Meat Processing Plant Implements NiceWatch

q.data Inc., a wireless systems integrator in Canada needed a bar code label printing solution to compliment their RF data collection system, RF Plus™, for a large meat processing plant in Canada. When a shipment of meat was received on the dock, time was of the essence. The workers in receiving needed to get the meat scanned and located in cold storage inventory as quickly as possible. Five to ten people with mobile wireless data collection devices scan the incoming inventory and the handheld application verifies the order receipt and transmits the data real-time to the server database. In addition, the application would also drop a print request to a competitive automated label printing server running on a Windows 2000 server. The application would print a tally label from the data collected from the incoming meat products. The printers were networked Datamax Prodigy Max printers and wireless Zebra QL320 printers.

Problem:

The Integrator had implemented a competitive automated label printing server a few months before to handle the printing portion of the application. The competitive product caused errors in the print output and delays in the material handling. This was made even more critical due to the fact that the product received was a perishable good.

Solution:

The integrator contacted NiceWare and implemented NiceLabel™ Suite with NiceWatch. The integrator used the data filter system in NiceWatch to parse the file previously used by the competitive product. NiceWatch was installed as a service on the Windows 2000 based Print Server. NiceWatch receives over 100 variable fields, assigns the data to the target position on the label template and prints to both the Datamax Prodigy Max and Zebra QL320 Printers. This application prints approximately 1,000 labels per day.

Had NiceWatch been the first choice, the software cost would have been reduced by $2,000, in addition to the service and support costs incurred by using the competitive label printing server.