From RFID tags to mobile computers, visibility into operational details can lead to significant productivity improvements. Here’s a look at how three companies moved forward from paper-based systems and never looked back.

Global 3PL replaces paper-based system with removable RFID tags and cloud-based software to double gate throughput.

Following a transition from a paper-based system, one distributor held sales steady at the height of the economic downturn.

Distributor trims fleet, moves from 90% replenishment accuracy to 100%.

When the athletic footwear maker flipped the switch on its 520,000-square-foot paperless DC it completely transformed the way it processed orders. Today its mobile equipment affords real-time inventory management, improved communication among floor supervisors, and new efficiencies in shipping operations.

Motorola Solutions (Booth 4576) introduced its next generation of rugged vehicle mount computers at ProMat.

Equipment costs included in monthly per-user fee.

Voice technology is expanding beyond picking and into an active data collection methodology that can help companies boost productivity, particularly in low margin industries, said Ron Kubera, senior VP and general manager of Vocollect (Booth 3964) in an interview Wednesday.

The recent deployment of a voice-directed picking solution from topVOX (Booth 3573) at Suisan, a Hawaiian food service distributor, is a good indicator of the advantages of the vendor’s “speaker-indepedent” voice technology, Marceline Absil, VP of marketing and sales, said at Wednesday press conference at the company’s booth.

Premiering at ProMat, DAP Technologies (Booth 3959) unveiled its first Android computers. The M9705 tablet and the M4305 handheld device were both engineered to withstand abuse, said Dawn Janssen, marketing communications manager.