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Active Sales Company, Inc.
Radio Frequency Barcode system
 When
Active Sales Company, Inc. in Santa Fe Springs, California, needed
to improve inventory accuracy, they turned to Advanced Business
Software to develop an integrated wireless bar code system with
the ADaM business software system. According to Dave Gartner, Operations
Manager for Active Sales, We were looking to improve our inventory
accuracy for a number of reasons. The driving force was to improve
customer service by giving our customers real time and accurate
answers to inventory availability. Better product identification
eliminates mistakes. Craig Russell, President for Active Sales
adds, You can quantify the time savings [that the RF barcode system
provides], but how much does it cost us if we send the wrong item
to a customer.
The ADaM RF barcode system currently performs four
basic processes. Purchase order receiving, Inventory ‘Put away’,
Item bin location maintenance and Physical inventory cycle counting.
The importance of item bin locations cannot be over emphasized,
says Dave Gartner, Accurate bin locations allow us to be more efficient
pulling orders and bin location maintenance is a natural complement
to the cycle count system.
To establish an easy to use and practical RF barcode
system, Active Sales Company began an internal labeling process,
both of locations and product. In addition, Active Sales Company
worked with its suppliers to begin the process of bar coding all
products being shipped.
 Working
with its partner vendor, AxiCode International, Active Sales Company
selected the proper hardware to perform wireless data entry. The
hardware system consists of a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver mounted
in the ceiling of the main warehouse, which is connected to the
server using category 5 wiring. The wireless handheld devices
selected (Symbol PDT 6840) allow freedom of movement throughout
the warehouse as well as instantaneous access and updating of information.
Label printing is accomplished using zebra stripe printers.
The ADaM system allows a vendor’s bar-coded item
number to be scanned and ‘learned’, building a cross-reference with
the vendor’s bar code item number ‘on the fly’ when using the wireless
handheld devices. This is immediately updated in the inventory
master subs/alts function of ADaM, which makes it available to all
users.
The item bin location maintenance (or Bin Checking)
function allows a bin location to be scanned and the items in that
location to be verified. Immediate addition or removal of items
within a bin is completed swiftly and efficiently.
 While
working in the purchase order receiving process, you will select
the purchase order for the receipt, from which you may select a
vendor’s bar-coded item to be scanned, which will present the user
with a screen to input the quantity of boxes/cases received and
the number of units per box/case. The ADaM system then multiplies
these inputs for a total receipt quantity. When finished with a
receipt, the ADaM system generates a receiver number and allows
the option to immediately print inventory labels (if the vendor
does not bar code).
The ‘put away’ function allows an item to be scanned
and presents the user with locations to select from. Should these
locations all be full, the user may add another location to that
item by either inputting or scanning the location.
 The
cycle count function is probably the most elegant and efficient
use of the RF barcode system. A cycle count is generated with the
ADaM Physical Inventory system. Active Sales Company uses the very
effective ‘formula’ method of cycle counting where items to be counted
are assigned ‘points’ based on their importance and length of time
since last count. The wireless handheld scanners are then used
to identify the ‘cycle number’ to be counted and the counting is
done by bin location. The selection of counting by location range
decreases travel time by keeping the count personnel within an area
of the warehouse. The same item may be counted in multiple locations,
with the grand total calculated by the system. Counters are led
through the warehouse in location sequence, and after verifying
that they are at the correct location, the item to be counted is
displayed, scanned and the count quantity is entered. The count
quantity is updated to the ADaM cycle count system in ‘real time’
and is ready to be updated.
According to Dave Gartner, The old way of cycle
counting was generating a cycle count, printing a ‘book’ and distributing
the book to the counters. The book was filled out and finally returned
to a count entry operator who would enter all of the counts into
the system. With the new procedure, data entry has been eliminated.
Our inventory manager can review the counts, investigate any discrepancies,
and update with a single click of the mouse.
 Active
Sales inventory accuracy was hovering at 92 percent. 92 percent
is not acceptable. Says Dave Gartner, We’ve set our goal at 98 percent
or better. With a solid foundation built in inventory control,
Active Sales is working with Advanced Business Software to develop
the next logical module; order fulfillment. A paperless, efficient
warehouse has always been a dream of mine, says Dave Gartner, a
veteran with over 20 years of distribution experience. We are moving
in that direction, which is very exciting.
With the combined resources of Active Sales and
Advanced Business Software, this dream will soon become reality.
Companies Mentioned:
Active Sales Company, Inc.
8743 Sorensen Ave.
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Phone: (714) 523-8181
URL: www.activesalesco.com
Advanced Business Software, Inc.
1717 S. State College Blvd., Ste. 250
Anaheim, CA 92806
Phone: (714) 634-2677
URL: www.absonline.com
AxiCode International Corp.
135 E. Chestnut Ave. #3B
Monrovia, CA 91016
Phone: (626) 358-2572
URL: www.americode.com
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