Retail
Sales
Electronics
chain installs 'wireless cash
register'
By Carmen Nobel, reprinted from PC
Week Online
November 23, 1999 10:34 AM
ET
Just in time for the holiday shopping crush, retailer Electronics
Boutique has installed a wireless point-of-sale system that helps consumers
make purchases faster by avoiding checkout lines.
The national chain, which sells video games and computer software,
is using a wireless cash register comprising a Symbol SPT 1740 handheld computer
and point-of-sale software from Kyrus Corp.
The system allows Electronics Boutique employees to check out
customers making purchasing with credit cards anywhere in the store. Only
those paying with cash have to wait in line.
According to the company, the wireless cash register integrates
a
tiny bar-code laser scanner, Symbol's Spectrum 24 radio frequency technology
and Kyrus' software for scanning products, completing credit card transactions,
recording sales and checking inventory
with the store's server. A small Comtec II printer, attached to an employee's
belt, prints receipts and labels.
Electronics Boutique, based in West Chester, Pa., is at
www.electronicsboutique.com.
Real
Estate
The Mother of
Mobile Invention
By Karen D. Swartz, reprinted
from Mobile Computing & Communication
May 2000
Shopping for a home is not what it used to be. Consumers
in the
past leafed through the listings in the local newspaper, circling prospects
and doing the legwork themselves. Or to save themselves that aggravation,
they would go to a real-estate agent, who would
line up appointments for three or four walk-throughs in an afternoon.
Buyers simply aren't putting up with those time-consuming drills
anymore.
more...
Manufacturing
Model Modern
Manufacture
By Karen D. Swartz, reprinted
from Mobile Computing & Communication
May 2000
Customers today want their products now, and they turn to the
fastest supplier with the lowest prices to get them. For Alcoa Davenport
Works, a manufacturer of aluminum sheets and plates in Riverdale, IA, this
fact hits home. To reduce the lead time needed to design, manufacture and
deliver aluminum products to customers, the company needed to find a way
to track its products more
closely. Ironically, the company found an ideal solution close at
hand.
The goal was easy to define; meeting it was the hard part. In
the
past, when the metal was between production centers, the only means of tracking
it was to write down the identification number of
the product and then manually enter those locations into a terminal. This
was done at best every 24 hours, and it took a lot of people's
time trying to find the product. Using this system, information was always
a day old—and a day late.
It was clearly time to rethink the process. Alcoa Davenport took
the challenge seriously, defining its needs and thinking creatively about
ways to use technology to solve the problem.
more...
Health
Care
A
Cure for What Ails You
By Karen D. Swartz, reprinted
from Mobile Computing & Communication
May 2000
Each year, more doctors use handheld computers to take notes,
keep appointments and, increasingly, write prescriptions. A handful of
enterprising doctors and medical-service companies are betting that if the
applications for handhelds are widely available and easy to use, the number
of doctors making the switch to handhelds will rise exponentially over the
next several years.
Medical applications running on handheld PCs will be an
"indispensable part of the day-to-day work of physicians," predicts
Ali Kharazmi, vice president of marketing and business development for
Med-I-Nets.com. Based in Newport Beach, CA, Med-I-Nets has developed a
prescription-writing application for handhelds. Making he same bet is
MDeverywhere, based in Research Triangle Park, NC.
more...
Quality Management/Field
Services
How ServiceMaster and Greyhound manage quality
with Palm devices
By Steven Niles, reprinted
from PalmPower Enterprise Edition
January 2001
With its simple but powerful operating system, the Palm computer
is an incredibly versatile tool with applications for any enterprise. Steve
Niles continues to explore the possibilities out there with this look at
how a world-renowned cleaning company, ServiceMaster,
has used Palm computers to more efficiently track the quality of its service.
more...
Palm
in the Enterprise
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