Case Study: Automotive Manufacturing with Honeywell Solutions
Executive Summary
A global automotive parts manufacturer whom specializes in parts and accessories for the productions of cars. With a keen focus on just-in-time inventory, they focus on building customer relationships by setting the right expectations and aiming to over-deliver. Delivering a great customer experience hinges on the companies flawlessly tracking of products from production, finished good delivery and ensuring that their customers inventory levels are optimized. By utilizing Honeywell printers, scanners and mobile computing products, our customer has been able to increase their service level commitments and gain trust from automotive manufacturers around the globe.
The Business Challenge
The Company was expanding and needed a data capture solution that enabled its workforce to optimize their productivity, mobility and product traceability. With operations heavily dependent on product traceability and product movement, they needed hardware that would offer a wide variety of traceability features. With many customers relying on quick turnaround, just-in-time shipping, and accuracy, the Company needed to find a way to operate lean and agile.
Paramount to The Company’s success is real-time tracking of all of their raw materials, finished goods, goods in-transit to their customers and goods currently being used in products by their customers. Having insight into their inventory and where it was located was the main need by The Company so that they could streamline their manufacturing and scale production based on the needs of their customers. Therefore, the Company needed to have the ability to print their own tracking labels, scan the inbound and outbound shipments and record real-time inventory levels to avoid down on wasted time. Additionally, the Company wanted to streamline its equipment and have one barcode scanner that would work both for shipping and receiving, as well as for tracking and inventory control throughout the different stages of manufacturing.
Lastly, the Company wanted a rugged and reliable mobile computer that could integrate with its existing software platform. The IT team also wanted the ability to remotely manage and configure the vehicle-mounted computers so that time was not spent on the difficult task of removing and re-installing the computers for routine upgrades and maintenance.
The Solution
Barcodes, Inc. developed a solution that optimized productivity while creating an environment that allows for remote device management. Each inventory entry and exit point was equipped with a Honeywell Xenon 1900, which met all of the Company’s compatibility, ruggedness, operating system, and storage requirements. Similar to the Xenon 1900, the company also selected a fleet of Intermec CK3R to complement the 2D scanning capability of the Xenon scanner and WiFi connectivity needed throughout their warehouse.
The next challenge was identifying a barcode label printer that could work in multiple areas and environments of Companies operations. For ultimate operational efficiencies two printers were chosen. The Intermec PB50 for its multi-use, mobile printing ruggedness and the Intermec EasyCoder PX4i for its longevity and print in any environment characteristics.
For additional peace of mind and to ensure no interruptions to Company activities, Barcodes, Inc. also provided the company with a full comprehensive service contract to cover all devices in case of damage, while also providing Tier I & II technical support for 5 years.
The Benefits
The Company has seen an immediate increase in productivity, by eliminating the need to manually track their inventory and scan items that were previously recorded several different ways, while being able to work more effectively than ever before. The IT Team and workforce have also improved efficiency and eliminated significant operational downtime with remote device management, eliminating the need to remove, ship, and update printers and the mobile computers.
The Future
The Barcodes, Inc. solution, which helped get this rising automotive supplier facilitate a scalable inventory management system that can be expanded into their other existing facilities, as well as additional new facilities.
