4 Reasons Your Manufacturing IT Clients Need Mobility Solutions

By Bruce Stubbs, Director of Industry Marketing, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility

In the evolving world of manufacturing technology, improving operations while also reducing costs remains a top priority. Mobility solutions such as computers, scanners, and printers enable manufacturers to equip their mobile workers with the latest technology to meet business demands but also help to lower costs — proving to be a critical element in manufacturing IT.

Reason #1 — Receipt Of Raw Materials

A lot of focus is spent on the work in progress (WIP) aspects of manufacturing operations.  However, for those processes to be most effective requires the timely and accurate receipt of raw materials used in those manufacturing processes. The most effective method for driving efficiencies in the raw material receipt workflow is the deployment of automated data capture mobility solutions.

Combining a handheld mobile computer with a mobile printer is the solution that provides the greatest level of efficiency. The mobile computer can be used to access the system of record to view the purchase order in real time. It also provides the capability to scan any incoming bar codes applied by the supplier to capture critical data such as item, quantity, lot, batch, date, or serialization and to update the system of record with this critical data in real time. The mobile computer’s camera functionality can also be used to capture information with respect to product condition and packaging. Typically, at the point of receipt a discrete license plate number (LPN) is applied to track the material through subsequent processes. Deploying a mobile printer paired with the mobile computer allows this activity to take place at the point of process, thereby saving travel time to and from a stationary printer. This streamlined process adds additional productivity gain to complement the increases in overall accuracy.

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