The Smartphone's Limited Supply Chain Impact
February 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers
By Matt Pillar, Editor In Chief
Smartphone proliferation is driving a new breed of touch- and application-driven mobile supply chain devices. Beyond that, their impact is negligible.
As retailers push boundaries for smartphones in business applications, the supply chain remains to a large degree off-limits. That said, rugged mobile devices for supply chain applications are taking some cues from smartphones. Here, Intermec industry marketing director Brian Schulte explains the smartphone’s impact and the supply chain device requirements that separate consumer-grade from industrial-strength.
How are advances in smartphones impacting industrial-class inventory management devices?
Schulte: Advances in smartphone technology are providing hardware components, software components, and applications that can be integrated into industrial-class devices. These developments allow systems to be designed that are more compact, more powerful, and offer better interfaces for users. The mass adoption of smartphones has also supplied companies with a workforce that is much more adept at using mobile technologies, which also simplifies system designs.
There are, however, challenges in leveraging smartphone innovations into industrial-class devices, as the intended users and requirements are different. The focus for smartphones is typically around individual users, multimedia, social networking, etc. The focus for industrial-class devices is large deployments, mission-critical business applications, and users potentially in harsh environments. The rapid replacement cycles and short product lives of smartphones can also decrease the availability of components. This makes it difficult to offer smartphone component-based devices for multiple years, which is what is required by many users. A company that buys industrial-class devices this year would like to be able to buy more of the exact same device next year.
How does data collection hardware play into the effort to remove cost from the supply chain?
Schulte: Advances in data collection hardware and software can deliver significant supply chain cost reductions. Important considerations are:
- Ruggedness
- Scanning/imaging
- Voice
Hardware and software innovations have resulted in systems that are unmatched in ruggedness and reliability. Systems are available with industry-first ruggedness (i.e. 8’ drop specs, glass touch panels), proactive system monitoring capability (e.g. battery life, user performance, abuse), and remote access for problem resolution. These advances result in maximum system uptime and performance, providing a direct impact on costs.
Advances in scanning and imaging now allow the reading of 1-D and 2-D bar codes from: inches to more than 50 feet, damaged/ imperfect codes, color bar codes, and even conversion of paper documents (e.g. bill of lading, invoice) into digital files. The latest imagers also contain advances in motion tolerance allowing scans at speeds never seen before.
Voice has also become key in supply chain operations, particularly for picking. Voice interfaces can reduce costs through higher productivity, higher accuracy, and less training time.
What technologies are improving supply chain visibility?
Schulte: Smart printing and mobile label printing have increased supply chain visibility, especially for traceability applications. As an example, when grower/packer/shipper LoBue Citrus implemented a printer and mobile computerbased system, it reduced inventory trace-back times from roughly two hours to a few minutes. Due to increased inventory visibility and accuracy, physical inventories have been all but eliminated, saving 8 to 16 labor hours each day.
RFID-based systems also deliver improved visibility and cost reductions with better tracking. As an example, consumer goods supplier Mission Foods was able to reduce 80% of their $3.5 million annual budget for reusable plastic shipping containers after installing an automated RFID-based system to track those containers leaving and entering its facilities and identify who had received/returned them.