Equipment maintenance systems have been an integral part of production environments for decades.  There is no denying the importance and benefits of well-maintained equipment.  Prolonged asset life and reductions in both downtime and operating costs have turned maintenance from being viewed as a cost of doing business to vital part of being profitable.

Traditional barriers to effectively managing the maintenance process have been in organization and documentation of the system used.  Tracking each piece of equipment by last service date, frequency of service, scheduling of routine maintenance – all on paper - it becomes a full time job to maintain the maintenance system.  Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software was developed to organize this information, and quickly became not only a way of managing upkeep; it has become a tool for improving maintenance performance.

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Barcodes emerged in the 1960’s, primarily in industrial settings, and by the 1970’s they had been standardized and started showing up in more and more commercial applications.  Today barcodes are everywhere.  They enable quick and precise identification in nearly all types of business.  The beauty of the barcode lies in its simplicity, its strength lies in its flexibility.

There are two main reasons why barcoding for inventory applications is beneficial

1. Productivity
2. Accuracy

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Healthcare is an industry where time can mean more than just money – it can mean the difference between life and death.   Given the critical and fast paced nature of hospitals, equipment can easily be misplaced.  This means staff must spend valuable time looking for beds, wheelchairs, or defibrillators.  Finding this equipment quickly not only saves the time spent looking for it, but it reduces staff frustration and increases patient satisfaction.

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MobileFrame invites you to vote in the 2011 Mobile Star Awards.  The Mobile Star Awards recognize the top mobile products and success stories in the Mobile Solutions Industry.  With the support of our customers and partners, MobileFrame has swept the Mobile Star Awards for the past several years and hopes to keep the streak alive.

This year MobileFrame has been nominated for 6 awards in the following Enterprise Software categories:

• Enterprise Software:  Application Development
• Enterprise Software:  Workforce Management
• Enterprise Software:  Asset Management
• Enterprise Software:  Data Capture
• Enterprise Software:  Field Sales and CRM
• Enterprise Software:  Field Service

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Running a mobile field service business can be incredibly difficult, especially when you consider the need to exchange information with multiple distributed workers in real-time.

Here at MobileFrame we have seen organizations that have tried everything to bridge this communication gap including:

• Equipping mobile workers with 2-way radios
• Utilizing Push-to-Talk based cell phones
• Sending text messages
• Calling workers directly

What we have found is that while these technologies are useful, they just are not optimized to help run a mobile operation.

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Over the past several months we have been working very closely with a large Consumer Packaged Goods Distribution company that has been in the process of evaluating different mobile software vendors to replace their legacy route accounting system.

They are interested in not only replacing their existing system but they also wanted to find a single platform to provide the ability to build, deploy, manage, and support all of their mobile application needs.

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Enhance your DSD operations with cutting edge technology

Is your field force using an inflexible, hard-coded mobile app for your DSD operations? How many times have you wanted to make changes to your current app but didn’t want to the pay the vendor an arm and a leg to do the work?

In today’s competitive business marketplace, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) distribution companies need to do more than simply squeeze costs out of the business process. The technology must be able to be customized based on changes in the business processes. This responsiveness, real-time visibility and flexibility will empower your business to flourish in the current economic climate.

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For the past 20 years organizations that have implemented mobile software solutions have found that in order to be successful they had to become subject matter experts in mobile computing. This is in addition to figuring out how to cobble together software components from different vendors in order to ensure a successful deployment.

In fact during a recent meeting with a prospective client we discussed this very topic. During our discussion he said that when his team was implementing their legacy mobile solution in 2003, they had to learn about a variety of technologies related to mobile computing.

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• Weekly timecards always equal 40 hours
• Lunches are always 1 hour long?
• Overtime and project time always seems to come in 1 hour increments?

If so, you are not alone. With every new customer that implements a simple time tracking or job costing application they find that they have been able to save every payroll period.

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Along with the smartphone boom of the past decade we have also seen an exponential increase in the number of companies providing mobile applications.

This increase in the number of available software vendors has caused confusion in the marketplace when trying to determine what the main differences are between companies that provide simple mobile forms vs. mobile business applications.

When most companies are investigating solutions they are looking for ways to eliminate the manual process of collecting information on paper. By eliminating the collection of data on paper, the business will be able to save costs, and ultimately increase profits. As an example let us assume that you are currently looking for a mobile software vendor to help eliminate paper from your field operations. You have completed your preliminary research and think you have found 2 companies that could be a potential fit.

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