CyberCore Technologies

Implementing RFgen freed CyberCore workers in Receiving from being tethered to a fixed location. Now they used mobile barcode scanners to capture inventory data instead of shifting inventory around for processing. Eliminating this bottleneck effectively increased employee productivity by 450 percent, enabling fewer employees to process the same number of items in a significantly shorter time.

“Before RFgen, we’d shuttle everything into that area in small groups, then scan them, and shuttle them back out to make room to bring in new stuff,” said Mulholland. “Seven guys would scan around 1,000 serial numbers a day. Now, three guys can scan about 4,500 each day!”

Goodwin went on to add: “Another advantage of RFgen is that it’s the only solution that could tie multiple barcode scanners into a single purchase order at the same time. Instead of one person working on a purchase order, with RFgen, we can have as many as we need. For a single piece of material, they usually scan four pieces of information. So even if you receive 1,000 items, you are looking at 4,000 pieces of information. One technician scanning versus four makes a big difference.”

RFgen automation enabled CyberCore to achieve 99.999% data collection accuracy, virtually eliminating the potential for human error in receiving and inventory management. Clean, accurate data also means devoting less employee time and organizational overhead to correcting mistakes while also making it easier for CyberCore to create reports required by their customers.

Both Goodwin and Mulholland agree the most important benefits of RFgen are efficiency and accuracy. “If I was to send over the wrong piece of information, it could end up costing us a lot of money for a single asset tag being wrong and shut down different projects. With RFgen, nothing has been recorded or shipped wrong. Nothing has been rejected by our customers,” Goodwin explained.

Performing inventory counts also became faster, easier and more accurate. Before RFgen, the CyberCore team printed out inventory reports from Costpoint and then manually counted the product. Physical counts were so time-intensive that they could only be conducted twice per year. Now, employees scan everything they find in each location. “I receive the exact count,” said Goodwin. “There is no altering of numbers from the crew; only I can alter numbers. It’s faster because they don’t worry about how many items ‘should’ be there.”

Extremely high data accuracy gives CyberCore confidence that its inventory levels are actual numbers, mitigating unnecessary risk due to imperfect data capture processes. It also ensures the product is properly stocked and tracked for customer inquiries, compliance and third-party audits.

Scanning purchase orders in receiving used to be a frustrating process that frequently resulted in lost data. With RFgen, scanned information is held in the barcode scanner. This capability is critical since some of CyberCore customers require specific information to be captured about every item received. “Even if a connection fails, you can just hit resend,” said Goodwin. “You don’t have to do all the work again.”

RFgen ultimately produced benefits in the warehouse that positively impacted other aspects of the business. “RFgen also improves productivity and that drives efficiency downstream,” agreed Mulholland. “Frank’s team collects the data more efficiently, and it moves more quickly to our accounting folks. We cannot send our clients any invoices until everything is received, so RFgen makes a huge difference in how quickly CyberCore can invoice our customers, improving our cash flow. The information ultimately flows down to our program managers who then report back to their customers faster and more accurately.”

Not only was RFgen able to solve present-day challenges for CyberCore that impacted the entire enterprise, but its scalability also provided a way for the solution to grow with the organization, both inside the four walls and out in the field.