Leading Logistics Company Improves Global DevOps Efficiency and Security with the JFrog Platform

OVERVIEW

A global leader in advanced logistics solutions has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation in its field, providing cutting-edge technology and devices powered by advanced inspection tools, metrology systems, and computational analytics.

With a multinational presence, a workforce of over 15,000 employees, and offices around the world, the company is dedicated to creating solutions that drive progress and transform industries. Their innovations support key sectors, including automotive, mobile, and data centers.

In 2018, they adopted JFrog Artifactory to establish a single source of truth for managing software supply chain binaries. However, as data volumes increased and business needs evolved, so did the scale of their software development operations. The team knew it was time for expansion and that they needed a complete platform solution that would support their needs for better performance, security, and scalability in their DevSecOps processes.

CHALLENGES

In 2018, the company’s globally distributed teams, working across various time zones, required fast and efficient access to repositories without compromising on efficiency. They simply didn’t have the right tools or processes to effectively function at scale, stuck in the world of shared drives and tedious manual processes for their binaries and third-party libraries. Attempting to stitch together disparate systems ultimately diluted engineers’ efficiency, slowing down processes, and reducing productivity across global teams.

In 2022, the engineering division encountered a roadblock that threatened its growth trajectory. The large binaries and libraries stored within its source control tool, Engineering Workflow Management (EWM), caused performance bottlenecks. They had a node installed in five different locations to serve artifacts globally, but this infrastructure could no longer withstand the increasing workload of push and pull operations.

In addition to improving performance, the company saw an opportunity to address another critical concern: Security. With developers globally importing large libraries and binaries, often without considering vulnerabilities, the company needed a solution to ensure their code was secure and compliant. And in 2024, as the need to leverage AI/ML models increased, further security challenges followed.

“Our engineering division was struggling with the sheer size of binaries stored in our source control tool. It was becoming clear that we needed a dedicated solution for storing and managing large binaries and libraries outside of source control to improve performance, security and ensure scalability.” – DevOps IT Manager

SOLUTION

To address the original challenges, the company initiated a Proof of Concept (POC) with JFrog Artifactory, starting with a single engineering division and server. The results were so promising that the solution was soon evangelized across the entire organization. As more divisions saw the benefits of the POC, they quickly expanded their usage of JFrog from one server to multiple production and development environments.

Recognizing the growing importance of security in their DevOps processes, the IT team integrated JFrog Xray into their ecosystem to ensure the packages and binaries stored in their servers were secure, vulnerability-free, and compliant with licensing requirements. They also started using Curation to address the security concerns around AI/ML. Now, the packages developers pull from the internet go through thorough checks to ensure they don’t contain malicious packages.

“We needed visibility into the large binaries and libraries our teams were importing to ensure security and license compliance. Given that we already had Artifactory, integrating Xray was seamless—it fit perfectly into our workflow and it made sense to expand our footprint within the JFrog ecosystem and adopt a platform approach.” – DevOps IT Manager

Here’s how the team leverages the JFrog Platform:

• JFrog Artifactory: By offloading large binaries and third-party libraries from the company’s Engineering Workflow Management (EWM) system into JFrog Artifactory, they drastically improved source control efficiency, allowing globally distributed teams to access repositories seamlessly, without performance bottlenecks, while ensuring scalable DevOps operations.
• JFrog Xray: JFrog Xray enables the DevOps team to scan all their binaries and packages for vulnerabilities and ensure license compliance, giving them critical visibility into potential security risks and the confidence to deploy software securely across their global infrastructure.
• JFrog Curation: As they ramp up their usage of JFrog Curation, the benefit realized is that it allows the team to stop unauthorized packages from being downloaded into Artifactory. It stops the download at the source as a proactive measure against malicious attacks, and enables them to consume AI/ML packages such as Hugging Face without having to worry whether they’re contaminated or malicious.

By taking a proactive approach to modernizing DevSecOps, the team stayed ahead of potential future performance and security issues, ensuring that vulnerabilities in large binaries and third-party libraries were addressed efficiently before they could cause significant disruptions in their development operations.

RESULTS

What began as a small-scale trial rapidly evolved into a company-wide transformation. The journey with the JFrog ecosystem has allowed the team to consolidate their DevOps tools, improve performance, enhance security, and ensure global scalability—all while reducing operational overhead.

As the team continues to grow, JFrog’s solutions remain at the heart of the organization’s DevSecOps strategy, providing the foundation for ongoing innovation and success.

“JFrog has transformed the way we manage and secure our software. From performance improvements to seamless integration and unmatched support, we’ve seen tremendous value from our partnership with JFrog.” – DevOps IT Manager

Some notable benefits include:

• Improved Efficiency: Offloading large binaries and libraries from EWM to JFrog Artifactory significantly improved efficiency, especially in terms of source control efficiency. Global teams could now access repositories without any performance slowdowns.
• Security and Compliance: JFrog Xray provided the team with critical visibility into vulnerabilities and license compliance for all binaries and packages. This gave them the confidence to deploy software safely and securely across their global infrastructure.

“Security is paramount in our industry, and JFrog Xray has given us the peace of mind we needed. We can now scan our packages and binaries for vulnerabilities and ensure we are compliant with licensing requirements. This level of visibility was something we were missing before, and it’s made a significant difference.” – DevOps IT Manager

• Tool Consolidation: Consolidating tools within the JFrog ecosystem allowed the team to streamline their DevOps processes, reduce operational overhead, and eliminate the inefficiencies of managing disparate systems, leading to improved productivity and seamless integration across their global teams.
• Global Scalability: As the team expanded their use of JFrog from one server to five production servers and one development server, they ensured that each environment was thoroughly tested before moving to production, supporting a truly scalable global infrastructure.
• Superior Support: JFrog’s support team proved to be a critical asset, offering prompt, proactive, and highly responsive assistance.

“Whenever we encountered an issue, JFrog’s support team was there within hours, sometimes minutes. Their responsiveness gave us a lifeline we could count on.” – DevOps IT Manager

THE JFROG SOFTWARE SUPPLY CHAIN PLATFORM

With JFrog, the team has not only solved its immediate challenges but also positioned itself for a future of secure, scalable, and efficient development across their global operations.

We invite DevOps and Security professionals in Manufacturing to schedule a one-on-one demo to see how the JFrog Platform transforms global DevOps efficiency and security.

Products
The JFrog Platform, JFrog Artifactory, JFrog Xray, JFrog Curation

Additional Resources
White Paper:     The Definitive Guide to Securing the Software Supply Chain
Blog:                   IoT Trends in Manufacturing: Moving Beyond Smart to Virtual
Guide:                DevOps and Security Tool Consolidation