Tommy Gate Company's expansion has forced the company to take a closer look at newer technologies to continue to meet demands. These demands have prompted the development of a new model and serial number tag with built-in intelligence, bar-code scanning technology, computer-generated production, and inventory controls.
The company was using a partially printed, aluminum model and serial number tag. Factory floor personnel did the final printing of the model and serial number tag with a hammer, single letter and/or number stamp. This process was fraught with human error potential, as well as being slow and tedious. Hand stamping produced a distortion or curling of the aluminum model and serial number tag that made it difficult to install and prone to being dislodged. Accuracy limitations added to the burden of factory and office personnel.
The new model and serial number tag is computer-generated and uses bar code 39, which provides increased accuracy, time efficiency, and increased process control relative to producing greater quantities of existing and future products. The new tag minimizes and/or eliminates human errors and processes resulting from the old manual technique. This tag has more built-in intelligence than its predecessor due to a longer model number. It is generated by and linked to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, thus eliminating the factory floor personnel daily production reporting and hand stamping. These have been replaced by a bar-coding process.