News

Macfarlane Packaging is to roll out a just-in-time (JIT) delivery stock-check system using mobile phones after successful trials with mobile phone company O2.

The firm has been using O2 Xda Mini S and Exec handsets, which have a slide-out keyboard and high-resolution display screen, to wirelessly transmit information about O2's mobile phone packaging from its customers' sites to its 15 regional depots.

Macfarlane staff monitor packaging stock levels at customer warehouses, logging any shortages on the Xda mobile phones. The data is transmitted via O2's GPRS network and automatically triggers re-ordering at the Macfarlane depot.

Stock levels are checked in the morning and stock delivery takes place in the afternoon.

This procedure has allowed Macfarlane to ensure consistent stock levels based on demand and seasonality, saving time and unnecessary production of packaging. It also means that O2 can reduce the pallet space needed for packaging stock by up to 70%.

Macfarlane has found the process so successful that the firm now intends to offer the system to existing and prospective customers.

Donna Lynch, new business development director at Macfarlane Packaging, said: "Stock checking used to be a manual process, but by using the O2 technology we can instantly access packaging usage data online. No paperwork is involved."

Macfarlane is also using the Xda handset system to provide an automated quote system for existing and prospective customers.

In this way, the company can provide quotes for items within 30 minutes, compared with the previous paper-based process, which took up to a week.

The company is also developing a quoting system for bespoke products to improve response times.

Lynch said the system had enabled Macfarlane to increase the number of quotations it was able to process.