Case Study - Hugo Boss

HUGO BOSS is a global market leader in the high fashion market, and is represented by three independent brands: BOSS, HUGO and BALDESSARINI. These three brands and their extensive collections address a variety of target groups, catering to the demands of each with respect to fashion statement, tailoring, workmanship, materials and pricing. HUGO BOSS distributes its products internationally to 102 countries and more than 5,000 retail shops.

Its business-to-business activities use integrated IT systems to enable an efficient exchange of data with its customers as well as smooth, flexible and prompt coordination of deliveries. Modern warehousing and materials handling technology in the distribution centres contributes to efficient product flow management along the entire process chain.

To ensure all of this HUGO BOSS uses a bar code reading system in its headquarter site in Metzingen. It identified a need to extend this system in the warehouse for shipping activities and in the showrooms for order processing, and turned to Datalogic for help. Datalogic’s Gryphon™ instinctive hand held reader best suited the requirements of the applications, and Datalogic was able to respond promptly to the urgency of HUGO BOSS by delivering all the units on the same day the order was placed.

In the warehouse, the garments are placed on suspended racks in order not to crease the clothes. When an order is ready the garments are loaded in the lorries directly from the suspended racks. Each item is labelled with a bar code which is read with the Gryphon™ Mobile readers before the goods enter the lorry to verify if it corresponds with the order placed, and to update the inventory system at the same time. The Gryphon™ Mobile is particularly suitable for this operation because it permits users to walk around the clothes racks freely.

In the showrooms, the Gryphon™ Desk reader is used for order processing activities. Once the customer has chosen a particular model, an order is placed by reading the corresponding bar code in the “colour card catalogue” where each model is laid out together with the choice of material and colour. In this way, the order is entered directly into the IT system without manual intervention, to avoid errors. The codes used in the elegant colour card catalogue pose a particular problem in that they are reflective low contrast codes (silver on black), however, the Gryphon™ is able to read them without difficulty.

In this way the HUGO BOSS Group is able to maintain its position as global market leader in the high fashion market, guaranteeing efficient and professional business processes worldwide.

Case Study - Apoteket

In Sweden, Apoteket is the sole retailer for medicinal products. That goes for both prescription and over-the-counter medicine. Apoteket is owned by the state and is non profit-orientated. This means that the foremost task is to ensure that each patient gets the right medication or self-medication product needed, in the right quantity and at the right time. It also means that all medications can be obtained, without variations in price, anywhere in Sweden.

Apoteket has 28 production facilities that fill prescriptions to more than 150,000 patients who reside in special care housing such as retirement homes. Most of these patients are upwards of 65 years old. Apoteket bought 100 Gryphon™ hand-held scanners, both cordless and tethered, from Datalogic that are used at these various production facilities.

The decision was made to invest in new scanners based on the fact that Apoteket was having problems with the reading range of the cordless scanners they were using at the time. The Gryphon™ instinctive hand-held reader was chosen over scanners from their previous supplier primarily because of its ergonomics - it is lightweight and feels good in the hand.

“For those who work in production, ergonomics is very important,” says Peter Skarin, Technical Manager at Apoteket RE Dos. “Ergonomics, together with good performance, are the crucial factors that make it smart to use bar codes in our production.”

The hand-held reader is used to read the bar code on each type of medicine (each article number) in the production of individual dose packaging. This is to make certain that the right medicine is put into the right package.

At the production facility in Solna, Sweden, individual doses are packaged in bags and trays for about 8000 patients in all. It is most common that the patients get their medications filled for two-week periods. Every order is entered into the computer system where it is then checked by the pharmacist to verify that it is correct. In the cases where the order is thought to be incorrect, the pharmacist checks with the special care facility that placed the order and the doctor who wrote the prescription.

The order then moves into production where the medicine is packaged in individual bags or trays according to the prescription. The most common medications are kept in large machines that portion out the right medicine in right dose. Other medicines are kept in small boxes that are each marked with a bar code which is read by the Gryphon™ hand held reader each time a prescription is filled. When a prescription is filled that is not one of the more common medications, it is done manually by a pharmacist and an assistant.

Before the order is sent away to the special care facility, it is checked by several inspectors. The number of tablets is counted in each bag and tray. The percentage of mistakes is very low and those that are found to be incorrectly counted are rectified here, which means that when the order leaves Apoteket, it is accurate.

The Gryphon™ instinctive bar code reader serves an important function in this whole process, which ensures that each patient gets the right dose of his or her necessary medication.