Essential Supply Products Ltd (ESP) is one of the leading independent manufacturers and converters of disposable tissue products in the UK. Based in Malvern, Worcestershire the company was formed in 1990. ESP supply products to wholesale distributors serving the Away from Home (non-consumer) market in the janitorial, hotel, restaurant, facilities management, catering, industrial and healthcare sectors.

Challenge:

A stocktake is conducted once at the end of every month. It aims to produce an accurate snapshot account of the stock at ESP’s different warehouses. However, the process is manually intensive, taking several operatives, as well as some management staff, away from their duties from several hours to a full day.

The client approached the NTAILS project to discuss whether Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies could provide improvements in the stocktaking process as well as providing business and financial benefits for the company.

Successful implementation of these technologies could reduce man-hours required, and improve the efficiency of our stocktakes. This could also positively impact our picking and despatch process, removing the requirement for double-checking.

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Malthouse Engineering specialise in flame cutting steel profiles. What makes them different from other profilers is that they can flame cut profiles from 5mm up to 500mm. The company has 20 flame cutting machines across their group. All these profiling machines are able to cut with one or multiple heads meaning they can offer one-offs or batch production runs.

Challenge:

Most ‘jobs’ require different operations on raw materials to turn them into finished goods. Establishing what stage a job had reached has always been a manual process. Malthouse Engineering asked the NTAILS team for assistance with creating a more automated process for tracking the location of the job card which accompanies the materials as they move around the workshop.

The format of the STEP programme enabled all participants to benefit in a meaningful way. The associate could apply their knowledge in an industrial environment. Malthouse Engineering benefitted from the NTAILS’ support and the NTAILS team were able to display their skills against the challenges of a complex industrial environment.

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Liz Munro is an experienced BBC television news reporter and former editorial policy adviser. Her company provides assistance with Editorial Compliance to radio stations and television broadcasters.

Challenge:

Liz Munro came across the NTAILS project, through social media channels, whilst she was conducting research into QR Codes. She came to the NTAILS Centre to discuss her requirements as well as to tour the facilities and to experience the range of automatic identification and data capture technologies on display. As a result, she wanted to learn more about QR Codes and Near Field Communication, with a view to utilising them within her business.

After doing a tour of the NTAILS Demonstration Centre I realised the potential to adapt QR technology to my area of business. I was thrilled to put what I learned into practice to make it easy and simple for potential new clients to get in touch.

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Established in 1919, RAPRA is a not-for-profi t membership organisation run for the benefi t of its member companies to assist with a multitude of enquiries. RAPRA works as a solutions hub to connect these companies to its vast network of preferred providers.

Challenge:

Steve Shaw and Tracey Ashmore fi rst heard about the NTAILS project through word of mouth. They came to the NTAILS centre to see the range of automatic identifi cation and data capture technologies on display. As a result, they decided that this information would be of great interest to their member organisations. They wanted to learn more about all aspects of the technologies on display with a particular emphasis on Quick Response (QR) codes and Near Field Communication (NFC). This would help them better promote the benefi ts of the technologies to members. [Read more…]

Stone’s Throw Media is an award-winning creative video production company based in Wolverhampton. They produce professional videos and animations for organisations and companies who wish to improve visibility, enhance engagement and increase retention.

Challenge:

Founder-Directors of Stone’s Throw Media, Matt Weston and Mike Chinn, came to the NTAILS project to explore the potential of innovatively using automatic data capture technologies such as Quick Response (QR) codes and incorporate them into their business activities. [Read more…]