Synchronized wireless clocks coordinate workers

Lowe’s is a home improvement company that operates more than 1,840 retail stores across North America and a supply chain network with more than 30 DCs. Its regional DC campus in Mt. Vernon, Texas, includes a 1.2-million-square-foot building housing seven miles of conveyor belts and employing 850 people. Because of the facility’s enormous size, the company installed a system of synchronized clocks to ensure timely employee travel through the building.

Previously, employees were challenged get to their destinations on time, and it was common for an associate to be working a half-mile away at the time they were supposed to arrive elsewhere. Without clocks set to the same, precise time, employees had difficultly gauging when they should leave the floor to travel to other areas, take a break or attend a meeting.

Lowe’s tried to correct the problem by installing atomic clocks, but they didn’t consistently work throughout the building. Although the company doesn’t allow mobile phones on the warehouse floor, some employees carried their phones so they had a more accurate sense of the time.

Tom Standridge, senior support analyst for IT field services at Lowe’s, knew of other DCs that had synchronized time, but their systems didn’t seem ideal because of the extensive wiring required. “And their time system pulls the time from the warehouse computer,” he says. “I didn’t want that because then we’d have to make sure our computer software matched with what the time system needed. I needed something turnkey.”

Lowe’s chose a wireless clock system (American Time, american-time.com) and a transmitter with a 40-watt system controller; 24 digital, double-sided clocks; four digital, single-sided clocks and seven wireless analog clocks. The clocks receive a signal from the server that informs them of the correct time. No special software is required, and the Web server allows for management of the controller.

“One controller covers our entire campus, and we’ve never had a problem with interference.” Standridge says. “Plus, we didn’t have to spend extra money on wires or other equipment.”