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Bar-code equipment makers have begun unveiling "Web-enabled" data-collection terminals that contain browsers like the ones used to surf the Net. But are shippers ready to put them to work in their warehouses?

By James Aaron Cooke -- Logistics Management, 8/1/1999

Distribution center workers at Crutchfield Corp. now can both scan and "browse" bar codes. The consumer-electronics retailer based in Charlottesville, Va., has begun using "Web-enabled" data-collection terminals to help workers store and pick products. These terminals contain bar-code-scanning micro-Web browsers similar to the ones used to surf the Net. When warehouse workers scan bar codes, the scanned information is placed in the appropriate field on a Web-page-like form. The form then is sent to a Web server, where the transaction is processed.

Crutchfield is a pioneer in its use of Web-enabled terminals, which just hit the marketplace this year. (For more on Crutchfield's operations, see Page 114.) A number of bar-code equipment makers have just released or have plans in the works to offer Web-enabled data-collection terminals. These terminals display scanned bar codes as well as information in hypertext markup language (HTML), a coding method originally developed for posting documents on the World Wide Web. Up until now, when a terminal read a bar code, the scanned data were received as alphanumeric (ASCII) text and processed by a proprietary application on the terminal and the server.

Why the sudden rush to Web-enabled terminals? The manufacturers say that they're making it easier for customers to integrate data into their operations and take advantage of tools developed for the Internet. But some industry observers view the debut of Web-enabled terminals as a marketing ploy that takes advantage of Internet mania to sell more automatic-identification equipment.

Auto ID Goes High Tech

Over the past year, a host of bar-code terminal manufacturers have announced that their products were "Web-enabled." Market leader Symbol Technologies Inc. of Holtsville, N.Y., has announced that all of its terminals soon will be able to output data in HTML format. Teklogix Inc. of Toronto says all of its terminals can provide HTML emulation. A representative for Akron, Ohio-based Telxon Corp. says 10 of its terminal models support HTML. Both LXE Inc. of Norcross, Ga., and Intermec Corp. of Everett, Wash., plan to introduce Web-enabled units. Handheld Products of Charlotte, N.C., also is in the process of developing a handheld terminal with a browser.

Why are so many automatic identification (auto ID) equipment makers taking the HTML route? There are a number of advantages to "going HTML," say the manufacturers. For starters, HTML was designed as a "graphics format," unlike ASCII, which provides only text. Thus HTML coding makes it possible for the terminal to handle pictures, sound, and movie clips as well as text. "Now you have the ability to provide much richer content to the user, giving him [more than] straight text," says John Klein, a director of network tools at Symbol Technologies. "You get all the nice GUI (Graphical User Interface) things like check boxes and image maps that you don't get with an ASCII terminal."

HTML also can be used to create "forms" that appear on the terminal screen. Scanned output then can be placed directly into a specific field on forms like purchase orders.

Because HTML has become the standard in the computer industry, it's easier for companies to support Web-enabled terminals. Most information-systems professionals are knowledgeable about HTML technology, and they can support users of this bar-code equipment. "HTML leverages the same technology that businesses are implementing throughout the rest of their corporatewide information systems,'' notes John Watridge, a senior product manager at Intermec.

Likewise, software writers are familiar with HTML code, which makes it easier for programmers to develop new applications for bar-code devices. Systems integrators also can more readily integrate bar-code devices that translate data into HTML format into other software applications.

On the Network

Web-enabled data-collection terminals also make it possible for distribution departments to implement so-called network-centric computing. Network computing has one big advantage over other approaches; it allows "intelligence" to be centralized on a computer called a server. The terminals simply carry "client" software, such as Web browsers, that lets them make requests of the servers

"You no longer have to write a customized application for a specialized device like a bar-code terminal when you have a ubiquitous client like a Web browser," says Klein of Symbol Technologies. "You write a Web application that runs on a server and it serves up a generic [version] that goes to any client, whether it's a desktop computer, a laptop, or a handheld terminal."

Network-centric computing means that complex applications can reside on the more powerful server computer. "With a handheld device, there frequently isn't much processing power," says Karen White, a product manager at Symbol Technologies. "But if the application runs on the server, you can utilize the server's horsepower and also gain access to a database residing on the server."

Symbol's Klein notes that it's also easier to upgrade computer server hardware than to upgrade each terminal. "You scale [up] your server, not your handheld terminal," he explains. "If you want to support more users or applications, you simply add more memory to the server."

In theory, the network-centric model means fewer work interruptions for computer upgrades and maintenance in a busy distribution center. If a company wants to make changes to its warehouse management system, it could simply do so on the server running that application. "You don't have to bring your entire system down or upgrade each mobile unit with the modified application," says Klein.

Web-enabled terminals also can run special programs known as Java applets. Essentially a mini application written in Java code, an applet can be sent from a server across the Web to a device with a browser. The applets then are activated on the client device to perform a specific function. Applets could be used to reconfigure a data-collection terminal to read new bar codes, for example, says Watridge.

A company with multiple warehouses could even run the Web-enabled terminals in one distribution center off an application hosted on a server located at another one of its facilities. "Let's say I have a warehouse across town and I buy Web-enabled scanners," says Rick Bushnell, president of Quad II, a bar-code education and consulting service based in Chalfont, Pa. "It allows me to run multiple warehouses without anything other than a PC that just runs a gateway to the Internet."

In addition, Web-enabled terminals could allow companies to track goods throughout the supply chain via the Internet. When a shipment is received at a warehouse, the workers could scan a bar code and then transmit the HTML data via radio waves to a computer gateway connected to the Internet. The bar-coded information then could be posted on a Web site. The trading partner could go to that Web site to check on the receipt of the specific item at the consignee's warehouse.

Ahead of the Curve?

Although Web-enabled data-collection terminals have enormous potential in logistics, many industry experts question whether the units are practical at this time. "The marketplace is not demanding [HTML capability on bar-code terminals]," says David Czaplicki, a vice president with Systems Technical Sales Corp. in Bellevue, Wash.

"The hype in this is ahead of the practice," adds David Collins, president of the Data Capture Institute in Plymouth, Mass. "There are practical issues when it comes to broad deployment." Collins notes that wireless terminals sometimes confront connectivity problems due to radio signal obstructions. Such problems tend to occur in remote areas or in urban areas with tall buildings. He also notes that data download rates are slower for a handheld terminal compared with a desktop computer.

At least one industry expert believes that the auto ID makers' real agenda is to set themselves up for the future with the introduction of Web-enabled terminals this year. "This is about positioning and marketing as well as ease of integration," says Christopher John Rezendes, a market analyst with the research firm Venture Development Corp. in Natick, Mass.

Although shippers are not clamoring for Web-enabled terminals right now, Rezendes believes that bar-code manufacturers actually are preparing themselves for the next wave of software development, which will push logistics onto the Web. "The market is not requiring HTML," he contends. "It's really about HTML for the next generation."

Crutchfield Applies Web Know-How to Handheld Terminals

Crutchfield Corp. uses Web-based technology both for selling and distribution. The Charlottesville, Va.-based retailer opened its doors in 1974 as a mail-order company selling car-stereo equipment. The company since has broadened its lines to include all consumer electronic products such as television sets and CD players. In 1995, the privately held company opened an online store to sell its goods over the Internet.

Whether the order comes through the mail or via the Internet, workers are kept very busy filling requests in the 100,000 square-foot warehouse in Charlottesville. They send between 3,000 and 5,000 boxes a day to customers, shipping merchandise via UPS, Federal Express, or the U.S. Postal Service.

By establishing a successful cyberstore, Crutchfield built up a lot of in-house Web technology expertise. It decided to apply that programming know-how toward building its own Web browser software for data-collection terminals used in its warehouse. "Using it in the distribution center made a lot of sense because of the company's investment in Web technology," says David Dierolf, the company's vice president of information technology.

Crutchfield installed Web browsers on the data-collection terminals used by the warehouse workers. The units use Symbol's Portable Pen Terminal (PPT) Model 4640, which is a radio-equipped touchpad that uses a Spectrum24 wireless network. The terminals can exchange information with a server computer via radio waves.

Instead of a Web page, the browser on the PPT unit displays a form with fields for input. When the worker receives a pallet of merchandise for storage, he or she first scans the pallet's bar code. The scanned product information then is placed automatically into the appropriate field in the digital form.

Next, the worker scans the location where the pallet is stored. That information on the pallet's whereabouts also is placed in the correct field on the digital form. "A form is just a Web page that has input," explains Dierolf, "and the input fields can take scanned data."

The data captured in the digital form then are sent to the server computer via radio frequency. That computer is connected to a database that maintains an up-to-the-minute list of inventory in the distribution center.

Although the first browser program dealt with putaway, Crutchfield's programmers have since written software that will enable workers to use the terminals for cycle counting. The warehouse manager sitting at a desktop computer determines the items for cycle counting after interacting with the host computer. The worker goes to a location and counts the items by scanning in their identity. The terminal displays instructions for the worker on where to go and what items to count.

The company also has begun using a third application, having created a Web form to direct product picking. The computer sends a pick list to the terminal, telling the worker the location and the quantity of the items to retrieve.

Dierolf says the company adapted its knowledge of Web browsers to the data-collection terminal because it made administration of the devices easier. "One of the challenges for us was trying to keep the client machines up to date," he says. "It meant I had to distribute new [applications] all the time to the handheld units. " Today, Crutchfield can add or change applications by simply reprogramming the host computer because the terminals act as clients to the server. "Going to the Web-based client means that all the coding is done on the server side," Dierolf says. "Because it's a standard browser, I don't have to write anything for those handheld units."