Schösswender furniture has been manufacturing and selling its furniture in Austria for the past 15 years. For its 15th anniversary, the company expanded its production area and opened a new paint line. Now, about 250 construction contracts with approximately 7,000 items per week go through the production process at the company.
Schösswender knew that an inventory system based on hand-written marking and paper lists would not suffice for the expanded production. The high administrative costs sustained for controlling mistakes made from manually edited lists in the back office computer system and the frequent search for parts were no longer acceptable. Goods needed to be tracked throughout the entire production process electronically with a modern bar code solution.
The company knew exactly what it wanted in terms of a system to manage production and inventory. "We needed a solution that would allow us to work in complete freedom without having to rely on our suppliers" explained Karl Brunner, operations manager at the Franking production center. Strict hardware requirements also had to be met. "We have men and women of different ages engaged in the production process, so the system had to be easy to use," Brunner continued.
"We contacted three vendors and evaluated their proposed solutions for three months. We ended up choosing Datalogic and its Partner Barcotec because they provided the best complete offer, expert advice in the evaluation phase and close proximity to our suppliers." The Falcon would be used together with Barcotec's easyMITS software.
First, we decided together with Datalogic to use 2D Data Matrix codes for marking our material, as there were many small parts with much information. Then, we started to implement the flexible standard software "easyMITS production" and the Falcon™, which were at full operation within a few weeks.
The benefits were apparent right away. Manual control was no longer needed and error rates dropped significantly, which also resulted in an improved working environment. "Thanks to the new system, in some tasks we saved up to one day a week of time and effort, which could now be dedicated to other activities," Brunner commented proudly. He continued "even employee training is now reduced to a minimum, as use of the software and mobile computer is simple and clear, almost self-explanatory."
The positive experience of the first few months using the new system convinced Schösswender to expand the system further. Currently, loading control with the Falcon™ and easyMITS is very reliable. "We have considered using this system even in the areas of merchandise and stocking, where efficiency can be improved, so this will be our next step."
