Going Wireless? Why Not Go All the Way?

By Christine Wheeler, Newcastle Systems

Thanks to wireless technology, mobile powered workstations (MPWs) are opening up new frontiers of efficiency and productivity.  These workstations with integrated power supplies can maneuver computers, printers, scales, barcode scanners, etc., to wherever they are needed.  For some facilities, multiple MPWs can bring about a “system solution” — a whole new way of doing business.  Capitalizing on the benefits of auto-ID technologies, they integrate the facility’s software with devices on the workstations to establish mobile on-demand label printing stations, mobile shipping/receiving stations, and so on. Here are three basic ways these workstations or “mobile desks” can help you take full advantage of wireless technology to improve your business.

1. Time and labor savings

By significantly reducing foot travel and paperwork, an MPW can have a very favorable impact on your bottom line [see tables].  In so many enterprises, countless hours are wasted as employees walk back and forth, chatting with co-workers en route, between sites where work is taking place (loading docks, storage racks, assembly lines, inspection/testing areas, etc.) and a deskbound computer and printer where they log information into a database, print labels/orders, etc.  Often, these employees are merely keying in data they have previously written on paper at the work site — a classic redundancy of effort.  Or worse, they just rely on their memory, which leads to mistakes.  In contrast, an employee operating an MPW has continual, paperless, real-time access to information via warehouse management systems (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), or automated data collection (ADC) software from anywhere in the facility, since the workstation’s computer is always at hand.

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