Anheuser-Busch Distributor Solves Field Printing Woes

Mona Supply Company is an Anheuser-Busch distributor based out of Morgantown, WV. The company distributes about 700,000 cases of beverages a year via seven route drivers. To work more efficiently, drivers are equipped with Fujitsu Computer Systems' LifeBook P1000 mobile computers, which include Mobility AB CRM (customer relationship management) software that enables drivers to upsell orders and keep track of inventory. Also, the LifeBooks feature Bluetooth technology, which enables them to transmit sales transaction data to Bluetooth-enabled mobile printers. Herein lay the problem for Mona Supply. "On a regular basis, drivers had difficulty printing receipts," says Dan Martin, sales manager at Mona Supply. "Sometimes a driver would have to reboot his computer and printer three times to get it to work." Over a nine-month period, Martin often spent up to two days per week working with the CRM vendor, printer vendor, and laptop vendor to resolve the problem, but nothing worked. Mona Supply even tried connecting the printers to the laptops via USB cables. The problem got to the point where drivers spent about an hour a day rebooting their computers and printers.

Malfunctioning Mobile Printers Plus Poor Customer Service Equals Scrap Yard
The breaking point occurred on one occasion when Mona Supply had five mobile printers out for repair, which included two backup printers. "Three of our drivers had to handwrite receipts," recalls Martin. "To make matters worse, our printer vendor told us it was unable to send any replacement units for several days." After contacting its CRM vendor, the vendor recommended TallyGenicom mobile printers. Martin called TallyGenicom, and the vendor overnighted replacement printers to the beverage distributor. "Our new printer rep sent a team of technicians to our facility the next day, and they replaced all of our legacy printers with TallyGenicom's MIP 360 mobile printers within 2 1/2 hours, which included modifying our vehicle mounts," says Martin. "Ever since then we haven't had any printing problems, and I haven't had to send any printers in for repair. The only question I get about our mobile printers now is, ‘Why didn't we make this switch sooner?'"