I recently read the Intermec white paper Top Ten Supply Chain Technology Trends and I wanted to share some of their findings with you.  According to Intermec, the top ten trends and technologies changing the supply chain are:

1. Comprehensive connectivity- 802.11 wireless LAN, Bluetooth, cellular networks

2. Voice and GPS integrated into rugged computers

3. Speech recognition

4. Digital imaging

5. Portable printing

6. 2D and other barcode advances

7. RFID

8. RTLS

9. Remote management

10. Wireless and device security

Today we’re going to take a look at how the first five trends/technologies are affecting the supply chain and tomorrow we’ll finish up with the last five.

Connectivity-combining multiple forms of wireless connectivity technologies into one device is providing mobile workers with increased convenience and functionality.

Voice and GPS- converging data and voice into one device cuts down on the number of devices that need to be supported, providing operating cost savings.  Similarly, the integration of GPS into mobile computers is just one more additional feature that can be added so that one device can do it all.  For example, the Intermec CN3 and CN3e pictured at left, include wide-area wireless voice and data, 802.11, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity.

Speech Recognition- now speech recognition can be easily embedded into numerous legacy software packages.  This allows hands-free data entry and increased productivity because your workers aren’t stuck staring at a computer screen.

Digital Imaging- capturing images with digital cameras integrated into mobile computers allows mobile workers to capture proof of delivery, proof of service, record damage and more.

Portable Printing- mobile printing provides labor savings and increases productivity by saving your workers a trip to a central location to print something.  Combining mobile printers and mobile computers allows your workers to print delivery receipts, purchase orders, work orders and inspection reports on-the-go.  In fact, according to Intermec, mobile printing is one of the fastest-growing segments in the printing industry.

Visit me tomorrow to find out how the last five trends/technologies can help make your supply chain successful.

Here is some more information about UV barcodes provided by my friend Kevin Berisso, Director for the AIDC Lab at Ohio University.  Kevin has expanded on UV barcodes and explained some other interesting ways to print “invisible” barcodes as well. -Erin

What the good people at barcode.com are referring to is the substitution of regular black (or whatever color you want) ink with a UV based ink that is only visible with a blacklight. Packaging and corrugate companies have been using this for awhile to allow them to print information on the package or corrugate that is not visible to the end user. By far, I would have to say this is the easiest and cheapest solution.

However there is a company that went a bit further with this concept. I can’t remember the name at the moment, but they developed a near-infra-red (ir) transparent paint that allowed someone to print a bar code (or really do anything including write on the item with a marker) and then paint over it. The paint only allowed some wavelengths of light through and as a result you could “see” through the paint with the scanner, but not the human eye. If I can find the company again, I will report it.

Another option out there that is not real cheap is NASA’s magneto-optical imager (MOI) which allows you to read through regular paint or other non-ferrous coatings. By using a special ink the system is able to view the magnetic fields of where the paint is.

This short video Kevin sent me shows the MOI unit in action.  Check it out, it’s pretty cool.

I’d like to thank Kevin for providing this interesting information.  Don’t forget to check out some of the great things that the Ohio University AIDC Lab is up to.