CUSTOMER: The Commonwealth of Virginia is the twelfth most populous state in the U.S. with a total population of approximately 7.7 million.
CHALLENGE: Improve the efficiency, security and auditability of voter check-in and eliminate the need for traditional paper poll books.
SOLUTION: Precincts used the Datacard® Advocate™ precinct management system to expedite check-in, automate management of voter registration data and eliminate the expense of printing paper poll books.
RESULTS: The Commonwealth accelerated voter check-in, improved poll site management and effectively handled high turnout in 17 localities during the 2008 election.
Improving poll site efficiency Election officials throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia expected high turnout for the historic November 4, 2008 election. To ensure poll sites ran efficiently, they issued a solicitation for electronic poll books to replace traditional paper poll books, speed up voter check-in and improve the security and auditability of voter registration data. The solution needed to meet three criteria. The software needed to be hardware-independent, so it could run on government-refurbished laptop computers that were provided by the Commonwealth as part of a broader effort to save money and support green initiatives. The solution also had to fit within a tight budget. Finally, it needed to be scalable to ensure a seamless rollout in future elections. The Datacard® solution Datacard Group, together with its local dealer BEC Plastic Card Solutions, responded to the solicitation with the Datacard® Advocate™ precinct management system. Designed to enhance poll site management, the Advocate solution includes two components that directly addressed the state’s needs. The Precinct Control Center module includes electronic poll book software that enables poll workers to check in every voter using the same procedure, so there is no need to separate voters into alphabetical lines. This helps poll workers process voters more quickly and reduce poll site congestion. It eliminates the time, cost and effort required to print and distribute traditional paper poll books. Voter registration information is downloaded to each laptop from the same master file, which helps ensure accuracy without supplemental poll books. The Precinct Automation Manager module helps poll sites manage voter registration data efficiently and securely, automating the collection and distribution of authorized voter data from a master database and providing detailed reporting during and after the election.
Both of these modules met all three of the Commonwealth’s criteria. They are device-independent, so they could work with refurbished laptops. They are cost-effective enough to meet budget requirements. The Advocate system is also scalable, allowing the Commonwealth to roll out electronic poll books to more precincts in future elections.
Fast implementation
Virginia election officials selected the Advocate solution and awarded Datacard Group a four-year contract. Teams from Datacard Group and BEC inventoried, tested, loaded and deployed hundreds of refurbished laptops with Advocate system software at more than 100 precincts, in just eight weeks. (Typically, a project of this scale takes 12 to 14 weeks to implement.) Datacard Group also provided more than 200 statewide “look-up” devices at additional locations. Together, Datacard Group and BEC conducted training sessions with participating poll workers to help ensure operator success. For additional backup, Datacard offered on-site support during the election. Successful outcome At the local level, reactions to the Advocate solution were positive.
“We experienced the future of secure, efficient precinct management with the Datacard solution this past November,” said Nancy Rodrigues, secretary, Virginia State Board of Elections. “The training, technical support, hardware and software Datacard Group provided addressed our needs. We experienced no problems on election day with this solution.”
Officials from several localities voiced similar opinions:
• Mathews County registrar: “Datacard provided Mathews with trained technical support, hardware and software, all within the constraints of a small window of opportunity to meet the election deadline. Datacard demonstrated the ability to design and install a turnkey solution to the new and progressive technology beckoned by the future of secure and efficient elections.”
• Chesterfield County registrar: “The system performed as expected and allowed rapid check-in of voters. The experience was very positive. We hope to move toward county-wide deployment.”
• Fredericksburg general registrar: “The solution provided by Datacard Group provides increased security in our processes and timely and efficient workflow at our poll sites. Datacard Group completed installation in a timely matter, trained our personnel and worked closely with us to ensure a successful outcome.”
Flexible capabilities
Not every precinct that used the Advocate system had the same requirements. Some required the ability to scan a driver’s license to perform voter lookup — which is faster than entering voter data in a search field. Other poll sites needed thermal printers to issue check-in statements that served as a physical backup to the electronic record. The Advocate system is designed to work with a wide range of peripherals, so it easily integrated with these scanners and printers.
At the close of the election, each locality used the Advocate system to update the statewide voter registration system, helping ensure accurate voter credit. With paper poll books, establishing voter credit history requires the State Board of Elections to manually process data for each voter. The Advocate system makes this information available immediately - along with reports on turnout, including hour-by-hour breakdowns that help election officials coordinate volunteer poll workers in future elections and recounts.
Overall, election officials from Virginia noted Datacard Group’s understanding of local poll site needs. “Datacard Group’s expertise in providing precinct management solutions is among the best we have seen,” said Juanita Pitchford, general registrar, Fredericksburg. “Datacard Group exceeded our expectations and
demonstrated the ability to design and install a turnkey solution and resolve unexpected issues for our locality.”
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
Pirelli | Printronix Helps Everything Run Smoothly at Pirelli
Corporate Profile
Pirelli Deutschland AG celebrated its centennial at the site in Breuberg im Odenwald, Germany in 2003. More than 7.6 million vehicle tires were manufactured here in the past year, primarily in the sectors of high performance and ultra high performance tires, in addition to around 1.8 million motorcycle tires. The company’s customers for original equipment include all the well-known names in German vehicle manufacturing, including Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Opel, Porsche and VW, as well as General Motors and Jaguar internationally. The annual revenue of companies in the Pirelli Deutschland AG group is more than 700 million euro, and the number of employees is approximately 3,300. Since 1995, production has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Breuberg location. In 1997, Pirelli Reifenwerke became Germany’s first tire manufacturer and the nation’s second company to receive the international award for exceptional quality concepts and implementation in production, the Japanese “TPM Award.” Pirelli Reifenwerke was the first non-Japanese company to receive the “TPM Special Award” in 1999.
Problem Met
In 2000, the groundwork was laid for the new Modular Integrated Robotized System™ (MIRS) production plant which Pirelli has used to completely revolutionize traditional technology and methodology in tire production. The new process is based on the concept of a highly flexible mini-factory which can be fully customized to the requirements of the marketplace. Six MIRS modules are already running 24-hour shift operations in Breuberg, seven days a week.
When deciding to use the printers, the first issue was to find the best possible way to support the production processes appropriately and flexibly, and at the same time utilizing the standards already established. The demanding requirements outlined for the new printers were primarily reliability and performance in 24-hour operation. In addition, downtime for maintenance was a concern. The decision was made to purchase 37 Printronix thermal printers.
Before the Printronix printers were installed, the identification process was carried out solely on the transport frames, using different formats and contents. Using the parallel port connection available on the Printronix thermal printers, the wait times were reduced from seven to three seconds.
Results
The thermal printers from Printronix have been in use at Pirelli in the car tire production plant since September 2002. There are 35 T5204 and two T5208 thermal printers in the production plant for printing material ID cards with bar codes. Used to identify all materials produced and used, the cards are attached to various semi-finished goods frames such as spools, rollers, palettes or trolleys, normally using clips. All goods movements are recorded by scanning the labels; on average, each bar code is scanned twice.
More than 3,800 barcode labels are printed each day, which means that every thermal printer produces up to 400 labels per day. The labels are printed in the formats 4” x 6”, 4” x 12” and 8” x 12”. In addition to the bar code, they give the material name, the storage location and the maximum storage period for each individual product. This ensures a “first in, first out” procedure for seamless production processes. Using this system, every transport frame marked with a bar code label can be identified at any time.
The printers are in a robust production environment, and the two T5208 printers are required to withstand temperatures up to 40° C in air with very high dust content in the mixing area during the manufacture of rubber mixtures. At Pirelli these printers are used for printing material ID cards in A4 format using code 39 and standard fonts. Every material ID card is printed once, and the individual barcode labels are cut off using a cutting device located on the printer itself.
With the Printronix printers, the ink ribbon needs to be changed less often as all the ribbons from Printronix are exceptionally long at 625 meters. All staff members involved have been trained to change the paper and carbon ribbon, even though these are very simple tasks to carry out. The Printronix printers provide seamless integration with existing system infrastructure and allow for wireless communication to the network. The printers can be swapped over for short periods at any time as the printers are fully compatible with one another in terms of control. This shortens waiting times considerably and keeps downtime to a minimum.
Response
“We decided to use Printronix printers because these high-performance printers provide everything we needed from an industrial printer: They are robust, offer various connection options, can be remotely administered and provide a longer ink ribbon meaning that it needs to be changed less frequently,”
Pirelli Deutschland AG celebrated its centennial at the site in Breuberg im Odenwald, Germany in 2003. More than 7.6 million vehicle tires were manufactured here in the past year, primarily in the sectors of high performance and ultra high performance tires, in addition to around 1.8 million motorcycle tires. The company’s customers for original equipment include all the well-known names in German vehicle manufacturing, including Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Opel, Porsche and VW, as well as General Motors and Jaguar internationally. The annual revenue of companies in the Pirelli Deutschland AG group is more than 700 million euro, and the number of employees is approximately 3,300. Since 1995, production has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Breuberg location. In 1997, Pirelli Reifenwerke became Germany’s first tire manufacturer and the nation’s second company to receive the international award for exceptional quality concepts and implementation in production, the Japanese “TPM Award.” Pirelli Reifenwerke was the first non-Japanese company to receive the “TPM Special Award” in 1999.
Problem Met
In 2000, the groundwork was laid for the new Modular Integrated Robotized System™ (MIRS) production plant which Pirelli has used to completely revolutionize traditional technology and methodology in tire production. The new process is based on the concept of a highly flexible mini-factory which can be fully customized to the requirements of the marketplace. Six MIRS modules are already running 24-hour shift operations in Breuberg, seven days a week.
When deciding to use the printers, the first issue was to find the best possible way to support the production processes appropriately and flexibly, and at the same time utilizing the standards already established. The demanding requirements outlined for the new printers were primarily reliability and performance in 24-hour operation. In addition, downtime for maintenance was a concern. The decision was made to purchase 37 Printronix thermal printers.
Before the Printronix printers were installed, the identification process was carried out solely on the transport frames, using different formats and contents. Using the parallel port connection available on the Printronix thermal printers, the wait times were reduced from seven to three seconds.
Results
The thermal printers from Printronix have been in use at Pirelli in the car tire production plant since September 2002. There are 35 T5204 and two T5208 thermal printers in the production plant for printing material ID cards with bar codes. Used to identify all materials produced and used, the cards are attached to various semi-finished goods frames such as spools, rollers, palettes or trolleys, normally using clips. All goods movements are recorded by scanning the labels; on average, each bar code is scanned twice.
More than 3,800 barcode labels are printed each day, which means that every thermal printer produces up to 400 labels per day. The labels are printed in the formats 4” x 6”, 4” x 12” and 8” x 12”. In addition to the bar code, they give the material name, the storage location and the maximum storage period for each individual product. This ensures a “first in, first out” procedure for seamless production processes. Using this system, every transport frame marked with a bar code label can be identified at any time.
The printers are in a robust production environment, and the two T5208 printers are required to withstand temperatures up to 40° C in air with very high dust content in the mixing area during the manufacture of rubber mixtures. At Pirelli these printers are used for printing material ID cards in A4 format using code 39 and standard fonts. Every material ID card is printed once, and the individual barcode labels are cut off using a cutting device located on the printer itself.
With the Printronix printers, the ink ribbon needs to be changed less often as all the ribbons from Printronix are exceptionally long at 625 meters. All staff members involved have been trained to change the paper and carbon ribbon, even though these are very simple tasks to carry out. The Printronix printers provide seamless integration with existing system infrastructure and allow for wireless communication to the network. The printers can be swapped over for short periods at any time as the printers are fully compatible with one another in terms of control. This shortens waiting times considerably and keeps downtime to a minimum.
Response
“We decided to use Printronix printers because these high-performance printers provide everything we needed from an industrial printer: They are robust, offer various connection options, can be remotely administered and provide a longer ink ribbon meaning that it needs to be changed less frequently,”
Sears Distribution Center | Printronix Solution Improved Bar Code Scan Rate by 48 Percent
Profile
Sears Roebuck & Co., headquartered in Chicago, Ill., provided its first catalog to U.S. consumers in 1888. Today, Sears operates 863 mall-based retail stores offering home-related products. Additional innovative ways to reach consumers have come from its new Great Indoors stores and the launch of Sears.com. Not only has Sears been on the forefront of consumer engagement, they also utilize innovative supply-chain techniques, such as a high-speed scanner sorter systems to move merchandise quickly to the consumer and reduce overall costs in the supply chain. Sears has more than 3 million SKUs, 5,000 ship points and 13 distribution centers; handles more than 35 million boxes; has more than 4,000 trading partners; and issues approximately 30 million purchase orders annually. Any bar code failure in the supply chain can mean a rejected item, manual recovery steps, time delay, loss in productivity, a disappointed customer or, ultimately, loss of business.
Situation
Sears needed an integrated total solution to meet its retail distribution bar-code labeling needs. To be effective, the solution had to perform three critical tasks: improve inventory within its international goods receiving and labeling process; leverage technology to improve operations and streamline costs in its supply chain; and enhance supply-chain efficiency between Sears and its vendors.
To improve its inventory operations, the Sears logistics group scrutinized its international distribution center. Goods arriving on the dock are not labeled. All goods must be marked with 4- x 6-inch UCC 128-compliant labels before being shipped to Sears’ domestic distribution centers for fulfillment. The domestic distribution centers are equipped with the newest technology, using high-speed scanner and sorter equipment. To keep distribution lines flowing, it was mission-critical that Sears implement a solution ensuring 100-percent bar code accuracy.
As part of a Sears’ quality-improvement program, the company tasked Printronix with improving the printing process and output experienced at the high-volume international distribution center. Non-Printronix printers with fanfold supplies were used to print labels for all international goods and cartons. These systems produced a high volume of non-compliant bar code labels. In addition, the costly printheads in place had a short lifespan and smudged labels, causing bar-code quality problems within the supply chain. Further complicating the situation, previous label-generation software, which used a four-step process of importing files from a central UNIX server, was labor intensive, error prone, cumbersome, did not allow for automated label design and had minimal database integration capability.
Sears wanted a solution to resolve immediate needs. In conjunction, it needed a proven solution to recommend to its vendor community. Although Sears achieves high levels of compliance with its vendors, the company seeks new ways continually to improve efficiency in its vendor-retailer supply chain.
Results
Sears turned to Printronix to analyze its situation and provide a complete solution for its compliance labeling problems. To improve efficiency and solve Sears’ label scanning problems, Printronix recommended its T5000 printers with Online Data Validation (ODV™). Sears found that ODV provides a cost-effective, hands-free quality control process to ensure that faulty bar codes aren’t affixed to products. With ODV, all defective bar codes are captured at the source and corrected, thus eliminating scanning problems at the domestic distribution centers and retail stores.
Sears worked directly with the Printronix Professional Services organization to create a complete solution. To eliminate unnecessary software and streamline the printing process — thereby reducing greatly the training and knowledge required by the workers — Printronix provided:
• A tested and improved quality of fanfold media to provide an exact ribbon match to eliminate smudging
• Additional assistance to convert bar code C128C to UCC/EAN 128 and to set up the hardware using a direct parallel connection
• A new software label design package
Plus, the Professional Services team reformatted Sears’ database by creating an ODBC driver and mapping the drivers to make them database fields, integrated the database, label formatting and automated the label design piece.
Over an eight-month period, the Printronix implementation exceeded all of Sears’ objectives for its international warehouse. It allowed Sears to move 250,000 additional cartons, improved scan rates to 98 percent from 66 percent and increased bar code scan rates by 48 percent. In total, the Printronix T5000 thermal barcode printer and ODV solution:
• Reduced label compliance failures
• Increased the scan rate of bar codes
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Increased the quality of print jobs
• Improved supply chain efficiency from vendor to retail customer
• Reduced the overall cost of labeling
With a proven solution in place to address its in-house bar-code labeling needs, Sears then turned to its trading partners. By implementing the same solution with its trading partners Sears will be able to further reduce overall supply chain costs, improve cycle time and reduce or eliminate non-compliance charges due to print quality. In a program underway currently, selected Sears’ vendors will be able to test a T5000r printer with ODV to reduce the number of charge backs due to bar code and label scanability.
Reaction
“The strike-out feature for ODV allows for unattended printing reducing labor costs. Before, a worker picked up a stack of fanfold labels and used bad ones on cartons, thus causing the conveyor system to slow down or even stop. Now, they don’t worry about it. We know the bar codes will be accurate.”
Sears Roebuck & Co., headquartered in Chicago, Ill., provided its first catalog to U.S. consumers in 1888. Today, Sears operates 863 mall-based retail stores offering home-related products. Additional innovative ways to reach consumers have come from its new Great Indoors stores and the launch of Sears.com. Not only has Sears been on the forefront of consumer engagement, they also utilize innovative supply-chain techniques, such as a high-speed scanner sorter systems to move merchandise quickly to the consumer and reduce overall costs in the supply chain. Sears has more than 3 million SKUs, 5,000 ship points and 13 distribution centers; handles more than 35 million boxes; has more than 4,000 trading partners; and issues approximately 30 million purchase orders annually. Any bar code failure in the supply chain can mean a rejected item, manual recovery steps, time delay, loss in productivity, a disappointed customer or, ultimately, loss of business.
Situation
Sears needed an integrated total solution to meet its retail distribution bar-code labeling needs. To be effective, the solution had to perform three critical tasks: improve inventory within its international goods receiving and labeling process; leverage technology to improve operations and streamline costs in its supply chain; and enhance supply-chain efficiency between Sears and its vendors.
To improve its inventory operations, the Sears logistics group scrutinized its international distribution center. Goods arriving on the dock are not labeled. All goods must be marked with 4- x 6-inch UCC 128-compliant labels before being shipped to Sears’ domestic distribution centers for fulfillment. The domestic distribution centers are equipped with the newest technology, using high-speed scanner and sorter equipment. To keep distribution lines flowing, it was mission-critical that Sears implement a solution ensuring 100-percent bar code accuracy.
As part of a Sears’ quality-improvement program, the company tasked Printronix with improving the printing process and output experienced at the high-volume international distribution center. Non-Printronix printers with fanfold supplies were used to print labels for all international goods and cartons. These systems produced a high volume of non-compliant bar code labels. In addition, the costly printheads in place had a short lifespan and smudged labels, causing bar-code quality problems within the supply chain. Further complicating the situation, previous label-generation software, which used a four-step process of importing files from a central UNIX server, was labor intensive, error prone, cumbersome, did not allow for automated label design and had minimal database integration capability.
Sears wanted a solution to resolve immediate needs. In conjunction, it needed a proven solution to recommend to its vendor community. Although Sears achieves high levels of compliance with its vendors, the company seeks new ways continually to improve efficiency in its vendor-retailer supply chain.
Results
Sears turned to Printronix to analyze its situation and provide a complete solution for its compliance labeling problems. To improve efficiency and solve Sears’ label scanning problems, Printronix recommended its T5000 printers with Online Data Validation (ODV™). Sears found that ODV provides a cost-effective, hands-free quality control process to ensure that faulty bar codes aren’t affixed to products. With ODV, all defective bar codes are captured at the source and corrected, thus eliminating scanning problems at the domestic distribution centers and retail stores.
Sears worked directly with the Printronix Professional Services organization to create a complete solution. To eliminate unnecessary software and streamline the printing process — thereby reducing greatly the training and knowledge required by the workers — Printronix provided:
• A tested and improved quality of fanfold media to provide an exact ribbon match to eliminate smudging
• Additional assistance to convert bar code C128C to UCC/EAN 128 and to set up the hardware using a direct parallel connection
• A new software label design package
Plus, the Professional Services team reformatted Sears’ database by creating an ODBC driver and mapping the drivers to make them database fields, integrated the database, label formatting and automated the label design piece.
Over an eight-month period, the Printronix implementation exceeded all of Sears’ objectives for its international warehouse. It allowed Sears to move 250,000 additional cartons, improved scan rates to 98 percent from 66 percent and increased bar code scan rates by 48 percent. In total, the Printronix T5000 thermal barcode printer and ODV solution:
• Reduced label compliance failures
• Increased the scan rate of bar codes
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Increased the quality of print jobs
• Improved supply chain efficiency from vendor to retail customer
• Reduced the overall cost of labeling
With a proven solution in place to address its in-house bar-code labeling needs, Sears then turned to its trading partners. By implementing the same solution with its trading partners Sears will be able to further reduce overall supply chain costs, improve cycle time and reduce or eliminate non-compliance charges due to print quality. In a program underway currently, selected Sears’ vendors will be able to test a T5000r printer with ODV to reduce the number of charge backs due to bar code and label scanability.
Reaction
“The strike-out feature for ODV allows for unattended printing reducing labor costs. Before, a worker picked up a stack of fanfold labels and used bad ones on cartons, thus causing the conveyor system to slow down or even stop. Now, they don’t worry about it. We know the bar codes will be accurate.”
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