Bringing Effective Tracking, Cost Reduction, to Paper Mill

A large paper mill recently decided that in order to track product more effectively, staff not only needed to validate each movement in their warehouses but also on the yards and zone areas. 

IBT was brought in to access the application and find the optimal solution. Upon doing a site survey it was determined that pickers always used a fork lift and scan distance was anywhere between 20-32 feet. IBT also determined that in certain areas a clothesline (a thin cable mounted from point to point) over a zone pick area could be mounted to hang location placards.

A spec for a 28 mil plastic placard using 80 mil retroreflective stock was established. To minimize cost the mil spec was decreased from 100 mil, but with scan distance needed would be sufficient.  To save further cost, a 3 mil polyester would be used for the human readable. Typically, polyester is 3 times less expensive than retro reflective stock. 

In order to achieve maximum scannability, a lip was formed on the placard so they would hang at exactly a 22 degree angle, the optimal scannability for this application. Testing was done and an order was secured for over 3000 locations.

With IBT's solution, the customer can now track their supply chain operations throughout the company, therefore better controlling inventory.