1. business and industrial
2. manufacturing

Zebra Solution Brief
Mobile Workforce
Empower your workforce with mobility
Optimize productivity
Challenge
Traditionally, in today’s manufacturing environments, plant floor personnel work
from fixed position Human Machine Interfaces (HMI’s). Fixed HMI’s inhibit
productivity because plant personnel can’t see or respond to plant situations,
unless they are physically in front of the HMI. This is further aggravated by the lack
of real-time notifications of critical alarms and alerts from the production line or
equipment, resulting in reduced productivity and unscheduled downtime. The
impact of this can dramatically affect overall plant efficiencies, employee
productivity, and operational costs, impacting inventory levels, production output,
customer commitments and plant profitability.
Solution
Productive personnel and real time information are critical to ensuring overall
efficiency and uptime of the production facility and play a critical role in the success
of the manufacturing operation. As plant personnel perform daily activities, such as
assessing performance of machinery, performing quality tests or completing basic
maintenance tasks, mobile access to real time information enables them to
optimize the allocation of limited resources on the line.
Pyramid Solutions’ comprehensive manufacturing execution system (MES),
IntelliWORKS, provides a process-centric methodology that ensures consistent and
effective execution of operational activities. With real-time production visibility,
operators are enabled to improve quality and process performance, with
predictable results.
Zebra Technologies partners with Pyramid Solutions’ IntelliWORKS Solution to
provide manufacturers:
 Production Visibility – Greater control of processes and enables
collaboration between the shop floor and enterprise applications.
 Process Enforcement – Each component goes through the required
operations.
 Sequencing Consistency – The right product at the right time for seamless
non-stop production.
 Component Validation – Select the correct component through audible and
visual enunciation.
 Traceability & Genealogy – Documents the history of all manufactured or
assembled goods as they are built, enabling complete traceability.
 Quality Inspection – Catch errors and defects earlier.
 Packout & Labeling – Ensure the quality of products leaving the facility
Results
Mobilizing the workforce empowers them with immediate access to critical
information when it counts. Achieving automation and control with mobile HMI’s
enables personnel to move about the plant, while keeping them connected to
production KPI’s, and alarms. Plant managers can optimize allocation of limited
human resources, elevate production efficiency levels and respond to customer
demands nimbly and accurately. Production line uptime increases, as real-time
data is available at the point of the problem. Plant personnel can quickly and
effectively respond to alarms and alerts that reduce production exceptions and
improve quality metrics. As a result, plant management can accomplish more
throughout the day, while reacting to dynamic plant conditions. Ultimately, plant
performance and productivity are improved, increasing profitability.
Zebra Manufacturing
Solutions
Customer
Discrete and Process Manufacturers
Industry
Manufacturing
Challenge
 Inability to obtain real-time data
 Long production rates
 Long response time
 Under utilization of assets and/or workers
 Unstandardized processes
Solutions
 Zebra® ET1, DS3578, FX7500
 Zebra® QLN, ZM400
 Pyramid Solutions’ IntelliWORKS
 Engineering Services
Results
 Improve line & plant performance
 Faster response rate to changing plant
conditions
 Optimize allocation of limited resources
 Boots profitability
 Increase operator productivity
 Increased product quality & fewer
reworks
 Increased capacity & utilization
 Increased transparency & accountability
Quote
“It has been unbelievable! The concept is
fabulous. Operators take this with them and
are immediately aware of alarms and can
begin to investigate. What would have
taken 2 operators now only takes one.”
Project Manager – Major Food
Manufacturer
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