POWER UP™ Increases Revenue with Improved Traceability

22.01.18 06:45 PM By ryandoak

Barcoding, Inc. develops inventory management for leading charging technology company in order reduce potential lost revenue and increase customer service


Background

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, POWER UP™ is an industry-leading charging technology company. The company’s mission is to connect moments that matter for companies, events and facilities whose guests and customers depend on a fully charged device. The company manufactures a full-range of charging technology from tables and kiosks to trailers and lockers.

Challenges

POWER UP realized its manual inventory and services management processes were not only losing the company time, but also money. The company’s manual process for tracking the servicing of its products was slow, and often valuable information, such as how many devices were charged on a piece of equipment during a given timeframe, was lost. In addition, due to the inability to track inventory beyond its warehouse, the company had no way of confirming that the number of rentals its partners submitted for revenue sharing was correct. “In the past, there was no way to us to double check that rental reports from our revenue-sharing partners were accurate. Recently we discovered that some partners had not been reporting all their rentals – which meant thousands of dollars in lost revenue,” Ryan Doak, co-founder, POWER UP, explained.

Solution

POWER UP turned to Barcoding, Inc., the leader in supply chain efficiency, accuracy, and connectivity, to help set up in-store and mobile connectivity to develop an inventory tracking solution that would enable them to track equipment location, as well as service and usage data. After discussing POWER UP’s inventory tracking requirements, Barcoding used its CaptureSoft eXpress rapid application development tool to build an application within minutes. Since part of the solution requirements included GPS tracking and barcode scanning, the team selected the Honeywell CT 50 handheld computer. In addition to the inventory tracking app, the Barcoding team developed an app for the service team that feeds a series of automated prompts when a technician scans a piece of equipment to ensure a thorough servicing and data collection. “We were able to build and tweak the application using CaptureSoft eXpress in under 30 minutes. Since the software runs on the Android operating system, pushing it out to the mobile devices was as simple as syncing the devices with the software over WiFi. The app is extremly user friendly, and our staff was able to start using it with ease after only 10 minutes of training,” said Doak.

Results

By moving its servicing process from a manual paper process to xx Barcoding’s inventory solution, POWER UP has realized a 10-20 percent increase in efficiency. In addition, data entered into handheld devices onsite by technicians, such as the number of devices plugged into the equipment during a single month, is automatically imported into the database in the POWER UP offices. This has resulted in greater consistency and more accurate customer reports. Since each piece of equipment is furnished with an RFID label with unique identification information, POWER UP can track when units leave and return to the warehouse, as well as GSP location, remotely. This has enabled the company to establish new warehouses in Orlando and Las Vegas –expanding its prospects beyond the Baltimore-area. Since the Honeywell CT50 runs on the Android platform, POWER UP can run both its inventory tracking software as well as its reservation software on the devices. This allows them to create additional efficiencies in checking units in and out of warehouses, shipping units to clients and tracking what graphics need to be applied to the unit. “Beyond the internal efficiencies the company has gained, the Barcoding inventory management solution has enabled us to expand our POWER UP Partner Program. We expect to add 10 to 15 new partners to our network in 2018 – resulting in up to $2M in new revenue,” concludes Doak.

About Barcoding, Inc.

Barcoding, Inc. is a systems integrator specializing in the development, deployment, and management of enterprise-wide solutions that drive efficiency, accuracy, and connectivity. With dedicated practices in Supply Chain Architecture and Analytics, Automatic Identification (AIDC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Consumables, Software, and Professionals Services, Barcoding impacts tens of thousands of organizations in a wide range of industries by increasing revenue, reducing operational costs, and improving customer experiences. Founded in 1998, Barcoding is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, with offices across the United States. For more information, visit www.barcoding.com.  

ryandoak