ClearOrbit improves Colorcon's inventory picture

by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2005 6:00:00 AM

When Colorcon launched a plan to improve inventory management, a new method of tracking the flow of that inventory was essential.

"When you want to reduce inventory while also maintaining your customer service levels, the ability to move things quickly becomes crucial," explains Perry Cozzone, CIO at West Point, Pa.-based Colorcon, which makes color coatings for prescription medicines and candy. "We had warehouse workers getting off trucks to check instructions for moving inventory and entering data on stationary terminals. That couldn't continue."

Cozzone knew that giving warehouse workers handheld terminals would allow them to check and enter data while on the move. But what he didn't initially realize was how difficult it would be to find the right software to run those handhelds.

After trying a solution that didn't work, Colorcon got the desired results from ClearOrbit, a vendor specialized in solutions that extend the functionality of Oracle applications. The ClearOrbit solution—Extended Mobile Applications (X.MA) for Oracle Process Manufacturing (OPM)—gave Colorcon a direct link between the handhelds used in the warehouse and the Oracle inventory management program.

"The previous system wasn't linked to Oracle, which meant we had to build a separate infrastructure to connect it," Cozzone says. That also meant the data moving through that infrastructure wasn't always accurate.

The ClearOrbit solution called for installing an appliance that Cozzone says "bolts right into the Oracle environment." It can do that because ClearOrbit has worked extensively to make its solution compatible with standard Oracle programming interfaces.

PROFILE:

Company: Colorcon, West Point, Pa., a manufacturer of color coatings for medicines and candy.

Business issue: Integrate inventory movement data entered on handheld computers with Oracle inventory management application.

Key solutions: Oracle for Process Manufacturing; ClearOrbit Extended Mobile Applications for Oracle Process Manufacturing; Oracle database on HP UNIX server; Oracle applications on HP Linux server.

Benefits: Smooth integration of data entered into handhelds with Oracle database; improved data accuracy, and faster movement of inventory, which means carrying less overall inventory.

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