inbound
handheld device curries favor in
Indian warehouses
India can be a tough place to sell automated data collection
systems. For one thing, the country’s nearly unlimited supply
of low-cost labor makes it tough to achieve a quick payback.
For another, there’s the high potential for product damage in
warehouses where working conditions may be rugged and the
workers unskilled.
One way to overcome such challenges is to adapt the products
to the local environment. Psion Teklogix recently did just that
for its client Viraj Profiles Ltd. of Mumbai, India, a company
that manufactures stainless steel products. At Viraj’s five warehouses, stainless steel pieces known as “profiles” are delivered
and stored in bundles weighing up to a half-ton each. In the
past, bundles were marked with handwritten codes and randomly stacked by overhead cranes wherever space was available.
Once a day, workers would manually update the IT system to reconcile inventory records and location information.
But that system was labor-intensive, error-prone, and time-consuming. To improve its record
keeping, Viraj implemented an
The modified devices have been a success. Now, workers
scan the RFID tags for each steel item and its location and
store the information in the Workabout Pro. Once or twice
daily, they dock the devices to automatically transfer the item
location data to the server, minimizing the potential for error.
Viraj has achieved 99 percent inventory visibility, and the
entire process of inventory reconciliation now takes about
one hour rather than the 12 hours it took in the past. Thanks
to the improved inventory data, the company has been able to
increase the volume of goods it loads for export each day by
20 percent, says Viraj’s managing director, Nitan Chhatwal.
What about the ROI? That was pretty impressive too.
Payback took just six months, Chhatwal says.
On those rare occasions when something logistics-related appears in the popular press, it usually has to
do with serious topics like carbon emissions or anti-terrorism initiatives. But occasionally, it’s in connection with something light or even humorous.
A new ad from electronics giant HP falls into the
latter category. Headlined “Monumental Savings,” the
ad features a row of Egyptian sphinxes covered in
white, oblong pieces of paper bearing mysterious
black markings. Hieroglyphics, perhaps? Something
more modern, it turns out: traditional and 2-D bar
codes printed on thousands of UPS shipping labels.
The sculpture, called “Six Sphinxes,” was created by
Christo, the artist best known for wrapping bridges,
buildings, and even whole islands in fabric. HP had the
artist create the sculpture to publicize a networked
package handling system the company developed for
UPS. Along with streamlining the package loading
process, the new system eliminated the need for shipping labels. That saves more than 2 million pounds of
paper annually—six times the weight of the Great
Sphinx, according to HP. (HP says it will recycle all of
the labels used in the sculpture.)
the shipping secret of the sphinxes?
PHOTO COUR TESY OF PSION TEKLOGIX
Many companies have given time,
expertise, and services to the American
Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), the
non-profit organization that connects
the resources of the logistics community and disaster relief agencies needing
supply chain support. But none has
donated in quite the same way Saddle Creek Corp.
recently did. The third-party logistics service provider
has donated the full-time services of one of its top IT
executives, who will act as ALAN’s operations director.
Kathy Fulton, Saddle Creek’s senior manager of
technical services, will join ALAN full-time in the
newly created post this month. She will stay at ALAN
for one year while remaining on Lakeland, Fla.-based
Saddle Creek’s payroll.
Fulton has done volunteer work for ALAN in the
past and was instrumental in developing the Web
portal that provides the central point of contact
between supply chain and logistics companies and
non-governmental organizations assisting in humanitarian relief efforts.
a truly personal donation
