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Eddie Barnett
Most of my 20+ years of data collection application experience has been in manufacturing, with a substanial portion of that experience involved in the meat and food processing industry. Prior to my experience in "data collection", I was involved in programming and designing systems for mainframes and minicomputers for 23 years. The weakness of those early systems was the bottle-neck that occurred when getting the information from the production operation into the computer. So in the middle 80s, I began to focus on the "bar code" technology. Since then, I have worked with companies of all sizes, from the small ma/pa shops, to some of the largest corporations in America.
In the early days, "data collection" applications were often referred to as "bar code systems". This conforms to the logical history of computers when IBM Corporation had such a dominance over the computer industry that companys often referred to their company computer as "our IBM", when what they really had may have been a Univac or a Honeywell or an RCA or one of many other computers that existed in the 60s and 70s.
The primary justification for a data collection systems was, and still is, to increase productivity and to gain operating efficiencies. In so doing, companies (then and now) came to the realization that incorporating these "new" technologies, often meant changing some of the current procedures that are involved in adapting to the new process. Thus I have gained considerable experience in plant operations in a wide range of company types.
A lot of the adaptation today relates to "Traceability" and "Lot Tracking", particularly for the meat and food industry. This has meant the integration and involvement of departments that were heretofore seemingly unrelated. Departments such as Maintenance and Quality Control, among others, were necessary to involve in the data collection process. In other words, it has become vital to involve every aspect of a company's operation.
Besides the obvious use of bar code and wireless technology, I have integrated a wide range of other equipment and products, including but not limited to: scales of all types and sizes, thermometers and gauges, counters and relays, and more. One of our very earliest customers was a turkey processing plant in Nebraska that required the design of environmental enclosures to protect the electronic equipment that we were installing in the plant. A company, Titan Products, was spawned to serve this need that prevailed in numerous other such plants. (for more on Titan Products) It was also necessary to integrate switches and relays to be able to count items, as well as to activate small indicator lights at the scale to give the operator a visual indication of scale status.
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Hard Good Manufacturers...
NE - Job Tracking for a manufacturer of motorcycles, ATVs, and a variety of other common products.
MO - small engines - designed a systems for order processing and packing/shipping of service parts.
KS - Complete Shop Floor Data Collection for a company that manufactures machinery for the turkey and poultry processing industry.
MO - Designed a Raw Materials Receiving system for a steel company that purchased roll stock, flat stock, etc.
IA - Designed a system for a company that manufactures tools for automotive industry. The system was installed in the Order Processing and Shipping department to verify order items and pack for shipping with wide range of bar code labeling and reporting for company and customers. This systems ultimately integrated touchscreen monitors that greatly increased the efficiency and reduced the operator training and related operational problems.
NE - A small cabinetry company that installed a wireless network on their campus of three separte buildings for the purpose of job tracking and ultimately to incorporate additional areas such as raw materials receiving and shipping.
Meat/Food Processing Industry...
NE - Our first full blown plant floor data collection systems for a turkey processing plant.
MO&AR - Integrated a plant wide wireless network for turkey processing plant operation that included everything from live bird receiving to packaging lines labeling and more.
KS - Designed a system for a food processing plant that included receiving and putaway, release to production, monitoring time and temperature in ovens and tanks, and more.
MN - Designed and installed a system for an in-plant Time & Attendance systems that also incorporated Access Control at the guard shack/entry gate.
for more on meat industry experience...
There is never a charge for an initial meeting and plant tour. Furthermore, there is never a charge for the initial project analysis report. I should retire, but I don't golf and I don't fish. I do thoroughly enjoy touring manufacturing and production plants of all types.
signed
Eddie Barnett
to call: 866-325-8800 (toll free)
to email:
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