Business Challenge

Before 2019, Griffin used paper-based processes, printing orders and pinning them to boards in the warehouse. Employees would spend time parking forklifts and walking back and forth to the boards for orders. Then, when they'd complete orders for shipping or fulfilment, they'd return paper orders for data entry. The process was inefficient, limited employee productivity, and often resulted in errors due to illegible handwriting or keying data incorrectly. The company also wanted a faster, more efficient way to handle cycle counts and reconcile those counts against inventory data in its management system.

Bob Hawkes, Director of Information Technology for Griffin, said the company decided to digitise its operations with barcode technology and developed a web-based app in-house to deploy first at its Massachusetts headquarters.

The Solution

Griffin contacted Levata for information and advice on the best devices to upgrade processes at its distribution centres, beginning with its flagship site in Massachusetts. With the advice of Levata, Griffin chose rugged mobile computers. These rugged devices have a touchscreen and a keypad and enhanced 1D and 2D scanning that enables goods reads from up to 10 feet. They are also able to withstand 8-foot drops to concrete, and rated IP64 for resistance to damage from water, dirt, and dust that are common in a greenhouse supply distribution centre.

For barcode label printing, Griffin chose mobile printers for supply chain and shipping labels. "These can be mounted on forklifts to allow for label printing in the warehouse," says Hawkes, who worked as a Warehouse Manager himself.

Although Hawkes didn't immediately choose support plans, he found that as he added more sites, it became more difficult to keep up with device management. By adding TrueSupport, he was able to turn technical support, troubleshooting, asset tracking, repairs, and life cycle management over to Levata.

Benefits and Results

At first, Griffin was hesitant to give up paper processes. "But we didn't go two days before we turned the paper processes off," Hawkes says, "This was a plug and play installation."

Cycle counts became more efficient. "The solution changed the process from something that took employees four hours to an hour or less," Hawkes comments.

He adds that Griffin now operates more accurately, training is easier, and employees that handled data entry could be reassigned.

By 2022, Griffin had five of its 15 sites using the new system and planned to roll it out at one or two new locations each year until all have upgraded from paper-based processes to barcodes and scanners.