Case Studies

Barcode Case Studies

JW Diaper & Sons - Poultry Producers

Diaper Poultry were having problems coping with the number of boxes of chickens that needed invoicing to their customers. They needed a way to quickly and efficently record box weights and eliminate costly mistakes.

JW Diaper & Sons

Company profile: High quality chicken producer serving butchers and caterers across south east England.

Problem: JWD needed to invoice their customers accurately and prepare delivery notes quickly - but they didn't want to employ someone just to enter data. The answer lay with barcodes. Using a thermal label printer connected to a scale, they were able to enter the product code with the scales providing the box weights.

Solution: Thermal Label printers (connected to weigh scales and a touch screen) label the boxes of chicken with a barcode encoding the product code and box weight. The boxes are stacked in the cool room before the dispatch. When the order is received the staff place orders onto pallets and allocate them to customers. At this point a customer code is entered into a handheld terminal and the barcodes are scanned. As the pallets are loaded onto the vehicle the data is downloaded to host package and a delivery note and invoice are printed.

Hardware: 2 Psion Workabouts with custom written software were chosen for the project. Psions were selected because of the compatibility with previous hardware, because they were cost effective and flexible. The UBI printers are commonplace in the fresh meat sector and prove to be reliable and flexible printers.

Benefits: Using the Psion terminals were a cost effective way of eliminating errors. Handwritten errors were commonplace, as were transcription errors, now they've been eliminated. Barcode readers have reduced the time it takes to record a pallet of product by some 75%, and cut out the need to enter box weights into the invoice software.

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