How to Choose the Best Handheld Device for Your Warehouse Management
Managing a warehouse involves a lot of operations, from shipping and receiving goods, transportation to inventory control. Warehouse operators and managers need mobile computing devices to control and optimize these warehouse operations. Today, the market is filled with various handheld devices that can improve the productivity, efficiency, and accuracy of warehouses. However, choosing the right mobile device that is best suited for your warehouse is essential for the efficient management of your transportation, inventory, and personnel assets.
Things to Consider
While Choosing Handheld Devices for Your Warehouse
1. Ruggedness: To meet today’s high demands, operations managers need rugged smart devices, such as phones and tablets, to maintain accuracy and visibility while meeting the needs of a fast-paced environment. Warehouses involve rough handling, moving forklifts, conveyors, and people. That’s why ruggedized smartphones are a durable option for such environments where the device will have to endure dust, debris, drops, moisture, and temperature changes. Choosing a fully-rugged mobile device would provide warehouse managers with greater computing power, connectivity tools, and a lower total cost of ownership.
2. Operating System: Android operating system (OS) has become a popular option within the industrial mobile segment. Rugged smartphones with Android OS offer faster processing, more memory storage, and a bigger screen. Warehouses use a number of modern applications to automate tasks and improve efficiency. Android-powered handheld devices are designed to handle the requirements of enterprise-grade warehouse applications, time-critical applications, and most mobile device management (MDM) solutions. Android OS-based smartphones with enterprise-level security features can easily replace legacy warehouse systems or integrate with the existing management solutions used by your warehouse.
3. Connectivity Tools: Warehouses utilize a mix of different device types for capturing data, managing assets, communicating with workers, and increasing mobility and efficiency. They use guided vehicles and robots, barcode readers, radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) scanners, drones, forklifts, biometric systems, and more. The mobile device you will choose for warehouse operations must be designed with in-built support for barcode or RFID scanning, communicating, and other input/output tools.
4. Long-Lasting Battery Life: Warehouses work 24/7/365 days. Workers need mobile computing devices with longer-lasting, more powerful batteries. Rugged smartphones are built to help workers stay productive with their hot-swappable battery design. A hot-swappable battery means the device contains two high-capacity battery packs that allow workers to change one battery without turning off the device as well extends battery life. A rugged device can be easily used by both day-shift and night-shift workers without the need to charge the phone when one shift ends, thereby reducing wasted productive hours.
5. Lower Cost of Ownership: Rugged mobile devices have a lower cost of ownership. Though rugged smartphones have higher initial purchase price than consumer phone, they have a longer lifecycle cost, lower replacement costs, less to no device failures. You don’t need to purchase readers and scanners for warehouse management if you purchase a ruggedized Android phone.
Conclusion
With the widespread popularity of ruggedized Android phones, these mobile devices are garnering greater acceptance as a highly practical solution for improving warehouse productivity and efficiency. Consider the aforementioned factors in mind when selecting the best handheld device for your warehouse needs. Whichever device you choose, rugged mobility would be better suited for the warehouse environment and help you save time and money.
Comments
Post a Comment