Smart Market Optimizes Warehouse Operations with Datalogic’s Skorpio Mobile Computer
Overview
The Smart Market business group, headquartered in Spain, manufactures markets and distributes a wide range of household products. The Smart Market SLU division handles Icelands, Leopard, and Alligator brands, while Appletree SLU manages Avocado and Butaka. The group’s philosophy is to always meet the needs of its customers with quality products and services in order to create and maintain long-term relationships.
The Challenge
Keeping in line with its philosophy, Smart Market was looking for a way to optimize its logistics processes, which were currently handled by various warehouses spread across the country. To ensure faster and better service, the company decided to move all its stock to a single 18,000 sq meter warehouse. But before making this major change, Smart Market wanted to make sure it could get the most reliable automated solution available to manage this enormous warehouse.
Datalogic’s Memor Enhances Productivity at Stadt-Parfümerie Pieper
Overview
One is met with attractive scents upon entering the shop. The colorful shelves full of bright and beautiful packages invite the customer to take a look around. The wonderful fragrances, creams and cosmetics found throughout the shop add that extra touch to make any occasion special. Stadt-Parfümerie Pieper (Pieper Perfume Shops) emanates everything that exemplifies beauty and well-being. It is the largest family-owned retail perfume and cosmetics company in Germany with one hundred and twenty shops spread out across the country. It offers all the top international brands of cosmetics, fragrances, skin care and make-up products.
The Challenge
The extensive range of products pleases the customer’s eye, but when it’s time for inventory, the many small packages found in the perfume shops can pose a daunting challenge. Stadt-Parfümerie Pieper wanted to automate its time-consuming and error-prone manual inventory procedure to assure accuracy. A variety of factors were taken into consideration: which hardware is right for us? To what point can the software be personalized? What kind of solution do we need regarding existing workflows?
The Datamax-O’Neil RL4 is No Couch Potato for German Furniture Store
Datamax-O’Neil’s RL4 Improves Productivity and Reduces Costs at Segmüller
Segmüller has a long tradition in the furniture business. It was back in 1925 that Hans Segmüller founded his business as an artisan manufacturing upholstered furniture in the Bavarian town of Friedberg. Today, Segmüller is one of the most successful and well-known furniture stores in Southern Germany with seven locations and more than 4,000 employees.
The primary factor underlying the company’s strong growth is its extensive range of products that includes furnishings to match every budget. Moreover, Segmüller has always had a strong focus on good service. This includes
displaying the greatest possible selection of products in its exhibition areas and delivering the correct furniture to customers as quickly as possible as well as providing helpful in-store support.
Problem
To provide this level of service while remaining profitable, it is vital for Segmüller to work productively and efficiently – and this is doubly true for warehouse processes. The process involved in labeling incoming goods offers significant scope for efficiency gains. Continue reading »
Battling Pests with the Datalogic ELF PDA
The pest control industry has changed dramatically, evolving from the antiquated perception of a technician armed with chemicals ready to do battle against bugs and rodents. Today’s pest control technician is armed with technology like mobile computers and scanners that keep him efficient and effective while optimizing customer service.
In the Ohio Valley, Okolona Pest Control is the perfect example of a modern pest control operation. Okolona Pest Control is a multifaceted service company that offers pest control and pest damage repair. The company has roots reaching back to 1972 when it was founded. This third generation, family run operation has grown to over 84 employees that provides services to residential and commercial clients from Southern Indiana to Northern Kentucky. Okolona also services AIB inspected food processing facilities. AIB has strict standards for documentation and inspection to assure safe production of food products.
The Challenge
When the company started, each technician carried a clip board with the necessary account paperwork and daily route. Notes and services performed were hand written and invoicing was manual. All the paper was brought back to the office for data entry. Changes in regulations increased the documentation requirements and, as the company grew, the amount of paper created and stored also increased.
GRA Saves Big on Audit Automation Time with the Intermec CN3 and CN70
Gleason Research Associates, Inc. (GRA) is a veteran-owned small business providing specialized products and services to support the warfighter. GRA was founded in 1982 with the vision of conducting engineering and scientific analyses and evaluations related to missile and sensor systems. Over the years, GRA has successfully built on that strong foundation by expanding its areas of expertise from sensors, guidance, and control into special programs, modeling and simulation, training, inventory management, and program support.
In the early 1990s, GRA identified challenges in their manual system of tracking government property. They quickly found that attempting to keep track of Sub and Temporary Hand Receipts manually – and accurately – was nearly impossible. Using a paper and pencil to perform inventories also proved to be a time intensive process that resulted in a high number of errors. For these reasons, GRA looked to automate and reduce the time required to conduct inventories and increase accuracy of property transactions. As a result, GRA’s proprietary software, Auto Scan Tracking System (ASTS) software was born.
Sound Choices Recording Services Adds Star Printer and WiFi Power Pack to Speed Checkout and Enhance Operations
Sound Choices Recording Services of Mobile offers premier location recording services for concerts, festivals, musicals, recitals, cd recordings and more. Since 1997, Sound Choices has been passionate about audio and video recording at local, regional and state levels. Along with location sound recording, the company offers a full range of services to musicians, choirs and groups looking to record their music to produce their own CDs. Sound Choices specializes in digital editing, mixing, audio mastering, cd design and artwork and cd production.
The Alabama-based recording company works primarily on location, where they sell both DVDs and CDs, depending on the venue. The mobile studio was using the e-mail feature of Square Register to generate receipts, but it was taking too long to complete each transaction and the long lines were driving customers away.
The studio’s management decided to purchase a receipt printer that would allow them to generate a printed receipt at the time of checkout as opposed to only offering e-receipts. But the company’s onsite network is completely wireless, and the mobile studio lacked the infrastructure to connect to WiFi, which would allow them to use a printer with their mobile POS solution.
Sinai Hospital Utilizes the Datalogic Gryphon at Patient Point of Care
Overview
Like no other industry, Healthcare has experienced an explosion in technology that affects and improves both the doctor’s ability to provide care, and the patient’s knowledge and response to treatment. Technology that was once science fiction is now common place with tools like: external vision systems that present three dimensional images of inside the body; micro surgery that minimizes invasiveness and speeds recovery; micro transducers that provide real time diagnostics from within the body. The list of advancements grows daily. While these advances lead healthcare diagnostic technology, more fundamental systems such as patient records management and prescription administration have lagged far behind.
The Federal Government enacted legislation aimed at increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system by requiring the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR). A leading regional healthcare organization in Baltimore, LifeBridge Health, has implemented Electronic Health Records systems and taken the added step to implement bar code technology at the patient point of care. LifeBridge Health consists of Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, Courtland Gardens Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and their subsidiaries and affiliated units. LifeBridge Health is one of the largest, most comprehensive, and most highly respected providers of healthcare in the Baltimore region.
The Quickscan I Scanner Streamlines the Blood Donation Process in Russia
The National Blood Service in Russia assures the supply of high quality blood to medical institutions. This public entity coordinates blood centers all over Russia, making sure the blood donation process, including transportation and storage, is performed correctly. In addition, it assures the proper use of blood components and preparations.
The Challenge
One important part of the blood donation process is collecting data about the donor. The medical assistant must enter pertinent information about the donor and the quantity and quality of the blood collected in an electronic database. In the past, each region of Russia handled its territory’s database separately from the others. However, to assure quality control throughout the country, the National Blood Service determined that these records should be available to all regions. An automated system needed to be created in order to allow the entire work cycle to be kept under control.
MobileAsset Case Study: Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals Score Big with Wasp Barcode Technologies
University of Phoenix Stadium is home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and also host to various conventions, trade shows, and concerts each year. The scoreboard production department is responsible for putting on not only the 10+ Cardinals football games each fall but they are also tasked with an additional 100-200 sports, entertainment and trade show events a year.
Nick Heller, scoreboard production assistant at the stadium, works with a crew to run the audio and video boards for all games, shows and events that take place at the stadium. To successfully run these events, Heller and the Scoreboard Production department work with large amounts of expensive production equipment, including television cameras, truss structures, speakers, and microphones.
The cost of the equipment needed to run the scoreboard show for the Arizona Cardinals football games or put on events such as the University of Phoenix graduation ceremony is extremely high. Any given day, $10,000 to $100,000 of equipment will be used depending on the event.
Intermec’s Workflow Solutions Reduce Costs and Increase Efficiencies
Mis-Picks Cost Businesses Nearly $390,000 Per Year According to Intermec Study
According to a study recently conducted by Intermec, distribution centers are losing an average of nearly $390,000 per year due to mis-picks. With a new year bringing renewed pressure to boost efficiencies and drive costs down, the demands for faultless distribution processes have never been higher. Achieving productivity and accuracy goals is fundamental to improving profit margins, which is why more than half (59%) of managers are now turning to ‘The Perfect Order’ metric to identify areas for improvement.
The study, which surveyed 250 supply chain and distribution managers across the US, UK, France and Germany, found the average mis-pick costs approximately $22, with more than half (52%) of companies reporting a pick rate of less than 97%. A further 19 percent do not even measure the costs of mis-picks in any form, suggesting that the accumulated losses to the supply chain may be even higher.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, companies that have recently conducted a workflow process review found picking (47%) a key area where cost savings could most easily be achieved. For those using ‘The Perfect Order’ metric, opportunities for increased savings were clear, with complete shipments (43%) seen as the most profitable to the bottom line.
