Challenge:
After a Michigan-based automotive plastics manufacturing company grew by more than 300 percent in just three years, the manufacturer suddenly found itself saddled with 23 different locations, each with different systems, hardware, and processes.

“It couldn’t go on,” said a company product manager. “Developing reports was a nightmare. Identifying efficient manufacturing facilities from inefficient ones was nearly impossible. There were times when one of our factories was buried with work while others were sitting well under capacity.”

Solution:
To bring all of its locations onto a single system, the company implemented a robust enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could manage production on a companywide basis. Then they integrated a data capture system—anchored by Zebra® printers—to manage the flow of data in and out of the system.

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Challenge:
This 25 year-old Florida-based specialty metals supplier needed a better way to respond to requests for urgent shipments from airline customers without compromising accuracy.

Solution:
The company implemented a bar code labeling system to mark shipments appropriately for their customers’ receipt. “We used to hand-write all the destination information on the materials, which was very time consuming,” says the MIS director. “Now, with bar coding, we quickly print labels as needed and are able to locate all shipments at all times. This is a necessity when we have an AOG status (airplane on the ground), which needs parts immediately.”

Products:
Zebra® S Series™ industrial printer and specialty labels. An industrial printer from Zebra generates labels from eight computer terminals linked to UNIX-based PICK software on the company’s Data General mainframe. Sales people within the office take the orders and assign an order number within the system. Operators within the warehouse pull up the orders on the terminals and decide what materials need to be picked from inventory and how they should be bundled. Long tables, with Interleaved 2 of 5 bar codes marked at every inch, allow the workers to measure the aerospace-grade metal and tally the amount needed for the order.

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VersaKey Programmable Keyboard is versatile and flexible in an ever-changing POS environment

ID TECH, the leading manufacturer in custom and standard POS peripherals, has extended its VersaKey product line to provide a programmable function keyboard for POS systems. After a successful launch of the VersaKey keyboards with magnetic swipe readers in 2006, ID TECH is now offering a more flexible and versatile keyboard for its customers.

The VersaKey Programmable Keyboard is a plug-and-play peripheral device that is derived from the same core technologies found in ID TECH’s top selling magnetic stripe reader, the MiniMag. By using the included KeyUtility software, also developed by ID TECH, users can customize up to 60 programmable keys, allowing for fewer keystrokes and greater efficiency. The VersaKey Programmable Keyboard integrates a fully-functional keyboard with an optional touchpad mouse, and both magnetic stripe and smart card readers into a single, compact device.

Product Features and Benefits:

• 124/135 key layout in a compact 14” form
• Up to 60 programmable and re-legendable keys
• Programmable keys and magnetic stripe reader are configured through the utility software provided
• Smart card reader option
• Multiple language keyboard layouts upon request

In May 2006, Prorammer Bernd Hopfengärtner, cut 324 separate squares in a 275,556 square foot pattern into a wheat field outside Ilmenau, Germany. Together the squares form a valid semacode that reads “Hello, world!”.

This may be one of the world’s largest barcodes ever created.

Visit the official site for the Hello, world! project.

Metrologic’s public FTP site is a good place to check if you are looking for software or drivers for your Metrologic barcode scanner or Metrologic handheld computer.

Motorola has introduced a new series of business-class fixed radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers. The Motorola FX7400 series provides maximum functionality in a sleek package that is less than half the size of traditional fixed RFID readers, making it ideal for retail stores, offices, and other customer-facing or business environments. Motorola’s new cost-effective, high-performance fixed RFID reader is built on a new platform that supports Gen 2 technology and is capable of hosting third-party, customer-driven embedded applications.

Source

Service Pack 4 for the Socket Mobile SoMo 650 handheld mobile computer is now available on the Socket Mobile secure download site.

To access the service pack download, your SoMo 650 must be registered.

The service pack addresses the following issues:

• • Included Enhanced WiFi Companion in ROM

• • Added Socket File Store

• • Included SoMo 650 Back Pack software

• • Updated Connect!Agent to version 1.3.11.0

• • Updated Audio and Touch drivers

• • Improved flash write speed

• • Fixed SDIO driver to correct some issues with cradling the device

• • Lowered default screen brightness when on battery power

• • Fized some help files

• • Cleaned up Bluetooth power up/down (suspend/resume and radio on/off)

• • Updated Audio code so unit microphone is turned off when Bluetooth headset is connected

• • Updated Getting Started applets

• • Updated Standard Serial CF Card driver and PCMCIA driver to:

• • • Fix issues with some 3^rd party CF serial products

• • • Ensure power is turned off when COM port is closed

By Jeff Sibio, Intermec Director, Industry Marketing

I was somewhere in the middle of Montana when it happened, on a bitterly cold November night, 20 miles from the nearest town. My decade-old, four-door hatchback – a rusted, dented, green beast with a cracked windshield and a headlight that died every three months – began making a subtle whine that steadily grew into an angry cough. And then Rita, as I had named the car, died for the eighth and final time.

This was years before the age of the modern cell phone, and as I made my trek back to civilization, I recalled what my grandfather had warned me the last time I had taken Rita to the shop: “If you keep putting good money into a broken-down car for repairs, you’ll never have enough for a better one.”

I had rolled my eyes at the time, turned to the repairman, and told him to fix up my green beast. But walking along the highway through the Montana snow long after midnight, it occurred to me that he was right. Besides, after all the money I had tossed toward repairing Rita, I had to wait six months before I was able to afford my next car.

I still tell this story to businesses that are researching AIDC, mobile computing and printing solutions, because it underscores the importance of the long-term costs of critical technology. Buy the inferior solution in the here-and-now, and hidden repair and replacement costs will negate any savings from the purchase. And that’s why total cost of ownership (TCO) matters so much.

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Imagine a checkout line at your local grocery store, but with students lining up to be scanned instead of your groceries. That is the growing scene at college fairs across the country since the National Association for College Admission Counseling introduced barcode scanners at several of its National College Fairs.

The technology allows applicants to fill out their contact information online and can then print out their own personal barcode to take to the fair. In turn, colleges attending the fair can rent scanners, allowing students to swipe their barcodes at the colleges they are interested in. Universities can download an applicant’s information on the computer within 24 hours after the fair.

Citizen has made version 2.0 of its receipt printer driver available for free download.

New features introduced in the new Windows driver version 2.0:

• Electronic Journal (Journal Viewer)
• Couponing
• Watermarking
• Upside down printing
• Raw File Sender
• Reprinting
• Launching POS Printer Utility

Supported printer models are CT-S310, CT-S2000 and the CT-S801.