Enabling Visibility Manufacturers Meet End Users Demand for Added Mobility
Vertical Systems Reseller
If the developments and changes that occurred in the warehousing/distribution vertical are any indication of what lies ahead for 2008, then it would be safe to say that visibility has been a key enabler as manufacturing companies continually pursue their quest for the responsive supply chain - both inside and outside of the four walls of the warehouse. According to Aberdeen Group, achieving supply chain responsiveness through improved visibility and agility was a key theme in supply chain execution in 2007. Of these themes, Aberdeen reported, in its August 2007 report, "High Octane Warehouses - How Top Companies Use Capabilities Like Labor Management, Slotting and Speech-Based Warehousing," that companies utilizing technologies such as Warehouse Management Software (WMS) are beginning to deploy it beyond the basic processes of basic actions, such as receiving, put-away and shipping, and are instead implementing "high-performance" capabilities in the warehouse.
Companies are also looking to take things a step further through other technologies such as added mobility, data collection and RFID. According to Venture Development Corp. applications outside the consumer packaged goods (CPG) supply-chain management accounted for more than one-third of the total RFID printer/encoder market in 2006 and are expected to experience growth in excess of 2011.
Meeting Demands
One company that will undoubtedly be able to work to meet this demand for the end user community in the warehousing vertical is SATO America, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company, known as the inventor of the world's first electronic thermal transfer barcode printer, is currently introducing a new WMS software package of its own called Label & Track. The package has been deployed at several Tier-1 European companies, and discussions are currently under way to bring the package to North America, according to Mike Beedles, director, Integration Solutions Division, SATO America. "Label & Track is a fully automated product labeling and tracking solution that has been developed specifically for the manufacturing and logistics environments," Beedles says.
He also notes that a theme he sees among end users is the idea of an all-encompassing, "turnkey" solution. "Most companies we work with want to utilize hybrid technologies such as combining barcode and RFID and/or utilize document imaging and RFID, or a combination of all three," he says. "Another big request is to utilize more WiFi and less cable and fiber. We have worked with several companies on both the software and hardware side to accomplish this requirement, and the benefits are really helping end users reduce up-front capital."
Monitoring Operations
AVTECH Software, based in Newport, R.I., aims to "educate floor managers on the warehouse operations side on the values of environment monitoring," according to Michael Sigourney, the company's senior product specialist. "Warehouse managers have to look at environmental conditions such as temperature, environment, humidity, sound, power and light, all of which affects the ability to move and protect (or not) products," Sigourney says.
The 20-year old company has been providing two models of its Room Alert Signal Towers through the reseller channel for the last couple of months. AVTECH's Room Alert Signal Tower (Audio) model provides real-time event alerting with signal lights, audio alarm, temperature and sensor monitoring; the company also manufactures a second less-expensive model without audio monitoring capabilities. According to Sigourney, both towers provide warehouse managers with peace of mind, knowing that they will be alerted if a physical security issue occurs, such as a break-in, but will also protect against other disasters such as flooding or a change in a facility area where temperature-sensitive products are stored. "When a problem starts, Room Alert provides the ability to eliminate that problem from becoming a disaster," Sigourney says.
Room Alert also includes its PageR Enterprise software for network-wide monitoring and advanced alerting. This also includes a Web browser interface for logging sensor data/status, graphing and alerting. Sigourney also notes that users can utilize Room Alert so that different sensors trigger different colored lights, so that they can be detected from as far as 100 yards away. "In a noisy environment (such as warehouses) this becomes important," he says. "We have a variety of different-colored LED lights that are so bright, the lenses are designed to emulate a lighthouse lens. This gives (warehouse) managers a tremendous power, knowing that they can go home at night having that peace of mind that they're protecting their people, their products and their facilities."
Real-Time Mobility
According to Venture Development Corp., 2-D barcode scanners are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 25 percent over the next five years. This is good news not only for VARs who are looking to build their business model in this space, but also for the manufacturers of this technology, such as Datalogic Scanning, based in Eugene, Ore. According to Nick Tabet, the company's vice president of handheld product marketing, "Wireless mobility is a strong driving need in warehouse applications, and that's clearly a focus for Datalogic," he says. "Obviously, real-time data acquisition is critical in a warehouse environment."
To satisfy this need, Datalogic offers the Powerscan 8500, a new, mega-pixel 2-D image scanner that can capture 2-D barcodes as well as full images, such as bills of lading in a shipping and receiving and application. The company also offers its 8300 model, which can scan barcodes in any vicinity from 4 inches to 33 feet, something Tabet says is of "utmost importance in a factory environment, especially when you might need to scan a barcode to top of a shelf."
The scanners also have a high rating for durability and ruggedness, in addition to dust and liquid intrusion, which often could occur in warehouse environments. "We test all of our products for multiple drops up to 6 feet on concrete," Tabet says. "In this type of rugged environment, things will be dropped, and you need to know that if it's dropped, it will still work without impacting efficiency and productivity."
Datalogic's handheld scanners also have a data integrity function. This means that after the warehouse employee scans the required data, he or she receives confirmation from the host that the correct data was indeed captured. This capability, according to Tabet, lets the worker know that "I've scanned the barcode, and now I have confirmation knowing that it's the correct one that I want."
The 20-year old company has been providing two models of its Room Alert Signal Towers through the reseller channel for the last couple of months. AVTECH's Room Alert Signal Tower (Audio) model provides real-time event alerting with signal lights, audio alarm, temperature and sensor monitoring; the company also manufactures a second less-expensive model without audio monitoring capabilities. According to Sigourney, both towers provide warehouse managers with peace of mind, knowing that they will be alerted if a physical security issue occurs, such as a break-in, but will also protect against other disasters such as flooding or a change in a facility area where temperature-sensitive products are stored. "When a problem starts, Room Alert provides the ability to eliminate that problem from becoming a disaster," Sigourney says.
AVTECH Software, Inc.