Datalogic Scanning is celebrating a major milestone and you can get in on the fun.  On April 30th, they produced their one-millionth Magellan Bi-Optic Scanner.  Bill Parnell, President and CEO of Datalogic Scanning, celebrated this event proclaiming, “It is a major accomplishment for the company, and one that will be marked by celebrations and customer recognition worldwide.”

Those celebratory festivities are already in full force with the “Thanks a Million” World Tour, a year-long event which has the historical millionth scanner making appearances at events and trade shows all across the globe. The tour officially kicked off on May 10th at FMI 2010 (the largest food industry event in North America) in Las Vegas and the remainder of the tour includes locations in Mexico, Italy, Costa Rica, France, China, and more, where event participants can see the scanner in action, as well as receive an exclusive Datalogic Magellan World Tour t-shirt. 

This event marks a long-coming milestone, as the brand began its long journey in 1994 when the first Magellan scanner was released. Now an industry standard, the original Magellan scanner was one of the first to feature 360-degree scanning technology, fitting for a product whose namesake was the first explorer to lead an expedition around the world. Since then, the brand has spawned eight different models, including the most recent Magellan 8500Xt, and has been shipped or sold to 97 different countries worldwide.

A product recall can be one of the worst events that can happen to a company.  A business loses production costs, assumes the logistical expense of recalling the potentially-flawed units, the expense of returns, and absorbs negative publicity.  We recently worked with a large meat packing company who realized the risk exposure and contacted RACO to greatly reduce their vulnerability in this worse case scenario.  RACO arranged for an on-site assessment of the company’s processes so they could more accurately determine the source of a potential contaminate and diminish the amount of meat that would have to be recalled.  We proposed the TWLot Lot Tracking system with enhancements to handle their unique inventory control requirements.

Lot tracking, or lot traceability, is the process of tracking inventory by lot number through the manufacturing and distribution processes.  This will allow you to follow what ingredients went into which batch and where the final product ended up.  If something were to go wrong, the company will now be able to isolate a small defective lot instead of having to go through a line-wide recall.  Taking on that kind of substantial expense can be devastating for a company and can be prevented by taking action now.

RACO Lot Tracking is a fully-automated wireless data capture solution that tracks all of a company’s component assemblies through shipping to give you instant real-time access to your traceability data.  With the busy season approaching, Toolworx installed the lot-tracking software; RACO provided scaled integration and the hardware to get the job done in the form of Windows mobile devices and wireless smart printers from Intermec Technologies with a wireless infrastructure from Cisco Systems.

Lot traceability is applicable to any manufacturer as it allows a company to minimize their exposure to a product recall or product defect investigation.  Other batch processors (like food, cosmetics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, etc.) would also be a perfect fit for our lot tracking system.

RACO and its business partner provided the software, hardware, and integration needed to solve this company’s problem.  A minimal investment now protects your company and reduces the potential expense of a worst case scenario like a recall down the road.  We can do the same for you.  Call RACO Industries today at 1-800-446-1991 to get started on the solution your business needs.

The unique Bluebird BIP-1300 is an all-in-one handheld mobile device which incorporates a barcode scanner, magnetic stripe reader, thermal printer, CMOS camera and IC card reader into a single tool.  The device is perfect for Field Sales & Service, Retail, Logistics, Hospitality & Entertainment or any other mobile point of sale application.  It works great in the field thanks to full radio capabilities (CDMA-1X or EVDO, GSM-EDGE), Wifi (802.11b/g), Linear Imager, 2M pixels CMOS Camera, and Windows Mobile 5.0 or Win CE 5.0 operating system. 

We were excited to hear that this device was recently PTCRB certified which means it’s approved to be on the RACO Wireless network.  Any device that has a cellular modem in them have to have PTCRB certification as one of the requirements to use it on any carrier’s network.  With the help of RACO Wireless, we can get you a Bluebird and activate service for this impressive all-in-one device.  Just contact a RACO product specialist at 1-800-446-1991.

March is National Frozen Food Month and we’d like to celebrate by highlighting some of the products and services available to those that brave the cold storage units all year round.  LXE has a number of computers, scanners, and handheld data capture devices that can withstand frigid temperatures down to -22 degrees.  Heated screens, conformal coated internal electronics, specialized batteries, allow these devices to go where others can’t.

LXE’s robust freezer-rated line-up includes wearable, handheld, and vehicle-mounted products that are built from the ground up to handle freezing conditions.  For more information about LXE’s line of freezer-rated devices, contact RACO Industries at 1-800-446-1991 or visit us at www.racoindustries.com.

If this summer’s cinematic reboot of Star Trek is any indication, then the current hand-held bar code scanner market is taking future-proofing to a whole new level. Apparently, modern barcode technology was used to help make the movie set look futuristic.  Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed that the “joysticks” in the captain’s seat of the Starship Enterprise are actually Motorola Cyclone M2000 hand-held scanners.  Sure, the device decodes existing, new, and emerging barcode symbologies instantly.  But I guess the Cyclone was picked for its sleek, stylish look that projects the image that you can boldly go where no one has gone before.

So, if you’re looking to take your business into the 23^rd century, or at least look like it is, we can help you out.  The Motorola Cyclone M2000 barcode scanners are available from RACO Industries. And if you’d like to see the M200 in “action,” check out the Star Trek DVD which is set for release on November 17^th.

Michigan Live is reporting that the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAS) has had great success with a new system that allows college admission administrators to capture prospective student information from scanned barcodes, rather than requiring students to fill out information forms with pen and paper.  The system is similar to the barcoding applications that have been deployed at business trade shows and conferences, but has been tailored for college fairs.  The process is quite simple, a bar code is assigned to a student upon entry to the college fair.  This printable bar code is linked to the student's relevant personal information stored in a backend system database.  As the student visits each booth, recruiters can quickly scan the student's bar code to retrieve the student's contact information, allowing the recruiter to spend more time discussing the school's programs rather than waiting for students to complete tedious paperwork.
 

There are many advantages to replacing the college fair paper contact forms with a bar code solution.  First and foremost, the data that is exchanged is much more accurate.  With pen and paper, college recruiters often struggle to read a student's handwritten form.  Secondly, the system speeds up the data exchange process.  Recruiters can spend more time speaking with students.  And lastly, students don't have to drive home with a severe case of writer's cramp.

You may be surprised to hear that the system described above is not difficult to implement.  If you are interested in a similar application, please contact the bar code and data collection experts at RACO Industries.

We were recently challenged to track several hundred uniforms and musical instruments for a major university’s marching band. The quantity was not the problem…. determining which student musician has what uniform and instrument was. The total value of the equipment is in excess of a million dollars and ‘were given out to 18 – 21 year old college students with no means, other than paper and pencil, to track the assets.’

We proposed Z-Space Technologies’ Check In/Check Out Solution Pack; a configurable software solution built upon a SQL database, Crystal Reports, and Z-Space’s ITScriptnet data collection and development/communications software application. This solution is basically designed to track any asset that is frequently in and out of the hands of people. With minor configurable adjustments, it can be used very effectively for the university’s purpose. When integrated, the software solution allows the user to manage the assets and answers the three fundamental questions of asset tracking – Who has it? What is it? and Where is it?

Once the solution is implemented, the process is very simple. Each student utilizes the university-provided ID card with a bar code associated with the student’s ID number. All of the uniforms have a bar code label inside each piece i.e. pants, jackets, hats, shoes as well as all of the instruments. The bar code contains the university’s asset and serial number for accounting and tracking purposes. Labeling the actual instrument proved a little difficult. However, since each instrument has a case, we bar coded the case instead. The band director is provided a handheld mobile computer, like the Motorola MC55 or Unitech PA968, with the application configured on the device.  Now all he needs to do is scan the labels and the student ID barcodes and the application does the rest. To further the cause, we added customized reports and configured the devices and wireless network to communicate in real-time to the host PC.

For more information about this or other Check In/Check Out applications, contact RACO Industries at 1-800-446-1991 or visit us at www.racoindustries.com

We get asked all of the time about justifying the cost of a rugged mobile computer over a non-rugged or a consumer-grade device. Depending on the product, there can be a large cost differences between the two product types. There are three points that we like to make when justifying the cost difference:

1)      Ruggedized mobile computing devices like the Motorola MC55 is designed to resist damage from drops, humidity, misuse and other environmental issues. Consumer- graded devices are not designed this way and after-market cases only provide minimal protection. To put it simply, you drop it….you break it.

2)      Battery life is a very important factor for mobile computing. Ruggedized devices are intended to work for a full eight hour shift with options available to extend this time. This does not just include voice communications – it also includes data transmissions, scanning, image capture and all of the other functions needed for a mobile worker. The battery life for consumer graded devices will die out after only a few hours if used in this way.

3)      The costs for IT to support consumer-graded devices are nearly three times as high due to the increased failure these products. We ask a very simple question…do you want your valuable IT personnel to spend their time on IT projects or troubleshooting broken smartphones? 

For detailed information about the total cost of ownership for mobile computing, view Venture Development Corporation’s white paper. For more information about the value of ruggedized mobile computers, contact a RACO product specialist or visit www.racoindustries.com.

Socket Mobile has just made the BlackBerry a notch cooler and more useful than it already is.  Socket now supports their 7 series Bluetooth bar code hand scanners with the BlackBerry Curve, Pearl and Bold.

A few applications that come to mind are:

-Inventory tracking for route sales

-Bookscouting (searching for bargain books to resell)

-Mobile price checking

-Retail market research

You only have to load a small application on the BlackBerry and then pair it with the Socket Bluetooth scanner and you are ready to start scanning.  The BlackBerry will treat the scan as data entered from the keypad; so the scan will input anywhere you have a cursor.

Don’t have a BlackBerry or need an application developed for the BlackBerry?  No problem, contact RACO Industries to speak with a representative about your specific needs.

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What many people don’t realize after the purchase of a handheld scanner, editing capabilities are already programmed in when the product leaves the factory. Scanners such as the Motorola LS2208, Honeywell 3800g or the Datalogic Powerscan are configured with a simple editing tool that allow the users to make changes in the scanner without making costly changes to the software application. 

The most common problem that arises is when the scanner arrives and either the Enter Key has been programmed in or not programmed in at all. For example, when any of the scanners from Motorola –either corded or cordless – are shipped, they are pre-configured with no post amble. In other words the data that is scanned is sent to the screen ‘as is’ with no CR / LF / RETURN or Enter Key. However, many users want the Enter Key to be automatically sent to the application after a scan. This allows users to do a scan one bar code after another without having to hit an Enter Key on the PC keyboard.  

The solution is quick and simple. Get the reference guide or the product manual from you handheld scanner.  Then go to Scan Data format page and scan the Data + suffix barcode. This will add the Enter key or CR/LF to be automatically sent with the data stream. In case you should ever need to remove the CR/LF or Enter Key, just scan the Data as is barcode.  That’s all there is to it. 

The manufacturer’s product manuals provide instructions to do more advanced formatting, such as tabs or other special characters, but this can be tricky. Contact your RACO representative for assistance with additional handheld scanner programming instructions.