Barcoding News
Data tracking news, product updates, tips, and more
Driver Vehicle Inspection Reporting for Private Fleets: Pitfalls and Opportunities
As time marches on, many of the influences on our businesses change as well. This change alone is a great reason to frequently review your operations and make sure you are employing the very best practices in every facet of your business operations. In a recent research study conducted by Vanson Bourne trucking professionals reported that only 61% of their companies had conducted any type of process re-engineering effort in the previous 12 months. That leaves 39% of transportation operations as a whole (33% of private fleets and 53% of for-hire operations) that have not made a focused effort to innovate and improve their operational processes.
When you contrast that static approach to business against constantly evolving regulatory requirements, you have an obvious disconnect. For example, let’s take a topic like commercial vehicle inspections. All commercial fleets perform them since they are required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) initiative1 . Yet, how many companies execute these inspections and reports in a manner that not only improves the fleet’s Vehicle Maintenance BASIC score, but also improves the efficiency of the operation, positively impacting everything from driver performance to customer satisfaction?
Epson Teams with Touch Dynamic for Mobile POS Solution
Epson has announced a partnership with Touch Dynamic to address the growing importance of mobile POS as the overall mobile expansion in retail and hospitality continues. By bundling Epson’s new ultra-compact Mobilink P20 receipt printer with Touch Dynamic’s new 7″ and 10″ Quest Tablets specifically designed for mobile POS, merchants can increase sales and improve customer service.
New Labels for the Star SM-T400i Portable Printer
Star has announced new direct thermal labels certified to work with the SM-T400i portable Bluetooth printer. As the widest format portable Bluetooth printer in Star’s “i” Series, the SM-T400i is a rugged four inch (112mm) portable Bluetooth printer with a wide 104mm printable area, ideal for data-filled service reports, delivery notes or law enforcement citations. The SM-T400i includes both transmissive and reflective sensors, enabling label printing.
The new printing options will help quickly and easily print labels ideal for government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and shipping and receiving industry applications. With three thermal label sizes available in various heights, the SM-T400i can accommodate most labeling applications with the ability to print from virtually any device.
Zebra Printer Selection Made Easy
As the leading manufacturer of industrial label printers, Zebra has a wide range of printers to meet the needs of any environment. From a small warehouse to a high volume distribution/logistics center, there’s a Zebra printer that will handle the speed and print quality requirements of the application.
Choosing the right printer for the job can be challenging when several models and a range of options are available for each. This handy comparison chart is a great starting point to narrow down your selection. As always, feel free to contact one of our printer specialist to find the best fit Zebra printer for your needs.
New Barcode Workflows for Nurses
A creative group of nurses are helping Honeywell uncover better ways to use barcode printers and scanners at the bedside. In the past, it was common to see barcode scanners mounted on workstation-on-wheel (WoW) carts behind the display and out of the way. It made perfect sense at a time when reading barcodes was a new and relatively uncommon task. Today, the frequency of reading barcodes at the bedside has dramatically increased and—with Meaningful Use Stage 2—this trend will continue. Nurses using Honeywell’s Xenon cordless barcode scanner quickly discovered that mounting it in an elevated, forward-facing orientation allowed them to fully benefit from the scanner’s “presentation mode” feature. Just like the built-in scanners found at the grocery store, presentation mode scanning is faster because it eliminates the need to squeeze the trigger, and frees up the second hand for quickly handling items.
Star Announces Wi-Fi Capable DK-AirCash
Expanding the field for mobile point of sale solutions, Star introduced its DK-AirCash accessory for enabling secure cash payments in mPOS. Normally, cash drawers are manually operated or by a wired connection to a receipt printer. The DK-AirCash allows you to control a cash drawer directly through an Ethernet, Bluetooth, MFi certified Bluetooth, and now Wi-Fi connection. Star’s DK-AirCash makes “wireless” operation of an existing hard-wired cash drawer possible.
With Wi-Fi interface, Star’s DK-AirCash SAC10EW-24 US model is compatible with all devices running on Android, iOS, and Window platforms. The new Wi-Fi DK-Aircash will provide merchants the ability to use their cash drawer on a network without the hassle of running a cable to the cash drawer. This latest release of the DK-AirCash series will be another step forward in our cost effective way to upgrade your cash drawer’s compatibility for mPOS.
The Hidden Costs of Using Consumer Grade Mobile Devices for Data Collection
With the widespread use of consumer grade smartphones and tablets, many business have been looking to these types of devices for a variety of applications. While consumer grade devices may be viable solutions in limited environments like Point of Sale, most enterprise applications will find that for the same costs a dedicated ruggedized mobile device will greatly reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and improve your ROI.
For more in depth comparison of consumer based devices vs dedicated mobile devices see this previous post as well – How Durable Handheld Computers are Better Suited to the Mobile Workplace than Consumer-grade Smartphones
New SOTI MobiControl 12 Strengthens Mobile Device Management
SOTI has recently announced the general availability of SOTI MobiControl 12. The newest version of SOTI’s enterprise mobility management platform drives down total cost of ownership for businesses relying on mobile devices to deliver efficiencies across an entire organization, and extends remote management capabilities to smart peripherals for the connected enterprise.
In addition to the overall reduction of mobility costs, SOTI MobiControl 12 introduces a host of key features:
- Elimination or minimization of common mobile device deployment and management tasks, allowing rapid zero-intervention provisioning, policy administration and the ability to assign configurations over-the-air based on a broad range of criteria or LDAP attributes. This saves businesses up to $100 per device in provisioning costs.
- Quick device provisioning and remote support for next-generation Zebra peripherals. SOTI offers the industry’s tightest integration with Zebra, which minimizes downtime because of the ability to manage device profiles and spin up new devices remotely.
- Enhanced and broadened support for Apple, Kyocera, Lenovo, Sony, LG, Samsung, Motorola APIs, as well as Windows Phone 8.1.
- Over-the-air device configurations for email, WiFi, VPN etc. at a granular level based on various criteria including device properties, custom attributes and data, and more. This takes the burden off IT as users can now enroll their own devices quickly with zero IT intervention through a simple URL.
- An updated user experience that optimizes device management across operating systems using advanced profiles and policies.
Datalogic’s New Heron HD3100 Linear Imager
Datalogic has announced the release of the new Heron HD3100 linear imager which will be replacing the current Heron entry-level reader while providing a totally new concept around POS checkout applications in the specialty retail market.
By inheriting the worldwide success of the Heron reader which is the all-time best selling handheld Datalogic product, the new Heron HD3100 imager goes beyond a simple scanning experience. It also introduces new and distinctive features bringing the POS checkout to a whole new level.
Top Ten Reasons Retailers Upgrade to Area-Imagers
Traditional laser scanners read linear bar codes at the point-of-sale—a technology that greatly simplified checkout. But today’s highly developed area-imaging scanners enable greater capability and flexibility, putting far more productivity into the hands of retail employees and allowing for revenue-generating mobile marketing initiatives.
With these advantages, it’s no wonder VDC’s 2013 Report forecasts area-imaging scanners sales to grow at a rate of 13.4% for the next three years, compared to the expected 7.3% decline for laser-based scanners over the time period. Imaging technology is firmly established as a cost-effective, durable, technologically capable alternative to laser-based systems. Plus, imagers are capable of supporting retailer’s mobile marketing programs, capturing mobile coupons right off customers’ smartphone screens or automatically collecting their information from ID cards for loyalty program auto-enrollment. Continue reading »
