IEN: How has mass customization come to the Material Handling sector? How can vendors meet such demands?
Hilbert: Material handling vendors must be able to provide one-piece flow solutions instead of just bulk solutions. This has also led to unique identification of each piece.
Taplett: Mass customization is fueling the practice of unit level tracking. As complete lifecycle traceability of product down to the unit level becomes increasingly popular, material handling solutions must include 2D-capable products.
IEN: How do MH vendors handle lean/agile manufacturing mandates?
Taplett: Products must be more adaptable to changing needs. Manufacturers want a product they can easily reconfigure between product runs or for changing applications. That is why Microscan has engineered its products to be easily optimized right out of the box for any type of bar code. This takes the guesswork out of programming the unit. The line operator can hold the bar code in front of the scanner and push the EZ setup button and the scanner will automatically optimize its settings to read that specific bar code at the specified distance. Bar code programming enables the user to quickly configure multiple units with the same settings. Once the first scanner is optimized, the user can print out the "k" commands encoded into a series of bar codes. All the user needs to do is hold up the sheet of bar codes in front of the other scanners. Once the scanners read the bar codes, they will automatically be reconfigured to the new settings. Features such as this make it easy to get bar code scanners up and running when new products with completely new bar codes are introduced.
Microscan industrial bar code scanners and imagers offer pushbutton setup and autocalibration. These features enable the user to optimize the scanner''s settings for each new bar code that needs to be read, without custom programming. They can be up and reading new product within minutes, instead of days or weeks. As a result, maintenance costs and machine setup time between product runs are both greatly reduced.
IEN: What innovations are in store for users of MH vehicles, equipment, systems, components, materials, software, and services?
Hilbert: Material handling vendors will have to come up with ways of not only tracking individual products, but communicating the information securely in real time all the way to the customer in a web-based environment.
Products are also becoming more intelligent, yet easier to use at the same time. Bar code scanners are no longer expected to just scan the bar code and transmit the data to a host system. These devices now have the ability for multiple discrete I/O, code matching, data formatting to name a few. This pushes the decision-making process from the host to the scanner.
IEN: What advances do you see in plant floor connectivity? Web services? Remote MH? Supply chain? Simulation? Wireless applications?
Hilbert: Total connectivity with every meaningful statistic as it happens. Managers will be wirelessly connected to web-based touch devices with digital dashboards keeping them informed.
IEN: Do you believe there is potential for RFID in MH applications in the manufacturing, assembly, and/or processing space? Please explain.
Hilbert: Vision technology will continue to gain market share as more companies embrace DPMI. There will always be a place for laser scanning due to the lower cost of implementation.
Manufacturers will use RFID mainly for tote or pallet identification, but bar codes or 2D symbols will be the identifier for individual parts and components.
IEN: What steps have been taken toward resolving safety and security concerns?
Taplett: Parts counterfeiting has been a big concern for the Dept of Defense and aerospace industry. Marking parts with 2D codes for complete lifecycle traceability will help solve this problem. Aerospace and the DoD UID (unique identification) mandates ATA Spec 2000 and MIL STD-130 are pushing to have parts indelibly identified to withstand worst-case scenario environments. In many cases, this calls for directly marking parts with 2D codes by methods such as laser etching or ball peening. As a result, imagers capable of reading 2D codes marked on a variety of substrates have recently become a key component of many material handling systems.