Symbol Technologies Africa have announced that they have supplied Zimbabwe Leaf Tobacco (ZLT) with radio frequency technology to improve stock control levels at their facility in Harare.
ZLT, owned by US-based Universal Leaf Tobacco, is Zimbabwe's leading tobacco merchants, processors and buyers processing over 40% of all tobacco grown in Africa.
A primary objective for ZLT is to improve their tobacco stock control and have recently invested in management information systems to achieve this. An essential part of the automated system is the implementation of barcode scanning for grade transfers and re-classification and for future projects such as the management of tobacco movement both green and packed.
All tobacco bales purchased by ZLT buyers from the tobacco auction floors, are received at a central point at ZLT's premises in Harare. Each bale is allocated a barcode and is captured into stock with its current grade classification, using the Symbol LS4000 hand-held laser scanner.
Once a designated grade is required for processing, all relevant bales are lined up for inspection by the chief classifier to ensure that the allocated classification is valid. If there is a discrepancy the operator, working alongside the chief classifier, will scan the identified bale using the Symbol LRT3840 Laser Radio Terminal and execute a grade transfer which immediately updates stock levels on ZLT's central database. At the heart of the system is the high-speed, Symbol Spectrum24 RF network which allows workers to communicate throughout the facility in subsecond response time. Spectrum24 provides up-to-the-second real time information so that at any given time, ZLT have access to accurate grade and stock levels and can plan production accordingly.
ZLT's roll-out plan is to install Spectrum24 throughout their 21 warehouse facilities and 5 processing plants to track the movement of each bale from the auction floor: to receiving and storage, to final processing and to shipment. ZLT's aim is to increase stock control by having access to accurate and immediate information for forecasting, inventory status and invoicing.
"By introducing barcode scanning, we have substantially improved accuracy levels resulting in a far speedier and reliable re-classification operation" commented George Xenakis, IT Projects - ZLT.
Share