that hosts critical ERP, WMS, EDI and payroll systems on a partitioned Model 890. As its user base grew across Europe the team struggled with visibility and responsiveness: runaway jobs and a messaging/print-loop incident once filled storage and forced an IPL, exposing the need for better real‑time monitoring, escalation and management reporting to guarantee high availability.

The company deployed CCSS tools (QSystem Monitor, QMessage Monitor and QRemote Control), large data‑centre display screens and integrations into Cognos/email so staff see performance bars, get vocal alerts and automatic message escalation/paging. The result: incidents are identified and resolved in minutes, root‑cause analysis is faster, fewer repeat problems occur, reporting is simplified for managers, and the team shifted to a proactive, highly visible operations culture that protects availability.

Newell Rubbermaid

Glen Foster

Technical Analyst