Software - How to avoid Bad Data Syndrome

How to avoid Bad Data Syndrome

Symbol Technologies have solutions to ensure that only accurate data is fed into your ERP system and becomes the basis of companies' crucial assumptions and decisions.

8:35 a.m.

   -   Far from the well-appointed offices of senior management, a worker on a forklift puts away a truckload of parts that have just arrived.
   -   He scribbles some notes about the recent delivery on his yellow pad and plans to enter the numbers into "the system" two hours later, after his break.
   -   When he is finally ready to enter the data, he is hot and tired. He is in a hurry to put away another delivery that has just arrived at the unloading dock.
   -   So he does what others on the manufacturing floor do many times a day.
   -   He makes a mistake.
   -   He keys in "55 units" instead of "550 units" and goes happily and unknowingly about his business.

12:40 p.m.

   -   The incorrect data entered by the forklift operator, along with other incorrect data supplied by his co-workers, now circulates throughout the enterprise.
   -   Managers, tasked with making vital decisions, are doing so with badly flawed data.
   -   The awesome power of their expensive Enterprise Resource Planning system, intended to help forward-looking managers, has been turned against them.
   -   Once again, they are flying blind.

The most valuable asset in your manufacturing operation isn't machinery. It's up-to-date, accurate information that you can put to use. Gathering that vital information is a role that wireless computing can help you fulfil.

It lets users in your warehouses "go where the data is," freely and unencumbered. And they can gather important information quickly and accurately and instantly put it to use for timely, reliable decision support.

Wireless local area networks have proven their worth because they help avoid the inevitable human errors inherent in a manual system and provide real-time information that can be put to use immediately. This in turn can cut manufacturing costs, increase productivity and boost profit. Here are some of the major benefits of wireless barcode data capture:
   -   Time reduction spent searching for specific items
   -   Optimised pick path travel distances
   -   Reduction in key-entry labour and safety stock levels
   -   Reduced re-warehousing
   -   Not having to complete physical inventories
   -   Fewer lost sales and backorders caused by inaccurate inventory
   -   Lower inventory write-offs
   -   Fewer manufacturing overruns caused by inaccurate inventory levels
   -   Lower manufacturing disruption costs caused by material outages.

Wireless, a natural evolution...

The use of wireless technology is getting hyped on a level that is reminiscent of the dot.com extravaganza of 1999 (no, surely nothing compares to that?) While use of wireless technologies on the plant floor is still considered to be in its infancy, in a world where information rules and knowledge is power, wireless connectivity is seen as a natural evolution.

Wireless local area networks have been available for more than two years, but they are just now achieving high enough data rates and low enough selling prices to be considered for manufacturing automation applications.

But its not just inventory-based, plant floor data that wireless technology is good for. In process manufacturing, you have valves, pumps or pressure sensors in difficult-to-reach areas. For example, hard-wiring an impact sensor across a constantly moving apparatus is tricky. A wireless device can be handy. The components can be embedded with connectivity and the technician can walk a certain range to check on the condition from a handheld device, download it, or process it on his handheld.

In this way, maintenance efficiencies can be created and ultimately potential malfunctions can be prevented. The ability to monitor processes that were previously out of reach makes someone's life a lot easier. Instead of having to crawl around, with wireless sensors, worn out parts can order themselves. Device relationship management (DRM) is the current term for remote management of intelligent devices and lets people monitor and service equipment via the Web.

Wild!