Sandpiper Corporation & LXE Win Contract to Supply Gerber Foods Soft Drinks With a Rugged Mobile Computing System

Sandpiper Corporation & LXE Win Contract to Supply Gerber Foods Soft Drinks With a Rugged Mobile Computing System.

Gerber Foods Soft Drinks Ltd (GFSD) is the largest UK producer of ambient and chilled juice and juice drinks. They were one of the first companies to install an RF system, back in the early 1990s, but the old narrowband system took time to communicate between the AS/400 system and terminals, which led to delays in processing information.

Gerber selected Sandpiper to specify and design the wireless infrastructure, and supply a mobile computing and barcode scanning system to meet the requirements of the existing business, that would also provide a platform to support growing wireless demands in the future.

Sandpiper recommended LXE hardware as part of their proposal including the unique Spire Antenna solution, which was crucial to the cost-effective implementation of the system. The LXE solution allows us to use the latest IEEE802.11b compliant radio technology whilst minimising the number of access points required to cover the warehouse area. The coverage provided by each LXE Spire Access Point is very impressive, particularly in view of the liquids and metal racking, comments Phil.

Sandpiper proposed a solution that would integrate with Gerbers existing application software and provide an alternative means of scanning the pallet labels. This had previously been achieved using scanners fixed to the fork carriage but it was recommended that handheld scanners be implemented to improve the speed of the operation.

Gerber deploy both hand held and vehicle-mounted computers at their facility. Forklift operators have LXE VX1s mounted on their trucks with Powerscan extra long range scanners, while despatch staff utilise the LXE MX2 hand held unit.

A critical element of the solution required Sandpiper and LXE to provide a data editing facility, allowing Gerber to personalise their computer system to suit their internal requirements.