AGFA’s Graphic Systems is a world leader in prepress solutions for the printing and publishing industries. Graphic Systems provides commercial newspaper and packaging printers with the most extensive range of workflow automation, project management, computer-to-film, computer-to-plate and proofing solutions. As the world’s largest plate supplier Graphic Systems produces analog plates as well as thermal, visible light and chemistry-free digital plates to offer advanced solutions for different printing applications.
AGFA-Gevaert S.A. is one of the production centers producing the newspaper plates. After the plates are produced there is at least a time interval of 12 hours before the plates are sent to the customer. The plates are a photo sensitive product and are therefore packed in a black film band and unpacked again before it goes to the customer as an end product. This time interval is being used to test the products for any physical reaction or ESD (Electro Static Discharge) problems. Protecting the plates with a black film was not sufficient for AGFA and therefore they wanted to store all the products for the intermediate production in a dark environment but the question was how can we manage products in a very dark environment?
AGFA-Gevaert explained the situation to their IT partner, BIZZDEV. A wireless technology needed to be found where no light was being used. Some of the products are very sensitive, especially to red light therefore the standard barcode technology could not be used as the reading of these barcodes takes place through laser technology. Therefore the only alternative option was to use RFID as RFID can read out information without using light, only radio frequencies. AGFA required a complete solution that would be able to combine all the technologies including an Oracle host system, WiFi and RFID. Furthermore the mobile terminals needed to be able to use their already installed Cisco system and the first requirement for the terminals was therefore that the antenna needed to be outside the terminal such that the Cisco card would fit. The terminal also needed to be durable, easy to use, have a keyboard, switch enabled backlight and to have the possibility to give orders to the workers.
After testing for a couple of weeks BIZZDEV introduced the Unitech PA960 to AGFA. The PA960 met all the requirements above and also offered a professional vehicle kit that could be mounted to the forklift and at the same time offering the possibility to connect the external RFID UHF antenna. AGFA eventually bought 35 units of the PA960 in different configurations using the standard barcode technology in the environments not sensitive to the light in order to manage their logistic processes of incoming and outgoing products.
