Article taken from Business Solutions Magazine by Mike Monocello

Data Collection Winner

This integrator expects 20% revenue growth in 2007 due to its broad supply chain solution capabilities.

Many integrators claim to offer complete solutions, but SuperUser Solutions takes this notion further than its competition.  While there are supply chain integrators that can individually handle system controls, database integration, networking, material handling, custom machining and fabrication, and supplies, few can boast being able to offer them all SuperUser Solutions can.  The company has departments dedicated to everything from custom programming to machining custom components for process automation.

Hire a Diverse, Well-Trained Staff

To successfully offer a variety of services, SuperUser Solutions needed to hire programmers and engineers with equally varied skill sets and knowledge.  “Our IT system engineers have experience in areas such as control design and programming, machine PLC (programmable logic controller) programming, database development, ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems integration, network engineering, and the integration of customer data with material handling systems,” says Jerry Dawson, sales engineer.  He goes on to explain that the company also has packaging system engineers who can design projects that include packaging equipment, conveyance, and controls.  The packaging system engineers personally install their own designs, so they must know the equipment as well as the software.

  “If we find ourselves lacking in anything to do with Windows-based programming or systems controls, we send our engineers to seminars and training sessions,” says Dawson.  “This is particularly important concerning PLCs, since the command library for each brand has its own nuances.”  Dawson estimates that SuperUser Solutions programmers go through some form of education 10 times a year.  Factoring in lost billable time and cost of the education itself, he believes the expense could reach $30,000 per employee each year.

  For an example of why SuperUser Solutions is this year’s winner of our Channel Innovator award in data collection, you can look at a recent installation performed for CVS.  SuperUser Solutions was approached by CVS at a trade show as the retailer was looking for a solution to a warehouse problem.  CVS’ Somerset, PA distribution center was receiving two shipments of products per day.  The majority of the products were delivered in bar coded-labeled totes.  The totes were hand-scanned to access information specific to the downstream routing of each tote.  That information was then handwritten onto labels placed on the totes.  The process was time-consuming, inefficient, and potentially error-prone.  SuperUser Solutions sent two engineers for an on-site visit, where Dawson estimates that 95% of the proper details were addressed.

  Today, trucks are unloaded onto a flexible conveyor, which delivers the totes into an area where the SuperUser Solutions bar code scanning solution is placed.  Totes transported down the line pass under a custom-mounted Accu-Sort Mini-X ominidirectional bar code scanner, which references an inventory database with the routing information of the totes.  That routing information is then printed and applied using an LSI (Labeling Systems, Inc.) Series 20 applicator with a SATO 8459Se print engine.  Oversized products too large to fit in a tote are hand-scanned with a Motorola (formerly Symbol) PPT8800 mobile computer connected to the same database and printer applicator.  If a tote’s bar code label doesn’t match any database records or if the label is unreadable, a custom diverter arm swings out and pushes the tote onto a side spur for inspection.  Because of SuperUser Solutions’ technical capabilities, the company designed the diverter arm, bought the components, and machined the metal frame and arm.  After a tote is labeled, it moves further into the distribution center where it is eventually routed to a particular CVS store.

   Because of the new receiving system, CVS was able to reduce labor costs, improve accuracy, and alter the way incoming trucks are loaded (resulting in one less truck making deliveries daily).  These changes translated to annual savings of $100,000 for CVS and demonstrate a level of innovation on SuperUser Solutions’ part worthy of the Channel Innovator Award.