Manufacturing Solutions

Delivering Process Efficiency

The ability to manage goods effectively via efficient processes is key to the modern manufacturing environment. Over 65% of UK consumers, for example, expect retailers to find and then deliver products from wherever they are located in the supply chain1.

This puts mounting pressure on all businesses in the chain to return accurate data on their operations at any one time. Today, manufacturers who can quickly check the status of and act on the challenges of multiple operations stay ahead of the game in delivering goods in full and on time.

SATO’s market leading auto identification and data collection technologies are specifically designed to meet the unique processing needs of manufacturers across a broad range of sectors, from pharmaceutical to food products.

With a range of support levels available for ease of integration and maintenance, flexible SATO solutions can be effectively applied to solve the challenges of businesses across the globe.

Goods-in receipt management	Picking and assortment	Managing work in progress (WIP)	Materials management	Warehousing and distribution

Managing Compliance

All leading manufacturing businesses take their environmental, quality and health and safety responsibilities extremely seriously. As such, with increasing legislative burden on many businesses, the automation of compliance is a key desire of many organisations today.

The ability to reduce the risk of not responding quickly to regulatory changes, or managing the compliance process effectively, mitigating the risk of fines or litigation, protects business reputation and profitability long term.

SATO, a leader in auto identification and data collection technologies for the manufacturing sector, supplies a range of label and RFID printing solutions specifically designed for highly sensitive applications and sectors including pharmaceuticals, medical and food products.

From ensuring safe handling of materials on the shopfloor and in shipment, to complying with national import and export regulatory requirements, compliance labelling is a key driver of accuracy, visibility and transparency to all the key stakeholders in the supply chain.

GHS & REACH labelling	EU tyres labelling

Intelligent Manufacturing

The delivery of intelligent manufacturing is based on the concept of being able to deliver real time optimisation of the entire supply chain on a continual basis. SATO, a leader in auto identification and data collection solutions for the industrial manufacturing sector, understands the opportunities available to manufacturers to drive efficiency, productivity and profitability through the adoption of track and trace barcode or RFID enabled labelling solutions.

Real time data entering into the organisations management systems creates agility, better decision making and faster response times to enhance quality, customer satisfaction levels and profit performance.

Across assets, processes, people and materials, SATO solutions help identify issues, errors and missed opportunities through the real time tracking of the entire supply chain allowing fast resolution and cost minimisation.

SATO provides a comprehensive portfolio of intelligent label printing hardware, software and consumables to meet every unique manufacturing environment backed by in-the-field technical support teams to support customers.

Advanced materials management	Small item marking	Unique product identification	Intelligent printing	RFID in manufacturing - applications & benefits

Warehousing and Distribution Management

SATO seeks to ensure the smooth and efficient flow of products and information from goods receipt to inventory management and shipping, as well as effectively managing the returns process, where required. SATO saves business time, cost and waste through enhanced visibility, productivity and efficiency.

Continual monitoring and visibility of goods, integrated into each operational area and business function, supports businesses to drive efficiency, productivity and streamline operations. With customer compliance and profitability at the forefront of SATO solutions, SATO designs agile, flexible smart solutions to support businesses from goods receipt to inventory management and shipping, as well as effectively managing the returns process, where required.

SATO VISUAL WAREHOUSE

SATO developed Visual Warehouse™, the industry’s first wearable navigation system intended for use in logistics centers that combines barcodes and RFID with virtual 3D mapping and indoor locating technologies.

Visual Warehouse™ can locate objects with greater precision - within a 30 cm margin of error - than conventional locator systems, with the help of wearable devices that navigate the worker to items using three-dimensional maps and voice guidance. The system facilitates receiving operations at warehouses that manage inventory in random locations, to improve efficiency in inventory management, speed up shipments by instructing the shortest route, and realise inventory/shipping management suited to the characteristics of each product.

With a remote support feature that instructs the shortest route to a product with easy-to-understand voice guidance such as, "Two more metres to your desired product," "Turn right at the next aisle," or "Changes were made to the type and volume of products to ship," the system helps with labour savings for shipping and improves quality of operation independent of worker experience level.

INTELLIGENT WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

SATO solutions integrate seamlessly with warehouse management systems, incorporating data collection and wireless functionality to facilitate real-time awareness of locations, quantities, conditions, origins and destinations of products. Automation of the entire process flow eliminates manual, inconsistent human intervention from receipt to shipping and delivers best in class compliance and safety for optimum business performance.

Receipt of goods	Storage and replenishment	Inventory management	Real time location management	Product picking and assortment

Packing and preparation	Cross docking	Shipping control	Reverse logistics management

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Modern inventory management involves warehousing and distribution companies applying five key processes to their business:

1. Effective demand forecasting
2. Efficient warehouse flow
3. Appropriate inventory turns/stock rotation
4. Cycle counting
5. Process auditing

Truly understanding the market and business environment is paramount to being able to manage these processes effectively. However, knowing the current status of all goods, assets and employees within the business can make the difference between success and failure. Shrinkage, loss and misuse, as well as lack of visibility of where and how inventory is being used, can result in excessive costs and the inability to service customers.

SATO, a leader in auto identification and data collection solutions for the transport and logistics sector, understands the competitive nature of storage and distribution. It works closely with its customers to understand their unique needs and requirements to tailor intelligent solutions to their challenges to drive performance and profitability.

From mobile warehouse inventory management systems to RFID tagging of goods, SATO understands how to enhance warehousing and distribution processes to adding value and efficiency to any situation.

Streamlining inventory management processes to achieve more from less, optimising labour and removing human error, is core to SATO’s philosophy.

Trolley System example

A mobile printing station for the warehouse environment, a wireless trolley system provides a low cost, reliable and flexible solution to inventory control, shipping and checking operations. It reduces operational downtime as operators can print there and then, on site, any time.

A robust, steel-framed trolley with integrated thermal barcode printer, mobile battery, power supply, scanner and wireless LAN tools, the trolley can also mount a PC, keyboard and standard office printer to enable connection to the host CPU or other equipment. Constantly connected, flexible and mobile, the Trolley System enables document printing, anywhere in the warehouse, at any time.