What is this new system?

The program is called “E-Citation.” “E-Citation will allow officers conducting traffic stops to access driver information from a mobile laptop and automatically fill in a name, driver’s license number, date of birth and location. The ticket is then printed on a small handheld printer and given to the driver. The E-Citation is electronically sent to the circuit clerk’s office.”

A routine traffic stop generally takes upwards of 25 minutes of the officer and civilian’s time, and additional hour or two in booking standard citations once the officer returns to the station. With E-Citation, the traffic stop will only take about five minutes and will include no booking upon the officer’s return to the station as information is automatically uploaded via the system. This also cuts down on lost city revenue as illegible tickets become obsolete with an electronic system.

So one may be wondering, as the title insists, how is this saving millions of dollars?

According to the article, “The savings generated for taxpayers by E-Citations in government paper, man hours, overtime, workers compensation from accidents arising out of lengthy traffic stops, and reduced gas use across 32 different arresting agencies will be in the millions. The investment in E-Citations has generally paid for itself in less than two years in other jurisdictions.” “Only violators pay for this, but all taxpayers will reap the benefits,”

Seems like pretty fair trade off for both parties.

To learn more about E-Citation and Zebra’s E-Citation solutions click here!

How, you ask? This season, the lift passes will track how many vertical feet visitors have skied. Skiers and snowboarders can see their statistics online, and share and compare stats through their Facebook and Twitter social-media accounts. And while at the resort, they can use their Web-enabled phones to see when and where their friends are skiing.

Competition. Conversation. Customer satisfaction. What more could a ski resort wish for? And to think it can start with a little ol’ RFID chip.

Can you see a use for a similar application in your business?

Read the RFID Journal article.

Also take a look at Zebra’s case study about Vail Resorts’ first-of-a-kind RFID lift access. And learn more about UHF RFID card technology, which can be read from 20 feet away, in this white paper.

The most discussed about topic during the segment surrounded the idea of “backward visibility” with an emphasis on the food chain.  Anders states that with Zebra’s current solutions it “…will enable the food supply chain to have backward visibility all the way to the farm that actually grows the produce or meat…”  He uses an example of the automotive industry to illustrate further the idea of backwards visibility in terms of recalls and being able to track individualized items back to the original source and supplier.

View the full sit-down with Zebra Technologies’ CEO Anders Gustafsson on Taking Stock with Pimm Fox to learn more about the Barcode and RFID industry outlook.

To learn more about Zebra Technologies many industry solutions visit www.zebra.com

We’ve been talking about the growth and ROI benefits of item-level RFID, particularly in retail. 

Supply Chain Digest reports that WalMart’s new apparel tagging program has helped lead to a supply drop in RFID EPC Gen 2 inlays, and that mobile RFID readers are now also in short supply. Why so? Lots of investment in RFID initiatives, including WalMart’s recent order for 20,000 Motorola mobile RFID readers, combined with “supply constraints that have lasted for months in basic electrical components that have cause delivery problems in a wide number of high tech gear, including mobile devices.”     

In fact, Supply Chain Digest says that analysts at a major financial investment firm are predicting 300 percent market growth in RFID asset management for 2011.

Do you expect to join that growth, and invest in RFID for asset management and inventory visibility in the next year?

Read the Supply Chain Digest article.

See more about RFID printing/encoding here, where you can find resources such as our white paper “Traceability in Retail—Reducing RFID Media Costs for Best Value.”

To get a break down of the full article, check it out here.

Equipment such as in-car digital video cameras and drivers license card readers are all on docket as purchases the Huntsville PD plan to make. In addition to the equipment purchases, there are also plans of purchasing a driving simulator for training.  All of these new upgrades will prove beneficial in improving policing/patrolling efficiencies.

Maybe the most interesting piece of the article however, came with the discussion of an eventual mandatory process in how ticket citations will be implemented.  The article states that “Eventually… officers will be required to use eCitation – a similar setup for traffic tickets.” eCitation has a multitude of benefits that municipalities and law enforcement offices are starting to trend towards.

A few of the key benefits that eCitation provides is:

1)      Provides a safety assurance to the patrolling officers with less time spent on the side of the road

2)      It boasts a strong ROI, quickly becoming a revenue generator for cities

3)      Can reduce revenue loss from tickets being thrown out due to errors or illegibility of handwritten tickets

With federal stimulus and grant money coming into some cities such as the one highlighted in the article above, many law enforcement offices will begin to focus their efforts on improved and more efficient technologies such as eCitation.

For more on eCitation solutions and how it is a “must have” for all law enforcement agencies check out this Zebra’s eCitation brochure.

You can check out the article in its entirety here.

Located at various public buildings throughout the county, these “mobile cashiers” are simply equipped with a mini-laptop, and a device that accepts credit cards and prints receipts. Not only is this new operation quick, efficient, and simple, it has helped streamline a normally complicated process for county residents, while also adding a personal touch to a generally impersonal transaction.  Citizens of the community have been very receptive to the implementation of “mobile cashiers,” so much so that the Shelby County Trustee’s Office has plans of expansion on a year to year basis.

One benefit to this process that flies under the radar however, is the mobile printing application tied into the operation.  By using wireless Bluetooth functions, the credit card device links with the laptop/printer, streamlining the process even more.  Having mobile printing capabilities enables:

• Reduction in errors/misunderstanding of handwritten vs. printed invoices/receipts
• Greater customer satisfaction – invoice/receipts are easier to read
• Reduction in time to produce handwritten invoice/receipts vs. printing
• Frees time to service other customers
• Image printed on high-quality paper may last longer than traditional paper

To learn about Zebra’s mobile printing solutions and resources click here!

Given the buzz this has created in Shelby County, and the positive public response it has created, one wouldn’t be surprised to see more cities and municipalities follow suit in implementing similar operations in the near future.

Do you believe this is a process that could benefit your community?

To learn about other Zebra solutions for Federal and Local Government go here!

You can read the article in its entirety here.

RFID solutions are becoming increasingly popular in the Government and Public Sector, as it is becoming even more crucial to manage and track critical assets.  More so, the means by how these assets are accessed, and by whom, also becomes critically important. Insert secure ID solutions. As the article states, “When an officer needs a Taser, he presents his identification card to a card reader… the system [then] establishes if the officer is authorized to carry Tasers.”

As safety and security continues to be increasingly important within Government and Public Sector, do you believe more states and municipalities should adapt these methods?

Other industries such as hospitals, retail stores, and manufacturing plants also have began to increase the use of RFID technologies to manage and track assets, and Secure ID access has become a staple in many industries. These solutions provide a safe, easy, and cost efficient way to manage assets and personnel.

For more on Secure ID Technology and Zebra Secure ID solutions click here.

For more on RFID technology and Zebra RFID solutions please click here.

The same is true in mobile computing.

There is price and there is total cost of ownership. Psion Teklogix recently published a great white paper on the comparison of rugged vs. commercial handheld devices. The paper cites a VDC’s report on Total Cost of Ownership that concludes that rugged devices significantly reduce productivity loss while also achieving lower device failure rates and wireless transmission failures. You can check out the entire report here.

One of the most compelling takeaways from the paper was the ROI loss due to device downtime. And this is measured not only by what the mobile worker can’t do, but what other business
functions are affected by the worker’s inactivity. So while things like rescheduled service calls, mailed out or hand-written receipts and missed sales opportunities are the obvious productivity killers, the VDC report found that multiple areas of an organization will be indirectly affected such as IT to fix the device, shipping to take of a returned unit, administrative staff to reschedule appointments and others. VDC found that IT support requirements can be as much as 44% higher for commercial device deployments than rugged ones.

The simple takeaway is this: there is price comparison and then there is TOTAL price comparison. Taking a long and broader look at the impact your mobile device will have on your entire organization will better help you determine that value you are looking for.

You can see a number of mobile printing resources such as our white papers on how mobile printers can drive efficiency and increase customer satisfaction here.

The report appears in an InformationWeek article that came out this week.

The report also cites retail companies reporting promising results in the first six months of this year and some companies reporting as much as 30% increase in sales versus 2009. With this encouraging data, VDC is predicting that the rugged handheld computing market will grow by as much as 8.6% or $2.1 billion globally. Looking at average unit prices that comes to about 2.6 million handhelds.

Dang that’s a lot of statistics.

You know what works great with a handheld? Mobile printers. (but you saw that one coming)

With the sidelined project spending opening up, the opportunity for mobile printing to support the newhandhelds makes obvious sense. And while most people will simply add to their existing stock, here is something to consider: Zebra’s Development Services has developed an Alternate Programming Language (APL) software solution that is resident in Zebra printers. This enables a Zebra printer to be a drop-in replacement for a competitive printer.

So if you are looking to add a printer with that handheld this year and are already looking at one of Zebra’s rugged mobile printers, that’s great. Seriously, thanks for thinking of us. But, if you are looking at an O’Neil printer because you don’t want to deal with trying to integrate a new printer into your mix, perhaps this APL is just the thing to sway you.

You can learn more about printer customization, which includes hardware, electrical and firmware, go to www.zebra.com/developmentservices.

It should be no surprise that the barcode inclusion caught our eye. Brooks tapped Jagtag, an interactive barcode maker as well as the marketing agency of Marden Kane and retailer Finish Line to pull together a complete end-to-end promotion.

The 2-D barcodes will appear on direct mail sent out to a database of 10,000 Finish Line customers as well as the shirts worn by the retailer’s sales associates. Customers or even visitors who e-mail photos of the barcode will be entered to win prizes but the real purpose is to help engage current and potential customers as well as get better tracking on the direct mail campaign by measuring the video views and visitors to finishline.com.

Better tracking. Now we’re talking.

The campaign is not only a cool example of a new way to use barcode for tracking, but it is also a great way to use tracking technology to lead customers to more information. From do-it-yourself stores, full feature kiosks to self-checkout lanes, it seems like a new self service option appear every week. And with the proliferation of smartphone use, it seems like a perfect opportunity to provide deeper product information or customized  multimedia to shoppers while they are engaged with brands. User reviews, short videos and even product configurators can be instantly accessed with the camera scan of a barcode.

Click here for a basic overview of barcodes.