BellHawk  Mobile Computer Device Support

In today's industrial plants, the ability of mobile workers to capture operations management data in real–time is becoming increasingly critical as materials move in the supply chain with ever increasing velocities. Fortunately we now have some great technology to make this happen.

Industrial mobile computers, such as the Motorola MC9090G shown above, are truly amazing devices. They are essentially portable PCs that can withstand a six foot drop onto concrete and are dust and moisture sealed. They have a complete keyboard and color touch screen. They have built–in wireless communications and, in many cases, include a blue–tooth adaptor. These mobile computers have built–in barcode scanners and may also be equipped with an integral RFID scanner. They typically have rechargeable and swappable batteries that will last a whole shift and are ideal devices for use by mobile workers in an industrial environment.

There are, however,  many challenges in using these devices to reliably collect data in an industrial environment. These include:

1.  The need for a real–time view of production and inventory status by managers, supervisors and customer service people. This is driving the use of wireless communication, replacing the older batch–mode communication method where the data was captured by the mobile computer and then uploaded to a server when the mobile computer is placed in a cradle.

2.   The need to capture data even when wireless communications is blocked or absorbed by metal or other conducting substances or communications is temporarily disrupted by electrical splash noise from heavy machinery and other industrial processes.

3.   The need for real–time point–of–action data capture. This often replaces the writing down of information on paper forms and then the subsequent delay in keying this data into a computer.

4.   The need for point–of–action validation that the correct data has been captured. It is important to make sure that the operator has captured the correct data and has not scanned the barcode on their candy bar instead of a pallet barcode. This avoids having expensive IT and operations management people try to figure out what happened and to correct the data.

5.   The need for point–of–action validation of that the correct operations are being carried out by employees. It is critically important to warn employees if they are attempting to use the wrong materials on a job or pick the wrong materials for a customer shipment or make one of many other common operational mistakes.

For a description of how BellHawk Systems addresses these challenges with its BSAF (pronounced
be-safe) store and forward technology, please click here.