As companies release new products or make enhancements to existing products, they often retire the old versions and the legacy product goes ‘end-of-life’ (EOL). Just because a company releases an updated version of something you already own doesn’t mean the existing product has no utility. It does mean it’s time to start thinking about what the newer technology offers and whether it makes sense for your business to upgrade.
Getting the Most from Your Old Products
Before deciding whether to upgrade or stay with your existing version, talk to your reseller to understand the benefits the newer version provides. Don’t forget to factor in the possibility of trading in your old device, and ask about any ongoing promotions or incentives being offered if you purchase the next gen product. Then be sure to conduct a cost justification analysis, to validate the expense of purchasing replacement product before making a final decision.
If you have a year of support services prepaid on your existing model, determine the best time to make your move. If it’s a technology product that’s more than five years old, the newer device will likely offer greater operating efficiency. You’ll also want to compare specifications (speed, reliability and new features) which may easily outweigh any cost advantage of keeping an old device in service.
Create a Plan
You should always have a replacement and service strategy plan in place for critical devices. This can help ensure you are getting the best ROI for your device investment without introducing undue risks of downtime or service interruptions. It can also help prevent wasting money on the “next big thing” while you still have useful life in your existing devices. Here are three steps to create a good technology replacement strategy.
Plan
Always have a replacement plan for technology refreshes for critical devices. Don’t wait until products go EOL to decide. Understand the typical life cycle of your devices, and balance the costs of maintaining existing devices with the replacement costs so you know the right replacement cycle for your needs. The earlier in a product’s life cycle you make this plan, the easier it will be to time the replacement for optimum ROI and utility and to ensure you have budget available when needed. Be sure to connect all the dots in your solution in order to properly budget expenses of any equipment purchases you’ll need to make.
Protect
For your most critical devices, you may want to consider a service contract. The more complex the device, the more important it is to have service coverage. For mobile computers, a service contract helps protect your investment and your overall budget by ensuring that repair and maintenance costs are predictable. Most service contracts also include preventive maintenance, so this option can help extend the useful life of your devices while protecting your cash flow from unexpected demands.
Extend
If your existing products are operating efficiently, you may want to extend any existing service contracts rather than introduce new products to your facility. Extending contracts ensures you receive all the utility you paid for when you bought your devices and can maximize return on investment (ROI). A service contract keeps the unit in good working condition, particularly contracts that include software updates, which may extend the average life of the device.
A Real Life Example
Honeywell has announced that its CK71 handheld computer will be entering the end of life stage on December 30, 2017. The CK75 is the replacement model. Some factors to consider:
Honeywell has announced that it will continue to provide service for the CK71 for some time into the future. Keep these dates in mind to ensure your new plan is in place before then.
The CK75 is smaller, lighter and more rugged than its predecessor, so it will help your team be more efficient.
The CK75 also runs both Windows® Embedded and Android™, so it offers protection from OS life cycles.
The barcode scanner on the CK75 offers superior accuracy and speed, so your team can operate more efficiently with fewer errors or rescans.
What’s Next?
The decision to replace an end-of-life product is not easy. It helps to consult with an experienced reseller who understands the products, your application, and the advantages a next generation product can offer. If you’re looking for a recommendation or just looking for a market update on the technology being used to maximize productivity in your industry, contact us today.
Rugged devices are mission critical in a tough environment, like manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, and transportation and logistics. Between the bumps, drops, and tumbles on hard surfaces to exposure to extreme temperatures, hardware like barcode scanners needs to be tougher than the conditions where they’re used.
Zebra has long been known for rugged reliability for barcode scanners, thermal printers, mobile computers, and other enterprise technology. So, it was a bit of surprise when they introduced something even tougher than the rugged barcode scanners that have served their purpose admirably.
The Zebra 3600 Ultra-Rugged Series of barcode scanners raises the bar once again. These power tools manage to surpass any standard. Drop a 3600 in a bucket of water (and leave it there for up to 30 minutes) or spray it with a hose. Use it in searing heat or freezing cold. Drop it 8 feet onto a concrete floor. It will keep working. Zebra’s Ultra-Rugged barcode scanners are the only ones with two sealing ratings: IP65 and IP67 (and the only barcode scanner with an IP67 rating).
Yes, it’s tough, but the 3600 is also a top performer. Use it to scan scratched, dirty, or damaged barcodes with one click. You can even capture barcodes under shrinkwrap or frost. This indestructible workhorse also lets you capture up to 20 barcodes with one pull of the trigger—from a few inches away or up to 70 feet—and one battery charge is good for about 70,000 scans. So, the 3600 Ultra-Rugged scanners are incredibly efficient.
The Zebra 3600 Ultra-Rugged barcode scanners are available in a wide variety of models, both corded and cordless (with Bluetooth 4.0 lightning speed). You can choose from standard range, extended range, high density, and direct part marks (DPM).
See the full range of Zebra barcode scanners here:
When you need more than rugged barcode scanners, talk to us at Informs about Zebra’s 3600 Ultra-Rugged Series.
The linear barcode is a great data collection tool, up to a point. When you need more than a product’s SKU, description, and price—e.g., production information, serial number, lot, batch number—you need a 2D barcode, which can contain up to 4,000 characters. A 1D barcode is limited to about 25 characters.
With the need for more data, including compliance and track-and-trace issues, 2D barcodes are becoming more widely adopted. However, with this technology, you’ll need a 2D imager, instead of a 1D barcode scanner.
A barcode scanner utilizes a single laser to read the linear barcode on a paper surface, like a label or tag. A 2D imager uses a array of lasers that capture both 1D and 2D barcodes from a variety of surfaces, including paper and electronic screens. In our last post, we talked about the many uses of 2D barcodes, now let’s explore the benefits of 2D barcode scanning.
Capture 1D and 2D barcodes from a paper, synthetic media, and electronic screens.
Read barcodes that are smudged, scratched, damaged, or poorly printed. Some of Zebra’s rugged and ultra-rugged imagers will also capture barcodes that are covered with shrinkwrap or frost.
An imager’s omnidirectional scanning means you don’t need to take the time to align a single laser to the barcode, so productivity is increased.
By choosing an extended range 2D imager, you can grab barcodes from as far away as 7 feet, or as close as just a few inches—perfect for retail, distribution, warehousing, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics.
With one pull of the 2D imager’s trigger, you can capture multiple barcodes, reducing the time it takes to process an inbound or outbound shipment.
In addition to barcodes, you can capture signatures, documents, images, direct part marks, and text. A 2D imager also supports Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to read characters on checks, passports, driver’s licenses, invoices, and more.
Informs has partnered with Zebra, a global leader in data collection technology. We can help you determine the right 2D imager for your business applications. Talk to us to learn more Zebra’s barcode scanning advances and how you can increase productivity and accuracy.
People often ask us why they should use 2D barcodes—the small, patterned squares that are showing up more frequently on products, advertisements, signs, and more.
The answer to “why” is usually paired with “how.” In some applications, this technology can seem a little dated, but the truth is that 2D barcodes are now an integral part of data collection processes. Coupled with modern scanning technology, the 2D barcode can be a good choice for warehouses, manufacturers, mobile field work, and more.
A little background
A QR code is a 2D barcode that originated with Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, to track vehicles through assembly. It was later followed by a Data Matrix 2D code, PDF417, and Aztec. QR and Data Matrix are most commonly used for retail, manufacturing, logistics, government, entertainment, healthcare, marketing, and advertising. The PDF417 can hold more the1.1 KB of data and is often used for photos, fingerprints, signatures, and graphics. The Aztec has been adopted by airlines for boarding passes.
Linear barcodes (1D), simply couldn’t carry enough data (about 20-25 characters). 2D barcodes can store up to 4,000 characters.
The “why” and “how”
A 1D barcode provides information. Think of a 2D barcode as a guide. A scan of this barcode takes you to a landing page, website, brochure, contact information, instruction manual, coupon, special offer, article, social media page, or other digital content.
As a marketing, sales, or technical support tool, a QR code or Data Matrix code makes it easy for your customers to connect with you. And when they scan the code, you collect important data to follow the traffic.
Here are some ways that businesses are using 2D barcodes:
Business card or convention nametag, which connects to the company’s website or the professional’s contact information and LinkedIn profile.
Signs on trucks, trailers, property for sale, and at promotional venues
Brochures, posters, ads, and promotional materials
Point-of-sale receipts that direct the user to a survey, prize drawing, special offer, or coupon
Product packaging and tags, to provide additional information, including warranty registration, installation help, and troubleshooting instructions
Patient wristbands and medications
Event tickets and boarding passes
Event invitation to direct the guest to RSVP or registration page
Most smartphones can scan a 2D code, either using the phone’s camera or a mobile app. Businesses that rely on automated data collection require a heavy volume of scanning, so we recommend the use of a 2D scanner, which can read both 1D and 2D barcodes. For the broadest variety of 2D imagers, we recommend Zebra, for the durability, performance, and ease of use.
When you’re ready to take advantage of QR codes for your business, talk to us at Informs. We have offices throughout the United States, ensuring you get personal service, no matter when you call.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established a system to adequately identify medical devices through distribution and use. This rule requires the label of these devices to include a unique device identifier (UDI), unless there is some sort of exception. The system basically requires that the label and packaging include a UDI in both text and machine-readable (i.e., barcode) form. In the event that a device is intended to be used more than once, the FDA requires that the UDI be marked directly on the device.
Device labelers must also submit certain information about each device to FDA’s Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID).
This device ID system offers a number of benefits; it will work to improve patient safety, encourage technology innovation, and help modernize device surveillance (post-market) as it pertains to pre-market approval or new uses for existing devices .
UDI Compliance
Class I and unclassified devices will have to meet UDI labeling, GUDID data submission and standard date formatting rules by September 24, 2020. The new deadlines do not apply to Class I or unclassified devices that are implantable, life-supporting or life-sustaining.
Approximately 1.4 million records have already been submitted to the FDA’s Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID) as of May 1, 2017. However, UDI implementation for higher-risk devices has created some technical and policy challenges for both FDA regulators and registrants, so by extending the UDI labeling timelines for low-risk devices they can address and remedy the challenges before more data is collected.
The FDA classifies medical devices based on the risks associated with the device. Devices are classified into one of three categories—Class I, Class II, and Class III.
Class I devices are deemed to be low risk and subject to minimal regulatory controls. Dental floss, for example, is classified as a Class I device.
Class II devices are higher risk devices requiring more controls in order to provide a reasonable confidence that the device is safe and effective. For example, pregnancy test kits are classified as Class II devices.
Class III devices are largely higher-risk devices subject to a much higher level of regulatory control. Class III devices must go through the FDA for approval before being released to the market. Implantable pacemakers are considered Class III devices.
Benefits of the UDI system
The Unique Device Identification (UDI) System opens up a number of benefits to the healthcare system, consumers, providers, the industry as a whole, and the FDA:
More accurate reporting; with the ability to analyze reports to identify and resolve issues quickly and effectively.
Greater opportunity to reduce medical errors caused by misidentification of devices, or to assist with access to detailed information about the device.
A clear standard that allows these entities to document device use; this applies to EHR (electronic health records), clinical information systems, registries, etc.
A unique and standardized identifier enables manufacturers, distributors and healthcare facilities to better manage device recalls.
For more information on UDI or if you need guidance preparing for labeling requirements, be sure to contact us.
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