Solutions Provider Lands Deal To Replace Aging Handheld Scanners

When your customer sends you batches of 30 or 40 handheld devices every few months for repairs, there comes a point when replacement becomes the obvious solution. So after several rounds of these high-volume repairs, solutions provider Datex Corp. and its customer, North West Co., started discussing options in mid 2012 to replace a fleet of warehouse handheld scanners that had seen better days.

North West is a large retail store operator focused on underserved rural communities and urban neighborhoods in Northern and Western Canada, rural Alaska, the South Pacific islands, and the Caribbean. For at least 15 years, the company had been using Telxon 610 handheld scanners to keep track of warehouse inventory, but the well-worn units had started breaking down frequently after so many years in the field.

Datex proposed replacing them with the smaller, lighter, and less-expensive CipherLab 8200, which could be used concurrently with the Telxons because the software in both units can co-exist without conflicting with each other. This was important since North West didn’t have the inclination or budget to replace all of its 2,000 Telxons at once, opting instead for a phased replacement process. This way, rather than send Datex dozens of obsolescent units periodically for repairs, North West would receive batches of new handhelds from CipherLab as needed — and as its budget allowed.

To read more about the solution provided and the efficiency gains at North West Co., download this case study now.