The waste disposal organization, Nordschwaben in Germany is using mobile processes as a reliable tool for complying with new legal requirements, while making processes more efficient and faster.
The waste disposal organization, (AWV) Nordschwaben in Germany is using mobile processes as a reliable tool for complying with new legal requirements, while making processes more efficient and faster. This helps the company increase process transparency and profitability, comply with legal guidelines and take care of employee and customer satisfaction at the same time.
The waste disposal organization Nordschwaben - or short named AWV, the waste managing entity of the counties Dillingen a. d. Donau and Donau-Ries, was founded in 1977 when the two counties unified to become a municipal organization. More than 200 employees service about 226,000 inhabitants. Per year, the total waste sums up to about 150,000 tons of which 26,000 tons come from households and more than 9,000 from companies. The company provides service for: 45 recycling companies, more than 300 container stations, 80 organic waste collecting points, one disposal site, organic waste bins, paper bins, yellow bags, residual waste bins, diapers and garbage bags as well as a collection of special waste free of charge.
While trying to increase customer satisfaction, waste disposal organizations such as AWV are continuously faced with tighter legal parameters that keep on bringing new challenges to them. What resources could be used in order to find economical advantages and at the same time increase quality and customer satisfaction. Faced with these challenges, AWV is using modern techniques to optimize performance. The solution delivered by Datalogic Mobile and OTT Software - mobile solutions, Halblech, optimizes the process for 45 recycling companies. The Datalogic J Series PDA, along with mobile printers, are making processes easier, faster and more secure. Compared to manual process management, the largest advantage of the mobile solution is time saving. Here the effort was reduced by about 30 percent.
Accelerating the processes
Citizens from the counties Dillingen and Donau-Ries, which bring their waste, reusable materials or bulky waste to one of the recycling companies, are met by AWV employees who observe the type and quantity of the delivered waste, record everything and, if applicable, issue an invoice. In the past, this process was done manually. It was time consuming filling in the forms manually, and walking from the courtyard to the offices and back. Observing the delivery, issuing the invoice and the receipt inside the office, controlling waste unloading and preparing for the next activity resulted in about 30 m of walking paths. Processes that left customers impatient and employees in a rush. The deliveries written down manually on forms were brought to the central office after official work hours. The data was typed into the system again manually. Even that input was time consuming and sometimes resulted in errors as it was not always easy reading through hand written notes.
The need for real-time transparency, process simplification and shorter walking distances as well as increased service quality with higher customer satisfaction required a new technical solution.
On the winner's road
"The advantages provided by mobile computers are clear: substantial cost reductions by simplifying working processes that help create a competitive advantage. In any case, it is important finding the right mix of business model and case of application. That means technological know-how and understanding the specific industry is crucial. "Says Herbert Ott, General Manager of OTT Software - mobile solutions. With that in mind, the system solution from OTT Software and the Datalogic J series mobile computer were selected.
Three different mobile computers, some of them with integrated printer, were tested for three months during the pilot phase. Almost immediately, the tests showed that the best solution would be one with a separate printer and mobile computer. As a combination of printer and mobile computer proved not to be robust enough to work outside under harsh weather conditions, the Datalogic J series convinced with his robustness, ergonomics and functionality. Another important factor was the wireless communication via GPRS that is fully supported by the Datalogic J series.
A clean solution
The new solution using the Datalogic J series simplifies and speeds up business processes at AWV. When starting work, the employees register themselves on the Datalogic J series and proceed to their first order immediately. Deliveries are captured directly at the vehicle with the Datalogic J series. Type and quantity are entered via the keypad and the PDA automatically calculates the invoice amount.
Employees carry the printer and the "cash register" on their belts as carry cases. Employees generate customer receipts on printers and customers then proceed to unload waste. The order is complete once payment is made. At the end of the day, all electronically captured receipts and data of the working day is forwarded via GPRS to the host system and headquarters. At the same time, validity checks are carried out. As no local IT-infrastructure is available, the PDA uses the public net to transmit the data. This starts the direct accounting procedure of all processes within the financial accounting system. This automatic step saves time, increases quality and delivers information fast and accurately.
The mobile solution was already simplifying work and speeding up central data analysis in the project phase. "Our employees are very satisfied", says Gerhard Wiedemann, Werkleiter, AWV Nordschwaben. "The terminals are comfortable and easy to use. The software has been tailored to our special needs and communicates even the most peculiar waste disposals to our financial accounting department. High priority was given to prevent workers from walking long distances, which provided the largest improvement, as we were able to reduce our time consumption by 30 percent."
The advantage is clear in a mobile solution - cost and time consuming manual processes are replaced by automatic operations. By pushing a button, invoices and receipts are created. Time and resource intensive operations are minimized. For employees this means shorter walking distances and simpler working processes. For customers it means less wait times and therefore, higher satisfaction. By only having to capture data once, the quality of the communicated data is improved, while consistent transparency enables fast and comprehensive information about daily turnover and delivered quantities. The data is also available for statistical analysis and therefore very helpful for planning resource optimization. It also satisfies all the new legal requirements.
All in all: Simplification and improvement of internal processes, which play an essential role in waste management.
Customer: Abfallwirtschaftsverband Nordschwaben
Industry: Utility
Application: Field Service
Country: Germany
Datalogic Mobile Solution: Fied Force Automation
Datalogic Products: Datalogic J Series
Datalogic Partner: OttSoftware
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