Four Challenges You Can Solve With Zebra Solutions

Transform your operations with Zebra’s fixed industrial scanning, machine vision, RFID, printers and more.

fixed industrial scanningYou’re struggling to find workers. The people you do have are tired of dull, repetitive tasks like scanning barcodes, and their accuracy starts to slip. Now, you’re missing a batch of products, and the person who went to look for them has been gone for an hour. And to top it off, you can’t print more labels because your PC is caked with dirt and grime. How do you make this headache go away? Read on to learn how you can solve each of these issues with Zebra’s industrial manufacturing solutions.

1. SOLVE WORKFORCE CHALLENGES

It can be hard to find enough workers in today’s job market. With Zebra Fixed Industrial Scanning (FIS) and machine vision, you can automate and optimize manufacturing processes to reduce the number of people you need. Instead of hiring someone to perform dull, repetitive tasks like scanning items with a handheld scanner and performing quality control inspections, Zebra’s fixed industrial scanners can automatically scan items on a conveyor belt, production line or operator station to verify items are sorted or added correctly. Machine vision cameras can automate visual quality inspections by looking at a part to verify it is assembled correctly and has no defects.

Unlike human workers, a camera doing inspections will never get tired, call in sick or make mistakes. That means you get faster, more consistent results.

2. IMPROVE QUALITY AND ACCURACY

In addition to needing fewer people, using Zebra’s track and trace solutions improve your quality and accuracy. Manual scanning, visual inspection and documentation can be error-prone, but using Zebra’s Fixed Industrial Scanners and machine vision solutions can do the job for you with the speed, efficiency and accuracy of machine automation.

You get access to real-time data that shows you where products are in the assembly process. You can also see when supply of a certain product gets low, so you know when to order more. If something is placed wrong or assembled wrong, you will be alerted, so you can quickly address the issue before it turns into a larger quality control problem. With accurate and timely data, you can more confidently make decisions to improve quality and efficiency.

3. SAVE TIME LOCATING MATERIALS

Hide and seek is fun as a kid, but when you’re stuck searching for a product in your facility, you’re losing time and money. How can Zebra help you locate items more quickly? Zebra has a large range of fixed-mount and handheld RFID options that allow for location tracking.

With RFID, you can tell where products are in real time, whether it’s when they go through a certain door or when they come off an assembly line. You can even place an active tag on an item that constantly speaks to antennas in the ceiling, so you can locate that item anywhere in your facility within six inches of 3D space. It’s the same technology used in NFL stadiums to track and measure player movement or the speed and rotation of the ball. With the hours you save on locating products with Zebra’s RFID solutions, you can spend more time tackling your production goals.

4. PRINT WITHOUT A PC ON YOUR PLANT FLOOR

The plant floor is often a dirty and dangerous environment for your PC. Zebra is an Encompass partner with Rockwell Automation and has Ethernet IP for RFID, machine vision, bar code scanners and printers. Zebra printers integrate into an Allen-Bradley PLC very easily, and you can print labels from the PLC without having a PC on the industrial plant floor.

Printing directly from the PLC eliminates the cost of a PC and the maintenance that goes with it. You also don’t have to worry about software and security patches since it’s handled by the PLC. Operators can simply press a button on an HMI, print a label at their station and slap it on the product. Zebra has many styles of barcode label printers from industrial desktop to belt-mounted portable printers.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ZEBRA?

If you want to dive deeper into Zebra solutions, download our e-book on machine vision and fixed industrial scanning, or contact your Van Meter account manager to schedule a walkthrough in your facility. We’ll show you how Zebra’s solutions can prevent a potential headache before it occurs.

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jeremiah lehr

ARTICLE BY:

JEREMIAH LEHR
VAN METER EMPLOYEE-OWNER, SMART DEVICES SPECIALIST