Marines Modernize Inventory Tracking
May 31, 2002
By Steve Towns, Editor
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Canada -- Wireless technology is helping the U.S. Marine Corps manage critical supplies at field warehouse sites.
The field warehouses, which support Marine expeditionary forces deployed throughout the world, typically contain 10,000 to 15,000 items -- everything from healthcare supplies to automobile parts. The Marines are replacing the paper-based system for tracking these items with a wireless solution that includes rugged hand-held computers and special warehousing software.
The entire wireless solution resides in a 108-inch by 88-inch "deployable container" that can be delivered wherever troops are stationed. The container holds a server loaded with the Marines' warehousing software application, a radio gateway and hand-held computers.
Workers use Psion Teklogix hand-held computers and wireless gateways to input and retrieve data anywhere in the warehouse facility. The hand-held devices connect in real-time to the Marines' STRATIS warehouse management software, allowing workers to act quickly and still maintain continuous inventory management.
"We needed a solution that could be deployed and supported anywhere in the world and would allow us to take stock of our supplies quickly and effectively," said Lt. Col. Alan B. Will, program officer for the Marine Corps System Command. "Psion Teklogix's solution, coupled with our warehouse management system, allowed us to improve our inventory management and resulted in a 35 percent reduction in man-hours that has given us the flexibility to place people where we need them most."
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