AIDC or Automatic Identification and Data Capture technology is now common-place in the manufacturing world. They are commonly known as barcode scanning, radio frequency identification (RFID), magnetic stripes, some forms of wireless networks, voice recognition, and many others. They are used in many applications from creating a chain of custody throughout the supply chain, to validating processes, and tracking assets (just to name a few).
Achieving efficiency and cutting costs with AIDC devices comes from many areas. However, two of these will produce the most benefits: device optimization and labor management.
Device optimization can be achieved by gathering feedback from the technology itself through dashboard and analytics tools. Manufactures receive information like battery life and, even, how often the device is being used (or not). This helps them determine opportunities for device adoption and helps them prevent downtime.
Labor management is the second part of the equation in using AIDC devices to reduce overhead and become more efficient. Again, analytics and dashboards play a large part in giving information about the labor force. Statistics about production volume, labor, costs, customers, and time is considered. It helps manufacturers ask and answer the following questions. Do we have the right amount of staff? Is that staff working the appropriate kinds of hours? Are results consistent? Is the employee workload constantly changing to keep up with this volume of work? And, do we have the right kind of staff?
Automatic Identification and Data Capture is becoming increasingly important to keeping manufacturing companies running efficiently and effectively. It’s not enough to just put it into place, though. They have to use the data provided to improve technology, processes, and people.
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