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Moog Videolarm Announces POE Ready Security Camera Housings
Dynamic Power Allocation camera housings save installation costs
Moog Videolarm, a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative, high-quality video surveillance products, announces its new line of Power over Ethernet (POE) Ready security camera housings. The POE Ready line is a sophisticated, yet cost effective, series of housings featuring simple and quick installation.
“The POE Ready line meets a market need for high-quality camera housings that are simple to install and maintain. One POE Plus powered cable is all that is required to connect to the Moog Videolarm Dynamic Power Allocation system for intelligent power distribution between the camera and the heater and blower,†said Jimmy Pfaffenberger, site general manager, Moog Videolarm. The technology prioritizes incoming power so that successful camera operation is guaranteed across a full range of operating conditions.
Each unit is POE Plus IEEE802.3 at compliant and includes a 30-watt midspan to power the unit. Available in three different configurations, the POE Ready line supports virtually any Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) or fixed POE enabled security camera.
New Zebra RW 420 Print Station—Mobile Workers Carry Less, Do More
The Zebra RW 420 Print Station builds on Zebra’s success in the mobile workforce market by further enhancing worker productivity and efficiency. This single, compact, lightweight and rugged mobile workforce tool integrates the RW 420 printer directly into the unit’s design, can house a removable Motorola MC70 or MC75 mobile computer, and enables both printer and handheld to be charged at once.
The RW 420 Route Palette continues to satisfy customers who prefer a fixed handle and both a removable printer and handheld terminal, the RW 420 Print Station (aka RW4-PS) expands Zebra’s offering to appeal to customers who prefer a smaller form factor and lower cost. Companies want to reduce strain on mobile workers who already have a lot to carry in their jobs. Now workers can carry less and do more.
Benefits for Companies Currently Using Separate Devices or Manual Processes
Ideal for route accounting, direct store delivery, field service/sales, and e-citation, the integrated solution makes mobile workers’ jobs easier and more productive, and helps businesses reduce operating costs.
Epson TM-T88V Receipt Printer Ranks Most Energy Efficient in its Class
Uses Significantly Less Energy than Same-Class Competitors
Epson, a leading supplier of value-added printing and check scanning solutions for the retail and financial industries, announced today that its newly-released TM-T88V single-station thermal printer ranked highest in energy efficiency, consuming significantly less energy than same-class competitive models. The results derive from stringent, side-by-side tests among ten competitive products performed by Seiko Epson Corporation in 20101. Ideally suited for high-volume retail and teller printing applications, the TM-T88V provides fast, reliable, full-featured receipt printing while delivering industry-leading energy savings and reduced paper usage of 25% or more. In addition, the TM-T88V is the only thermal receipt printer available today with ENERGY STAR qualified configurations. As of June 1, 2010, the TM-T88V will be shipping throughout Epson’s designated sales and distribution channels.
Epson’s TM-T88V single-station thermal printer with USB interface was tested against ten same-class competitive models, including three Star, three Citizen, two Bixolon, one IBM and one Ithaca. Testing results indicate that the Epson TM-T88V uses between 68% and 89% fewer kilowatt hours as compared to the next best performing and worst performing models tested. In addition to its high energy efficiency, the TM-T88V enables users to reduce receipt length by 25% or more, without altering receipt content, by using a combination of paper-saving features including top margin reduction, line space reduction, line feed reduction and barcode height reduction. Low energy consumption and paper-saving features combine to significantly reduce the TM-T88V printer’s long-term cost of operation. Epson’s TM-T88-series is the world’s best-selling thermal printer to date, with over five million units installed worldwide.
Over 125 Million Zebra Wristbands Sold
Zebra Technologies announced today that it has sold more than 125 million of its patient Z-Band wristbands worldwide which will help prevent the number of deaths that are caused by medical errors.
More than 100,000 Americans die annually in U.S. hospitals because of avoidable medical errors, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which also reports that medical errors rank as America’s eighth leading cause of death – higher than auto accidents or breast cancer. However, organizations like The Joint Commission are continuously committed to improving health care for the public by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in risk-reduction activity.
“Since 1995, Zebra has been committed to the patients and healthcare facilities of the world by developing industry-leading thermal transfer technology that helps track patient and medication information, thereby reducing errors,†said Anders Gustafsson, chief executive officer, Zebra Technologies. “Of the 125 million wristbands Zebra has sold, more than 50 percent were in the last 18 months. This increase can be directly tied to the dramatic rise in the adoption rate of bedside bar code medication administration, which requires scanning a patient’s wristband and then scanning the medication before administering it to the patient.â€
3M M2256PW: 22-inch Multi-Touch Display Now Available
3M Touch Systems announced the availability of the 3M Multi-Touch Display M2256PW. With its ultra-fast, 20-plus finger multi-touch input and a high-definition, wide viewing-angle LCD, the M2256PW display delivers performance designed to exceed the requirements of the most demanding multi-finger or multi-user interactive applications. Based on revolutionary 3M Projected Capacitive Technology (3M PCT), the M2256PW display offers application developers full multi-touch capabilities with less than 6 millisecond response time for 20 simultaneous touches.
“With the release of the M2256PW multi-touch display, 3M is helping realize the full potential of the multi-touch ecosystem,” says Chris Tsourides, business manager, 3M Touch Systems. “With 20-plus finger multi-touch capability, the M2256PW display offers software developers an important development tool that they’ve been missing until now.”
The 3M Multi-Touch Display M2256PW is a professional-level display destined to redefine performance expectations in the “multi-touch ecosystem.” Windows Touch AQ tested for 20-plus fingers, the M2256PW display offers fast, accurate multi-touch response for professional and commercial applications and 3M PCT offers key differences from other multi-finger technologies:
- 20-plus finger simultaneous touch response enables more immersive and intuitive applications
- 6 millisecond response time (for 20 touches) enables more natural and responsive applications
- Palm accommodation allows interface manipulation with one or more hands resting on screen
- 3358 touch points enable precise draw and edge accuracy for full screen interactivity
- Anti-stiction touch surface provides users with smooth and natural draw response
Datamax-O’Neil’s I-Class printer helps manufacturer respond to government requirements and gain higher productivity and profitability
In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration in China passed legislation that required pharmaceutical enterprises involved in the manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products to apply barcode identification on all unit-dose medical product packaging. As a pharmaceutical manufacturer specializing in vaccine production, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products had to find a barcode solution to meet the requirements set by the legislation. They sought the help of Datamax-O’Neil to implement a track-and-trace solution, using Datamax-O’Neil’s I-Class series industrial printers.
Wuhan Institute of Biological Products produces an average of more than 100,000 vials of various vaccines daily. These vaccines have to be delivered to health and epidemic prevention stations as well as disease control centers throughout China on time and uninterrupted to meet the daily needs of disease control and prevention. While complying with the new legislation, they also had to ensure that product identification in the manufacturing process would not impact the existing production flow or slow down productivity. To support this, the Institute required an industrial strength printer that it could rely on for mission critical and accurate barcode label printing.
Enter the I-Class series printers. The I-4208 and I-4308 barcode printers feature a tough, modular design that includes a die-cast aluminum frame that assures durability and rugged reliability. The printers come with a standard 32Bit processor and 8MB (16MB) of standard memory for fast first-label output and print speed of 8 inches per second, with a printing resolution of 203dpi (I4208) and 300dpi (I4308) respectively, perfect for printing clear and accurate barcode labels for medical packages that come in varying sizes.
H&M Bay leverages RFID solutions from Motorola to accelerate cold storage freight transfer
The company: H&M Bay, Inc.
In business for more than 25 years, H&M Bay provides efficient, reliable transport of temperature-controlled less-than-truckload (LTL) freight. H&M Bay has distribution centers in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Washington. With its strategically located distribution centers and an owner/operator network of over 10,000, H&M Bay provides industryleading delivery to companies throughout the continental U.S.
The challenge: Fast, efficient product handling and inventory tracking
In the LTL freight industry, time is always a major factor in successfully meeting customers’ needs. When temperature control is required, a focus on operational efficiency is critical, and efficiency is a guiding principle at H&M Bay.
Being the premier freight mover in the LTL frozen and refrigerated commodities market, H&M Bay is always looking at ways to increase service excellence. One example is the company’s custom Web-based dispatch system designed and implemented by John Walker, H&M Bay’s software development manager. The web based system was designed to allow customers and remote workers access to critical operations data 24×7. The customer Extranet opens up the dispatch operations of H&M via online order entry and real time push or pull shipment tracking. Tight integration with the Microsoft Navision Accounting application provides customer and vendor account insight tightly integrated with shipment information.
American Apparel Finds the Right Fit with Motorola RFID
Company overview
American Apparel is a manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of branded fashion apparel based in Los Angeles. The company started in 1989 as a wholesaler of t-shirts and opened its first retail outlets in 2003. As of mid 2008, American Apparel operates over 200 retail stores in 18 countries and the chain is still growing rapidly.
All of American Apparel’s products are manufactured in the United States; its wholesale business supplies its cotton-based casual wear to distributors and screen printers. The company is a vertically integrated operation and conducts its own knitting, dying, cutting and sewing, and design out of its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. American Apparel’s young, metropolitan customers are very loyal to the brand.
The challenge: improve business processes and reduce lost sales attributable to out-of-stocks
American Apparel retail stores operate boutique-style, stocking only one item of each style, color and size on the floor at any time. Inventory turnover is quick and traffic between the stock room and the sales floor is high, particularly during busy hours. With more than 26,000 SKU items to manage, maintaining accurate inventory counts and a 100% stock mix on the floor consumed significant time and labor. However, both were considered critical to the chain’s success, since inventory errors and stocking delays translated directly into lost sales.
The potential benefits of reducing labor and increasing sales from deploying an item-level RFID operation at American Apparel were clear. And given the control it has over its manufacturing, distribution and retail operations, American Apparel’s plan was not only to reap the benefits of RFID on the retail floor, but throughout its closed loop supply chain. The company was eager to test the current capabilities of RFID for accuracy, performance and adaptability to American Apparel’s business processes, with four clear goals for process improvements:
- Increased stock visibility
- Improved accuracy/reliability of inventory counts
- Decreased labor costs and human errors associated with inventory
- Sales floor stock levels maintained at virtually 100%
Planning the pilot: the right location and the right partners to test the potential of item-level RFID
American Apparel gave careful consideration to its choice of store for the pilot. They were looking for a store that had average sales and a dedicated staff that would embrace the technology and a new process for inventory management. In addition, they wanted a location with good traffic flow that was centrally located to other area stores, to facilitate a regional roll-out if the single store pilot proved successful. Ultimately, the store chosen was the Columbia University area store in New York City, which also serves as the returns center for all the American Apparel New York City stores.
Equal consideration was given to the technology partners who would support the pilot. To give item level RFID a legitimate test in a real-world retail environment, American Apparel wanted to start with proven and universally-deployed hardware and software. Based on their market leadership and technology innovation, American Apparel chose Motorola MC9090-G RFID handheld readers for product commissioning and cycle counting. Motorola XR440 fixed readers with AN400 antennas were deployed to track stock moving from the backroom to the sales floor, and also at the point of sale to indicate a sale, decrement inventory, and trigger a product replenish. The retailer also used tags from Avery Dennison’s Retail Information Services combined with Vue Technologies’ TrueVUE Platform.
The TrueVUE platform offers retailers a streamlined, scalable platform that offers increased visibility into inventory levels, location and authenticity. The initial deployment of American Apparel’s pilot system placed RFID tags on each item of clothing and merchandise within American Apparel’s Columbia University area store in New York City.
Operation: Improve Asset Management
From weapons to desks and chairs, the U.S. Army relies on the Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced (PBUSE) system to track Army assets and automate property accountability processes across the supply chain while providing for greater visibility of these assets. PBUSE, the U.S. Army’s Web-based property accountability and tracking system, is part of the Global Combat Support System for both garrison and tactical units. Intermec solutions are at the core of helping PBUSE minimize their inventory tracking costs.
The Intermec solution consists of the CK61 rugged mobile computer and the PM4i Thermal Printer. This solution covers close to 13,000 military locations and manages tens of millions of inventory items for the Army at any given time. By minimizing the footprint cost on and off the battlefield, the Intermec solution has improved inventory asset management by 80 percent, saving the U.S. Army over half a million dollars in permanently lost or misplaced inventory and additional costs to individual soldiers.
At a critical time in the U.S. Army’s history with two major wars taking place, the Army has no room for error when it comes to keeping track of equipment on the battlefield, as well as, in the warehouse. However it has become increasingly difficult to track inventory, particularly as it relates to deployed units. Due to a paper-based, data entry, receipt system, PBUSE has been hampered by inefficient asset tracking processes used to confirm inventory.
Datamax-O’Neil’s Microflash 4t printer Makes NYPD Parking Citations More Accurate and Efficient
Cautionary words to those who park in New York City— obey the rules, or pay the price. A computerized parking citation system rolling out to the NYPD’s parking enforcement division will effectively eliminate hand-written traffic tickets. The result: a more accurate, efficient and cost effective solution. City officials say the new system will significantly reduce errors associated with hand-written tickets and, according to some estimates; realize millions in unpaid fines owed the city.
The solution consists of Symbol Technologies’ handheld computer, the PPT 2800, and Datamax-O’Neil’s portable Microflash 4t thermal printer. The terminal’s pocket PC platform and features, including bar code scanning and real-time wireless communications, allow officers to scan vehicle registration stickers, print tickets, and upload the information to a central database.
The solution works well in New York City, as New York State requires that all vehicles have their registration affixed to the inside of the windshield. The registration includes a 2-D barcode, which the parking officer scans using the handheld computer, and information about the vehicle is instantly and accurately captured. A traffic summons is printed on the spot by the wearable thermal printer, which is connected to the PC via a wireless LAN.
