most of which pass through its Portbury Preparation Centre. Some 500 cars are moved through Portbury every week and about 6000 vehicles are also stored onsite at any one time. The logistics behind the distribution of the vehicles is therefore extremely important.
Mitsubishi is renowned not just for its car manufacturing, but also for its use of the latest technology throughout its business. Mitsubishi Motors wanted to use the most advanced methods of tracking vehicles at its Portbury site, as it needs to keep track of individual vehicles with values ranging from £10,000 to £35,000.
The company already has a comprehensive Local and Wide Area Network, which supports the distribution of vehicles to the UK dealers. However, it needed to extend the network infrastructure beyond the constraints of the office. The solution was to provide the workforce with radio terminals, so that each employee would be able to update the system remotely via a link into the network.
Katheryn Davies, Head of Mitsubishi’s Project Team, said: “We knew what we wanted to achieve, but we then had to select a company with both the expertise and resources to meet the stringent demands of our project.” The company therefore consulted Codegate, its preferred supplier. Codegate specializes in mobile computing solutions that increase workforce productivity and efficiency. It is also a Power Partner of Hand Held Products, the world’s leading provider of image-based data collection systems.
Having decided to opt for a Microsoft Windows platform to run the application, Katheryn asked for “a device that would be rugged enough to work both indoors and outdoors in all weathers, and offer the functionality that would fully support the software.” After looking at the different possibilities, Codegate recommended Hand Held Products’ Dolphin 9550 RF terminal. This fitted all of Mitsubishi’s needs, and provided the ease of use required for a scan-intensive application.
The Dolphin 9950 incorporates a computer, digital camera and an industry-leading triple-radio with integrated wireless WAN, LAN and PAN. It provides seamless connectivity and advanced features such as a state-of-the art Intel‚ X-Scale processor; and a Microsoft‚ Pocket PC operating platform.
Taking great care not to disrupt Mitsubishi’s day-to-day business operations, Codegate subsequently installed a wireless network covering two of the company’s compounds at Portbury. The initial project has been very successful. Katheryn Davies remarked: “We are hoping soon to extend the number of hand held devices used, as well as the area of coverage. We are very pleased that Codegate and Hand Held Products were able to meet our needs and look forward to working with them again.” For further information, please visit www.handheld.com. |
