Suppliers of mobile data capture systems and wireless software solutions have noticed a surge of interest from retailers in mobile technology over the past year. In the drive for competitive advantage, these smart terminals are becoming powerful tools.
Elsevier Food International vol.9, Number 4, November 2006 Vincent Hentzepeter

For supply chain management they provide valuable, integrated information about logistics, manufacturing, warehousing and in-store retailing. At store level, they enhance efficiency and productivity while conducting inventory studies, ordering and replenishment, or the employment of personnel.

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Sponsored by Powered by Adaptus Imaging Technology 5.0, the 4600r reduces read time on reflective items. In addition, Hand Held Products’ partnership with Microsoft has enabled them to obtain WEPOS certification for the 4600r, making it plug and play with any point of sale system.   Hand Held Products, the leading manufacturer or image-based data collection solutions, presents the 4600r image scanner. It is the new generation of barcode readers, optimising management of cash collection and data capture, especially in a point of sale environment. It can read linear and 2D barcodes, take photos, digitize documents and much more. Its tolerance to movement and omni-directional reading capacity, also in low light conditions, means that you no longer need to stay still while reading the code, making reading even faster and easier. To find out more, view the 4600r video at: http://www.handheld.com/efi4600r.

PDAs at Metro
In Metro’s Future Store in Rheinberg, employees work with the newest generation of handheld computers. These personal digital assistants (PDAs) are connected with the merchandise management system. Via a wireless network, store employees can call up stocks of individual goods at any time from anywhere in the store. Visual inspections of each individual shelf in order to check best-before dates are a thing of the past. But this is not all. Employees can also use their PDAs to send and receive e-mails, and manage contact details and schedules. Over the last years, PDAs have become more intelligent. Moreover, functionality has increased, a process that will continue in the future. As smart phones they will enable employees to carry out a real-time inventory, while walking through the aisles, report out-of-stocks and enable to place restocking orders. They can even serve as a queue bursting device by sending an alarm when checkout capacity falls below a critical level. Managers will also profit from PDAs, gaining direct access to important management information. Instead of sitting behind their desks, they can walk around on the shop floor provided with the latest store data and easy access to the management system at the push of a button.

 

EDAs at Tesco
The use of PDAs in a wireless network is no longer a thing of the future. Some major retailers are currently introducing comparable solutions in their stores or are about to do so. In November last year Tesco announced the implementation of enterprise digital assistants (EDAs) from Symbol, a supplier of mobile data capture solutions, in most of its stores. The British retailer has equipped its store managers with Symbol MC50 EDAs, running with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, across 750 of its 1300 outlets in the United Kingdom. The deployment of the devices in the biggest stores must enable store managers to spend more time on the sales floor. The mobile computers ensure they can stay connected to email and other business-essential IT applications while away from their desk. The digital assistants feature a built-in bar code scanner and voice communication capabilities. With the EDA in their pockets, managers can conduct activities on the sales floor that previously would have required a visit to the back office. E-mail traffic, pricing checks, reviewing store sales reports or checking an item or category performance is not necessarily an office job anymore.
After the complete physical roll-out of the mobile computers, including the deployment, configuration and maintenance procedures, all 750 Tesco store managers were trained how to effectively use the terminals. Tesco calls the project a success. According to Simon Hick, project manager at Tesco, delivering real-time data to the store managers has made stores more profitable: "The use of e-mail on the shop floor frees around seven to eight hours of a store manager's time per week." Neither Tesco nor Symbol Technologies or Herbert Retail that rolled out the system, is clear about the total costs of the project. However, given the fact that MC50-devices cost approximately US$950 to US$1,250, it can be assumed that investments in PDAs are quickly returned by an increased output of store managers. In a company release, Symbol Technology states that Tesco is considering adding more desktop applications to the digital assistants to support customers, finance, and operations. This service is anticipated to be available by the end of this year.

12,000 scanning units
Carrefour too, decided in autumn 2005 to introduce portable data terminals. The world’s second largest retailer announced to invest in mobile computers and services in the company’s approximately 11,000 hypermarkets, supermarkets and hard discount stores in 30 countries. For this purpose, Carrefour signed a global agreement with PSC, Inc., an international data collection technology and services provider. Up to 12,000 handheld scanning units from PSC’s Falcon 4400 series, priced between approximately US$1,000 and US$1,500, will be installed in Carrefour’s main geographical regions in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Countries involved are France, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Taiwan. The Falcon 340 and 345 are designed for in-store use, inventory control systems and warehouse management systems. PSC will provide critical software porting and integration with existing provider equipment. So new software and hardware will support IT-systems that the Carrefour Group already has in place and not vice versa. This means that Carrefour’s policies and systems will not be compromised. The system is also equipped to move from today’s batch systems to RF(ID) networks, if Carrefour would decide to make such a step.

Ergonomics
The PDAs that Carrefour selected feature laser scanner options and batch or real-time data collection. The portable terminals are sleek and ergonomically designed. They weigh 465 grams, which is much lighter than the heavy, bulky data collection devices, which are still in use in many retail stores. These outdated mobile terminals can create worker fatigue and repetitive stress injuries. Ergonomics therefore are a key driver in the design of the newest generation of handheld scanners and terminals. The removable form-fit rubber-grip handle of the Falcon 340 (batch mode) or 345 (RF) creates a good balance in the hand. Of course competitors are not sitting back to wait and see. Downsizing PDAs, while increasing functionality and improving ease of use is a sport in this market. Hand Held Products is about to introduce a mobile computer that is engineered for maximum end-user comfort. Applications of the Dolphin 7600 are inventory management, receiving, price change management, computer-aided ordering, customer assistance and mobile point of sale for effective queue busting. If checkouts are occupied a mobile team can scan and pack customers’ purchases to speed up the payment process. Weighing only 332 grams the Dolphin is meant for mobile users who are constantly on the move. A typical improvement in terms of ergonomics is an angled scanner. A majority of bar codes are scanned below a person’s waist, inducing awkward wrist motion. Angled scanner design accommodates for this, because it requires less hand rotation to read a barcode. Also worth mentioning is the integrated finger saddle. This mirrors the natural curves of the hand and gives easy access to all keys with one hand. A mobile printer unit can be connected to the PDA, enabling wireless communication between store employees and the management system. In this way, the right orders can be given based on real-time data for printing jobs like action labels at any place in the store.

Why PDAs in a wireless environment?
The wireless access point in the store ceiling connects the personal digital assistant directly with the database server. This way mobile workers and floor managers obtain real-time data-access, which assists them in making the right decisions at the point of activity. Store managers are less bound to their office and can therefore spend more time on the shop floor. Furthermore, employee productivity increases and employees become more flexible. Personnel can answer questions, based on information in the merchandise management system. The result is that routine operations in supermarkets run more efficiently so that ultimately customers get a better service in a smoother running store.