Eye Current: Wireless advantages in Industry

Monday, January 29, 2007

Wireless advantages in Industry

Wireless technologies have been proven to be advantageous in several industries. According to Automation World, companies have reported substantial savings by using wireless handheld devices. Maintenance productivity has been reported as being twenty percent or better when handheld devices are used due to the reduction in paperwork. It saves time and money when technicians in the field can remotely retrieve information to help them do their jobs. Companies have also discovered that technicians in the field can use handheld devices to remotely download pertinent data or create work orders. This saves time versus having to write it down, and waiting for someone to enter the data or work order in the system. As the old saying goes, time is money.

British Petroleum projects a savings of $1 million per year by providing operators with handheld devices. Mt. Olive Pickle Co. Inc. (MOP), the largest privately held pickle company in the U.S., has reported a savings of $80,000 by using wireless voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phones instead of upgrading their walkie-talkie based system. Siemens Energy & Automation Inc., in Alphareta, GA, installed the wireless network for MOP. MOP also uses handheld devices from Symbol Technologies in Holtsville, N.Y. Just by eliminating their paper-based work order system, MOP expects to save about $1 million over the next three years.

These are just a couple examples of companies that are saving time and money by incorporating handheld wireless technology. Several other companies around the world report substantial savings when using mobile devices.

Labels: Networking