About the Company
Pepco Holdings, Inc. is an energy delivery company serving about 1.9 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Pepco, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, delivers safe, reliable electric service to more than 842,000 customers.
Business Challenge
Before this project, much of Pepco’s transactions were recorded on paper and the inventory items were hand-labeled. The project automated the data capture process, and used RF barcode technology to improve the flow, accuracy and visibility of the storeroom’s inventory into the company’s existing SAP Inventory Management (IM) module. Peak Technologies has extensive experience designing and implementing SAPbased storeroom RF data capture solutions for electric utilities. That background was one of several reasons Pepco Holdings, Inc. selected Peak Technologies for this important project.
“Based on their SAP utility experience and their knowledge of SAPConsole and wireless solutions, we felt Peak Technologies was the right fit for us,” said Sam Appuglies, Pepco Holdings, Inc. Logistics Manager.“ The ability to capture material movements realtime allowed us to reduce manual data entry and improve the accuracy of our inventory.”
The Solution
As a single-source provider of real-time information integration solutions for SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications, Peak Technologies provided a complete range of professional services and RF system components to transition the storeroom operations into true real-time information integration and control. From conducting a comprehensive wireless site survey and design of the project blueprint, through terminal and wireless infrastructure implementation, RF transaction testing, on-site installation, integration and training support, Peak Technologies was responsible for delivering all the services needed to ensure a successful go-live project.
The storeroom application employed RF terminals, ruggedized for simultaneous indoor/outdoor use, to support three main functions:
- Goods receipt – receiving of new inventory and generation of bar code labels for stock;
- Goods issue – barcode-driven tracking of parts or items as they are distributed;
- Inventory tracking – barcodedriven tracking for material inventory counts.
To transition to the new platform, Peak Technologies provided the following services:
- Site survey for optimal positioning of RF transceivers
- Detailed blueprint of RF business and SAPConsole application processes
- Advanced RF security review and determination of optimum RF infrastructure security levels
- RF hardware recommendations and acquisition
- SAPConsole transaction development and configuration
- RF Hardware and system installation and integration
- Barcode printer and label configuration
- On-site integration, testing and user training
“In past projects similar to this application, we’ve seen how successful real-time information integration solutions can deliver dramatic operational improvements,” said Young. “Companies can improve data integrity, practically eliminating errors from manual data entry and hard-to-read handwritten labels; provide faster, more efficient parts distribution; and have truly visible inventory data, eliminating days, even weeks, of delay from paper-based inventory tracking.”
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Industry:
Energy
Business Challenge:
- Paper-based data capturing system in electric utilities storeroom
Featured Services:
- SAP RF Data Capture
Key Benefits:
- Increased Accuracy
- Consistent Supply
"In past projects similar to this application, we’ve seen how successful real-time information integration solutions can deliver dramatic operational improvements."
- Ross Young, President/CEO, Peak Technologies
Benefits and Results
The new RF system’s seamless integration with SAP IM made it possible for Pepco Holdings, Inc. to know exactly what storeroom items are available at any instant, so it can manage inventory levels more efficiently. The new solution enabled storeroom personnel to place items in inventory much faster, and made it easier to locate requested parts and deliver them to maintenance and construction field crews.
Peak Technologies designed, configured and implemented a Radio Frequency (RF) Auto ID system utilizing SAP for realtime data capture and management of goods receipt, goods issue and inventory tracking at the Benning Service Center storeroom.
