Handheld solutions
Greater efficiency with handhelds through:
– Ease of use and learning
– Combined picking
– Efficiency gains through parallel picking, integrations and warnings
Handheld solutions integrated with ERP
We offer handheld solutions fully integrated with Jeeves ERP.
Complete mobility provider
In handheld projects involving Systemstöd's ISE Lager, Datema usually supplies the hardware. Datema has the market's broadest and deepest hardware knowledge for mobile applications in different environments. ISE Lager is a logistics system that records transactions in every warehouse type using handhelds and barcodes.
Greater efficiency with handheld solutions
A warehouse handheld solution pays for itself very quickly for most companies through efficiency gains and improved quality. Let us look more closely at what produces those improvements. Handhelds increase efficiency through:
Ease of use - The ERP system prioritises and creates receiving and dispatch queues and generates replenishment orders itself for buffer and picking shelves. Users no longer face choices or decisions in these areas but perform the top task in each queue.
Easy to learn - Training new or temporary staff is very easy with handheld warehouse solutions. “Choose the first task, go to the shelf, scan the item and shelf barcodes and enter the quantity” is all the instruction needed. The handheld alerts users if the wrong shelf or item is scanned.
Combined picking - The ERP system automatically creates combined picking orders for all orders to the same customer with the same delivery date and merges them into one delivery note. Different customers' orders can also be picked together. A label is printed for each order and attached to the box/transport packaging. The handheld identifies the correct box and the label barcode is scanned. A wrong barcode triggers an alert. Errors become difficult to make while warehouse trips decrease considerably.
Efficiency gains - Efficiency also improves through specific handheld-system features such as parallel picking in warehouse zones, automated-storage integration and warnings about hazardous goods, high weight and forklift needs. Also stock transfers through interim storage (transfer carts), receiving in up to three stages (goods at dock, quality control, receipt), and completion procedures with package labels and advance notification to the carrier.
Improved quality with handheld solutions
The ease of using handhelds in warehouse work enables shelf locations. Each location receives an identifying barcode. Receiving scans item and shelf-location barcodes, ensuring very high data quality: recorded stock is highly likely to be on the relevant shelf. Discrepancies have exceptional causes. The picking quantity is therefore available when the task is performed. The same item can be placed on multiple shelves without difficulty, simplifying receiving.
During receiving, the handheld solution suggests a shelf. Maximum quantities per shelf can be configured, but the operator may choose any other shelf if preferable. Item and shelf are still scanned so the ERP system knows where the items are.
The handheld receiving routine can print barcode labels to attach to packaging if required.
Incoming goods are much easier to identify because any barcode on the pallet can be scanned. The system searches available barcodes and suggests the purchase order containing the item. If it appears in multiple orders, a selection menu is shown. Barcodes are stored for the item, inner and outer packaging and other pack sizes. The scanned barcode is also compared with the item number.
The handheld system is online, so every transaction actually takes place in the company's ERP system in real time. The solution is effectively another ERP interface. New customer orders are therefore always booked against current shelf balances, preventing double bookings.
Every handheld transaction occurs when the physical action takes place. The transaction is captured when and where it happens – it cannot be more real-time than that! You can track where picking on an order or combined picking order is taking place and assign multiple pickers to the same order.
Jari Koskela, Systemstöd consultant
– Here are tips about business handheld solutions worth considering. Applications should be adapted to the hardware. The operating environment matters: humidity, dust and outdoor use affect the choice. The wireless network should be sized and adapted to the equipment. Warehouse staff use handhelds continuously, every day and perhaps around the clock, requiring good ergonomics. Some solutions synchronise handhelds and ERP when docked. Such solutions miss most efficiency and quality objectives.