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Hand-held terminals speed data-collection
A
Kendata Peripherals product story
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team
May 6, 2003
Hand-held data-collection terminals speed up the data-collection process in the small parts stores serving a panel vehicle assembly line.
Southampton-based data-capture specialist Kendata Peripherals has helped commercial vehicle manufacturer LDV to speed up the data-collection process in the small parts stores at its Birmingham plant by using Dolphin ruggedised hand-held terminals.
LDV designs, manufactures and distributes the widest range of panel vans and their derivatives in Europe, as well as automotive pressings.
The company markets two product ranges, Pilot and Convoy.
LDV operates a two-bin system for many of the smaller parts that feed into its 'trim and final' assembly line, and traditionally the company has employed handwritten and keyboard data-entry methods for controlling movements in and out of the stores.
Recognising the time and efficiency benefits to be gained from the use of bar-code technology in this area of its operations, LDV decided to invest in the hand-held data-collection terminals from Kendata.
"We also looked at the possibility of using a radio-frequency system," commented storeman Dave Jones, "but that would have been overkill for our application, with RF antennas dotted about all over the factory.
The Dolphin terminals offered a much simpler alternative." In addition to its rugged construction, the Dolphin terminal is designed for easy single-handed operation and features an integral laser bar-code scanner, infra-red communications, an easy-to-read 8-line x 20-character display and a choice of two keypad layouts.
"The durability of the hand-held terminal was impressive," said Jones.
"Obviously in this type of industry equipment can be dropped or get knocked about, so we needed something that was robust and could take that sort of treatment." In fact, the Dolphin terminal was designed and tested to withstand multiple 5ft drops on to concrete, which was achieved by shock mounting key internal components in a special ABS plastic case that is resistant to crushing, cracking and UV-related deterioration.
The terminal also features wear-resistant epoxy-coated keys, and the whole unit is sealed to IP65 to prevent the ingress of dust or water.
LDV is using the barcode-reading facility of the Dolphin terminals for receiving parts into the stores, for recording locations on the assembly line where bins need to be replenished, and for tracking movements of full bins from the stores back to the assembly line.
The laser scanner supports all popular barcode formats and has a capacity of 16,000 scans from a single charge of the Dolphin's battery.
Once the data has been collected, the terminal is simply placed in its charger/communications cradle back in the stores and the contents are automatically downloaded to a host PC.
According to Dave Jones, the Dolphin terminals have not only produced significant time savings but also improved data accuracy.
"By eliminating the old manual data-collection methods, there is much less room for error," he commented.
Following the successful deployment of the hand-held terminals in the small-parts stores, LDV is currently considering plans to expand their use into other areas of the Birmingham plant.
