AMMSoft's Batch/RF Scanning Solution

Our scanning module is written from the ground up to help you track your pallet and box ids with ease.  We handle both piece picking and full pallet operations, as well as handling mixed, or "rainbow" pallet creation on the outbounds.  We also include the ability to capture driver signature (if WebView is installed), and to do Catchweights. Finally, our scanning solution is fully integrated with our WMS, and it can easily tailored for your WMS.

Tightly coupling our software with the latest hardware technology featuring color touchscreens translates to faster learning time and more efficiency when running a shift.  Competitors use antiquated text-only, non-touchscreen devices which makes navigation cumbersome and learning time higher.  Ours takes full advantage of touch-screen technology to allow things like numerical data entry using an oversized number display so that, even with gloves on, the user can easily breeze through numerical entry.  Try doing that with a text-based scanner!

Batch versus Wireless

This system is actually a hybrid batch/wireless system.  Our system does not require wireless hardware at all for Inbounds, Signature Capture on outbound, and catchweights.   For Putaway and Outbound-related options (for example when the men are locating a product in inbound or pulling a pallet from the rack) a wireless connection to the server is useful so that instant verification of correct pallet pull can occur, but is not necessary.  By offering batch, RF, and hybrid models, you choose the level of cost to accuracy ratio.

Batch mode offers a substantial price benefit without compromising your ability to capture data on the scanner.  There will be some areas where validation cannot occur immediately, but would occur once the scanner's data is downloaded.  Adding a wireless access point, say, at the receiving dock turns a purely batch-based system into a hybrid system.  This has the advantage of immediate error detection at minimally increased cost.  The software runs exactly the same as it did in batch mode, completely eliminating any extra training for the men.  Now we can include extra verification features so that at the time they are pulling a pallet, for example, we can verify immediately that they are pulling the correct pallet with the correct quantity. 

For example, using batch mode we store inside the scanner, the location to which a pallet was placed on inbound, then once the scanner's data is downloaded, we check the accuracy of this information.  The operator would hit a "Send" button on the scanner to initiate transfer.  With a wireless network in place, this same "Send" button would wirelessly transmit the data over to WMS.  The look and functioning of the system would be almost identical except for some additional real-time checks, saving your company a lot of retraining time.  RF also allows continuous operation without requiring occasional download time. Downloading scanner data in batch requires the men to walk to a pc to initiate the operation.  So you can start off with batch mode, then move up to the more real-time RF-enabled system with very little change to your workflow.

Easy Learning Curve

We don't employ a system that completely changes how you work, we improve upon what you already do.  We do this by augmenting the paperwork your men use everyday by simply adding a few barcodes to it.  Adding a scan step changes very little about their current workflow, thus ensuring buy-in on the part of your warehousemen, supervisors and office staff.

We can also employ a task-based scanning model, in which the operator requests the next task via a scanner.  The system responds by loading the next batch or the next lot the operator needs to work on.

Scanning Advantages of Speed and Accuracy

Let's talk about what advantages a scanning-enabled system can give in three different types of operations.

Bulk Operations

In a bulk operation, in which little piece picking occurs, your biggest advantage you can boast to your customers is accuracy.  Certainly, you won't be complaining about the higher efficiencies it can drive into your daily receiving and shipping operations either, however, it is really the accuracy you can use to assure your customer that your warehouse inventory is accurate and more importantly, that you are a reliable service to them.  This gives you a tremendous advantage to any competitor that does not have scanning.  Conversely, lacking this technology while your competitors steam ahead puts your company at a disadvantage.

Piece Pick Operations

For piece pick operations, in addition to accuracy, you are gaining a huge benefit by significantly reducing order fulfillment time.  This allows your resources to be spread out more evenly among your operations while improving your fulfillment metrics.

Catchweight Operations

Catchweight operations offer the clearest demonstrable return on investment simply because speed gains are measurable.  Accuracy, the other strength of using a catchweight scanning solution, directly relates to dollars saved, either in penalties or returns.  Quantifying speed and accuracy improvements gives management solid evidence of the value your warehouse will gain through using Catchweights Scanning.   

Hidden Scanning Advantage of
Warehouse Metrics

We can take the idea of metrics further.  From the management side, having a scanning solution allows actual metrics in the warehouse to be obtained, since you now know exact order completion time and people resources used, among others.  You can then go further by analyzing how fast Jerry is compared to Mike, how all your men are doing, as an average per order, an average per line, etc.  Any metric you can think of can now be written into any report you request, and because we finally have the information available to us that without scanning, is reduced to guesswork.

AMMSoft's System in Everyday Use

This system is intended to be adapted to your specific needs, so what is presented here is intended only to demonstrate the flow of information needed for a hypothetical warehouse.  For this warehouse, we'll assume everything starts with a WMS-produced document that has key information like batch, number of lots and lot codes bar-coded.  This paperwork is handed out to the operators in the warehouse who use it to load up the scanners with that information.  Then scanning can begin.