September 2002

Pallet movements at the Goodyear plant in Washington, Tyne and Wear, are now being recorded on LXE VX3 Windows-based forklift truck mounted computers. The VX3s, which have user-friendly 12in screens and a graphical user interface, are connected to the company's SAP server via an existing wireless local area network (wLAN) link.

LXE is promoting this as a prime example of how high-performance wireless LAN technology, used in conjunction with Windows-based computers, can give SAP users a straightforward route to taking computers to the point of activity.

Goodyear's Washington warehouse is 4,500 sq m in size, and accommodates a manufacturing and warehousing operation running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The warehouse carries 70 different sizes of tyres, holding up to 120,000 in storage at any one time.

Booking-in stock from production, order processing and stock checking are all now performed using mobile computers rather than a paper-based system. Updates are completed instantaneously and operators can make enquiries in real-time.