Acme Finishing RF Project

Accuware secures agreement to provide RF equipment and installation to

Acme Finishing 

Overview: Installation of RF Backbone and Specification of Hand Held devices

Business problem:

When coating parts it is crucial to be able to provide accurate information about the progress of an order on the shop floor to be able to provide rapid accurate customer assistance. Many of Acme's local clients wanted to extend their visibility out onto Acme's shop floor. Since the material being coated are not produced by Acme they become responsible for the material while it is in the Acme plant. It is very costly if even one Pallet is not accounted for by Acme since the material may need to be paid for by Acme if lost or mishandled.

Initial Meetings:

Accuware had been recommended to Acme Finishing as reliable Barcode supplier with software expertise by one of Acme Finishing’s main customers. When Accuware first met with Acme they had discussed the project with other possible suppliers. Because of the expertise Accuware had in the software area , they were able to specify powerful equipment at a more affordable cost. "Our ability to identify the products that would perform for Acme without overkill, gave Acme the assurance they needed.  Accuware would provide what was needed without adding features that the client would never use."   Accuware performed an initial walk through of the 120,000 square foot facility to provide initial estimates of what RF equipment would be needed. 

Design details:

Since much of the shop floor was free from obstructions Accuware specified 12db directional antenna's which can provide signals that can project the length of the 400 foot sections of production space. To handle some obstructed high usage areas we specified 2 Omni antenna’s in the central part of the facility. Accuware specified 5 Unitech PA963 units with wifi capability. Unitech's PA963 has a strong feature set at an affordable cost. The unit use Windows CE.net 4.2 and provides a browser to run the software needed to allow Acme workers to process the data on the floor. The scan distance of the unit is limited to 2-3 feet which is adequate for processing the shop floor reporting of work orders. These units will also be used in the shipping areas to verify the shipment of pallets.  Because Acme will also need to use hand held devices to move pallets with their forklift trucks, they will also be utilizing Symbol MC9090G units to attain scans distance of 6-7 feet. Users will be able to scan the material identification tickets without moving from the vehicles. Accuware has specified the use of 7 AP700 Access points from Proxim. The client was willing to be flexible enough to roll out the installation of the RF site without a formal site survey since the cost the survey would be more than any added equipment that might be needed to cover any RF dead spots. The AP700 units from Proxim have the large feature set with plenty of security features needed to stay secure in today’s environment.  Accuware can remotely manage and configure the Access points to help Acme in the event that they need technical assistance.

Final Phase:

Since this project was agreed in Dec 2006 it is still under installation. Accuware will be providing guidance to the software developers as it relates to the RF environment and the use of the specific hand held devices. Accuware is also in the process presently of installing the system on site. Since Accuware has provided many a complete system of hardware and software Accuware has be helpful in guiding Acme's software development efforts.

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