Mobile Computing: It's not just for delivery routes

Real-time access to supply chain information is now in demand on the shop and warehouse floor. Wireless, mobile computing is ready to help.

By -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/1/2001

By all accounts, we are on the cusp of a wireless revolution.

Think about it. Remote controls rule the family television set. We can trade stocks on wireless cell phones. There's not even much stopping us from ordering a book from amazon.com using a Web-enabled cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA).

The world has gone mobile. So, it's no surprise that the supply chain is picking up on the possibilities.

"The wireless market is immature and the technology is still emerging, but its importance as a business enabler will increase dramatically over the next 2 years," predicts Dennis Gaughan, research director for wireless technology at AMR Research in Boston, Ma.

According to a recent AMR survey, more than 30% of manufacturers included spending on wireless initiatives in their IT budgets in 2000.

Sales of wireless systems for supply chain management are estimated at $2.5 billion a year, including hardware and software, according to Jack Farrell, president of LXE Inc., Norcross, Ga. Last year, the market for real-time wireless computing systems grew at an estimated 16%.

Return on investment is an explanation for the growth. "When you're operating in real time, error rates go down and productivity rises," says Farrell. "We've seen many systems pay for themselves in 9 months."

But the real engine behind that growth is the real-time access to information at the point of activity that mobile computing affords. "We're all trying to squeeze time out of the supply chain to increase responsiveness," says David Bledsoe, marketing manager for the systems group, Intermec Technologies, Everett, Wash. "Wireless computing provides immediate visibility into the activities of your supply chain."

Afterall, in the Internet economy, information is as important as inventory to manage the supply chain.

Wireless mobile computing

Mobile computing usually refers to a portable data capture or computing device. That may include a traditional handheld or vehicle-mounted terminal that directs the activities of the warehouse as they occur. Pick a line item and the event is instantaneously reported to the central database by radio frequency data communication.

Beyond communication capabilities, some portable devices have real computing power. Web-enabled PDAs and cell phones are now equipped with Windows CE and Linux operating systems that allow a manager to continue working with familiar desktop software applications while on the shop floor.

Wireless describes the infrastructure that connects mobile devices to a network. Local area networks, or LANs, allow the sharing of data within a defined geographic area such as a warehouse. To access that information beyond the boundaries of a LAN, you need a wide area network. A WAN enables communication beyond the four walls of a facility.

The combination of a wireless network and mobile device creates a system with real-time connectivity and decision-making capabilities. "The push is to get information and computing power to the point of activity," says John Gibson, director of product marketing, mobile computing systems, Symbol Technologies, Holtsville, NY.

Why is that so important? Because real-time access to the status of inventory and orders is central to the trends and forces elsewhere in the economy such as inventory available-to-promise, Internet fulfillment, and tracking and tracing. In some circles, such access is considered the baseline for operations.

"Mobile computing is about more than just communication," says Rick Bushnell, president of Quad II, Doylestown, Pa. "It's about turning data into information and information into knowledge to manage the supply chain in real time."

"The transition we're talking about is not just to collect data, but to be connected back to a host system and a far larger source of information, either through a network or the Internet," adds Bruce Brown, vice president of strategy and new business development at Psion Teklogix, Mississauga, Ontario.

Once you have real-time access to information anywhere and on any device, other benefits flow, according to Dennis Gaughan of AMR Research.

• Wireless streamlines processes and fosters collaboration with suppliers by providing visibility into the inventory and orders in a supply chain that can be shared with trading partners. Without accurate and timely supply chain information, collaboration is impossible.

• Wireless creates a new level of customer access by allowing your trading partners to interact with your organization when and from where they want. Gaughan says ERP vendors are working on applications to deliver customer information over digital phones. Warehouse management system (WMS) suppliers MARC Global Systems and Provia Software have already programmed wireless access by cell phone and PDA's into their warehouse management solutions.

• Wireless streamlines operations and empowers employees by creating a more efficient warehouse, manufacturing facility, or enterprise. The system can go anywhere an employee can go.

The central precept is that the inventory status in the central database is current. That's because a wireless strategy eliminates the "information float" created by traditional methods of data collection. There is no longer a gap between the time when inventory is picked and when the database is updated.

Standards to the rescue

Demand for wireless access has resulted in an expansion of devices for mobile computing. Voice recognition systems and wearable devices, for instance, enable hands-free data capture at the receiving dock. Tablet computers and rugged PDA's put the power of a hand-held device in a unit suitable for the rigors of the shop floor. Cell phones allow field personnel and salesmen to check on the status of inventory and orders in a customer's office.

What's more, thanks to standardization, new devices are interoperable. That means one vendor's hand-held terminal will work with another vendor's truck-mounted tablet.

"Standardization created two critical changes," says Ron Seide, product line manager for Cisco Systems, San Jose, Ca., and a member of the Wireless Ethernet Compatability Alliance, or WECA, the industry association that certifies the compatibility of various wireless devices. "One was interoperability between devices and equipment. The other was that more manufacturers entered the marketplace, and that has led to more products to choose from and dramatically lower prices."

Three standards with different levels of interoperability are prevalent today.

802.11 is known as the frequency hopping standard. Data is transmitted by radio frequency at 2 Mbps. This standard is ideal for transactional type processing, like order picking, and good in an area where there may be a great deal of interference with the radio signal. If interference occurs, the devices simply hop the message to another frequency so business can go on as usual.

802.11B is known as the direct sequencing standard. The advantage is speed. Data is transmitted at 11 Mbps, and could go as fast as 22 Mbps in the coming year. At higher speeds, and greater bandwidth, graphic intensive information can be transmitted easily. The tradeoff is shorter range, which requires more access points and is more susceptible to interference.

Direct sequencing devices built to the latest 802.11B "wi-fi" standard, or wireless fidelity, are truly interoperable out of the box. In other words, a company could use one vendor's hand-held devices and another vendor's truck-mounted units in the same facility.

Wireless and WMS

Although the marriage of warehouse management systems (WMS) with wireless technology took place some time ago, the relationship has been enhanced in the last year.

"WMS systems have been wireless for years," explains John Pulling, COO for Provia Software International, Grand Rapids, Mich. "What we're moving to now is Internet-based access to the warehouse through a cell phone or PDA."

The systems of the past interacted with wireless data capture devices, either in batch mode or real time. Today's WMS is open to users beyond the four walls of the warehouse who need the information.

Beyond visibility into inventory levels and order status, wireless is also enabling supply chain event management. The WMS monitors the supply chain for events that are important to users of the system, like an order that's going to arrive late or an item that will be short shipped. Decision makers can then be notified through an e-mail alert when those events occur so they can take proactive steps to manage the event. But what if the decision maker who needs that information isn't at their desktop PC? These devices allow a warehouse manager or even a customer to be notified at any time and from anywhere. And with applications loaded into these devices, the process can be automated to fix the problem.

The synthesis of wireless mobile computing with WMS reflects the changing role of these systems in the supply chain. "In the Internet age, accurate information is as important as inventory," says Muthu Vellayan, product development manager, MARC Global Systems, Reston, Va. "We're making that available where ever it's needed."

For those who need that level of connectivity, the technology for wireless supply chain management is available today, even if there are few wide-scale deployments.

"You're going to be able to do things with a wireless device that before you had to have a wire to do," says Seide of Cisco Systems.