Case study: Fast and efficient cable harness component picking and traceability

28 June 2024 Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

An automated robot manufacturer was looking to increase traceability and picking efficiency of components for robotic arm cable harnesses in their warehouse. Brady’s customer wanted to get rid of a historic paper-based traceability process, and wanted an efficient collection of power cables, oil tubes, control cables and other components from the warehouse to create a complete robotic arm cable harness.

Solution: Wireless label copy printing

The automated robot manufacturer contacted Brady with questions about its standard Scan & Print app that is promoted on their website. In essence, the Scan & Print app copies labels, and it is a great traceability tool for components that are collected from larger bins.

After analysing the needs together with the customer, it quickly became clear that a custom scan and print application could optimally solve the specific identification challenges involved. Every time a component is picked from a bin, the bin label is scanned. Scan data are sent to central systems. From there, data are sent back wirelessly to the picker’s portable label printer to print a label copy immediately. To ensure traceability in a fast and efficient way, label copies are applied to components, so they match the label on the bin they were sourced from. Brady specialists also built in a verification feature, which can alert when a component would be picked that does not match the work order.

Warehouse professionals were equipped with the portable BradyPrinter M611 Mobile Printer. The printer can receive data wirelessly to print them on highly resilient, industrial-grade labels that can resist a great number of production processes. The BradyPrinter M611 does not feature a keyboard, but is instead capable of printing complex labels using any smartphone as interface. It is also capable of printing labels automatically via an ERP system and Wi-Fi network.

Professionals at the automated robot manufacturer can now pick components from their warehouse more efficiently, and quickly label them for traceability purposes. The entire process is driven digitally, which presents additional options for future efficiency gains. These could include automatic component reordering with Brady’s FlexTrak inventory management system.

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