Time For The Wireless Warehouse
By Bob Boyles, Principal
Smarter Distribution

Several articles ago we discussed the appearance of wireless broadband as an enabling technology that will allow you the wholesaler to lower your operating cost and achieve more efficient operations. Wi-Fi is a local application of exactly that type of enabling technology.

I recently spent the day with a distributor that had just hooked up a wireless network in their branch office. Watching as they walked through the warehouse with a laptop and spot-checked inventory got me thinking on other uses for this type of groundbreaking technology.

Remember all those clipboards you’ve got hanging in the warehouse where employees write down the out-of-stock items or newly suggested products. All of these can now go the way of the dinosaur. Now you can have instant access in the warehouse to the central system. No more running up the counter and tying up their terminal to check location codes, etc. All of this maintenance can now be done on the spot. Want a way to do an inexpensive cycle count on the spot, now you can put your laptop on a picking cart and roam around the warehouse counting and checking. A note about cycle counts: you still want to manage your cycle counts so that you are counting high moving items & high value items more frequently than the dust collectors. Just because you have a new method of accessing the data doesn’t mean you want to abandon the logic that has been built into your inventory management system.

What makes this type of technology so exciting is that it enhances your existing investment in computers and allows that same investment to be used in a whole new way. The rest of the world is catching on. During 1985, while in the middle of the Reagan administration, the Federal Communications Commission opened up the radio spectrum. From 1990 until 1997 there was no standard, then 802.11b was formalized and Wi-Fi as we know it took off. Today no one knows the limit. Intel is including Wi-Fi capabilities in all of their new Centrino chips designed specifically for laptops. Starbucks is offering wireless access at all of their outlets. Looking 5 years down the road Wi-Fi and cellular technology will merge and you could world wide wireless access at your finger tips! There are several companiese here in the Dallas area that are working on that technology right now.

As a manager this type of technology forces you to re-think the decades old way of doing business that you’ve been entrenched in. Remember all those consultants that have been telling you to hire smart in the warehouse to increase the accuracy of your on-hands and counts. Now that advice goes double. Now anything that can be done at the inside sales desk or an operational manager’s office can be done on the warehouse floor! Traditionally you would give your warehouse employees the responsibility to manage product locations but now the scope of what they can do is open for discussion. Those companies that have taken this advice to heart are now in a position to provide those capable employees with a powerful tool and reap the benefits of increased productivity.

There is one trait that that has been noticeable to me between those wholesalers that are growing and successful and those companies that troubled and defensive. It is that the successful companies experiment. They are not happy with the status quo and are constantly looking for new ways to improve their operations.

The nice thing about a project like this is that it’s not horribly expensive to try out. Just slap a couple of pieces of hardware together and you can give it a trial. Compare a project like this with a barcode project. With bar-coding you need buy specialized equipment and must label the shelves and material in the warehouse along with a lot of data maintenance in the central system to get yourself ready to go. At the most you’ll invest a $1000 and if doesn’t appeal to your taste take equipment home and give to your teenage son, he’ll know how to make it work.

Here’s how you do it.

1. Take your existing PC network (assuming you’re not still using dumb terminals) and hook up a wireless access point. You can pick one these up at the computer store for around $100. Most will give you a range of about 300 feet and can usually go through one or two light walls. Masonry walls will definitely stop the signal. A note about security: because this is wireless also means the signal does not respect the property line between you and your neighbors. Most of the newer wireless access points allow for enhanced security so that someone driving up into your parking lot won’t have free internet access. Be sure to understand the type of security that your wireless access point offers when making a purchase.

2. Decide what device you want to use out in the warehouse Laptop / PDA and purchase a wireless network card and install that in your device. These are dropping in price and can run from $50 to $100.

3. Use your emulation program and there you go. You should have the same login prompt you get from your old UNIX based system. Using a PDA you may need to purchase a special emulation program.

4. Login and cruise around the warehouse.

Now that you’ve got the fever you can begin to look at the best devices to use and how you might need to reconfigure the display for the ¼ VGA screen that most PDAs have.

Wholesalers have traditionally been one of the slowest industries to adopt new technologies. Here is a tool that can turn that old adage on its ear.

Bob Boyles started his strategic consulting business in 2001 and focuses on the change that technology is forcing in the supply chain and how independent distributors can not only respond to that change but also maximize their return on investment. Bob spent a significant amount of time as an Installation Consultant for several of the big name software companies in the distribution market. Working with hundreds of distributors across the country on installing, upgrading and utilizing their software. Bob also worked as Corporate Systems Manager for one of the largest electrical wholesalers in the country as that company moved from a completely manual operation to an on-line real-time system.

Bob graduated from Appalachian State University (BS - 1981) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Graduate School of Business (MBA - 1985).

© Copyright All rights reserved 2002 Robert S Boyles, Jr. This article cannot be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part, without the express written permission of Robert S Boyles, Jr.