From incoming goods receipt in the warehouse to status registration in production, on through to delivery confirmation; data is recorded via bar code scanning and transmitted to ERP and production systems. The bar code scanner has established itself as an indispensable tool in industry and trade and in the flat glass and construction elements industry. It is however quickly becoming obsolete. The smartphone, equipped with the A+W Smart Companion app, great computing power, and outstanding algorithms for handling graphics, is taking over. The A+W Smart Companion assists along the entire value-creation chain and contributes to its digitalization, saving time and money.
Scanning with a smartphone app is easier than with customary scanners, it offers a multitude of possibilities, and it is cheaper too. Smartphones are also more technically sophisticated and stable since they are produced in much greater quantities than industrial scanners. Therefore, a lot more research and development potential flow into the final product.
A+W’s Product Manager Peter Kühn said “The use of various scan functionalities with current smartphones is already a reality. Our scanner app A+W Smart Companion can fulfil all requirements of flat glass and window manufacturing companies without the disadvantages of traditional scanner hardware – and this along the entire supply chain. The user replaces very specialized, expensive hardware with a familiar mobile device that we use all the time. Therefore, much less training is required.”
The A+W Smart Companion can be used not only as a bar code scanner but also as a mobile info terminal. Employees can use it to display the locations of order components and the content of racks since communication becomes bidirectional.
New user-friendly hardware with astounding computing power will drive the development of a new software generation, which until recently would not even have been possible. Apps like the A+W Smart Companion will make processes faster, more secure, and cheaper which is what counts in a smart factory.