Businesses are achieving impressive returns on

MOBILE
BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION:
PRODUCTIVITY
DREAMS REALISED
YOUR GUIDE TO IMPROVING
PRODUCTIVITY AND
CUSTOMER SERVICE
FEATURES
Please Can We Have
Some More Productivity
Thriving On Mobility
From Clunky To Cool
ROI Showcase
CASE STUDIES
Sponsored by:
Foodstuffs, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts,
C3, Round The Bays
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
1
MOBILE
BUSINESS
CONTENTS
18
12
10
04
14
16
20
MOBILE BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
02
Kids mimic superheroes in their role plays. Certainly they like the costumes, but the role play is often about making a difference (and beating ‘the
baddies’).
FEATURES
04 From clunky to cool
Mobico general manager Aldas Palubinskas talks to Mobile Business
about the mobility revolution that's changing the way business is done.
10 ROI showcase
14 ‘Please sir, can I have some
more productivity?’
The GM of leading NZ mobile solutions provider Mobico, Aldas
Palubinskas, is passionate about productivity. He discusses how
leading NZ businesses can achieve real world productivity gains and
how they can get the dickens out of their day.
18 Thrive don't just survive
Current rhetoric is still focused on surviving the recession, but fortunes have been built in bad times. Mobico’s Aldas Palubinskas talks
to Johanna Bennett about how business can thrive by focusing on
managing the job – with a little help from mobile technology.
CASE STUDIES
02 Scan-as-you go means no more
punishment for big spenders
Airlines reward big users of their services, supermarkets ‘punish’
them. Foodstuffs’ answer is its ‘gold’ Shop ’n Go service, which is
based on Mobico’s handheld scanner POS system.
12 Mt Ruapehu skiers slide through
queues after technology overhaul
Skiers at Mt Ruapehu are the first in New Zealand to take advantage
of a new wireless RFID scanning solution that increases customer
convenience, reduces overheads and minimises ski pass fraud.
16 C3 clears log jam, allowing customers
to see the wood through the trees
Tracking logs was a long-standing problem until a modern wireless
network solution was implemented which gave C3 customers the ability to monitor their consignments at the Port of Tauranga.
20 Mobico turns finish line
nightmare into dream run
Processing finishing times for the Ports of Auckland Round the Bays
used to be a marathon effort for event organisers. Now, thanks to
Mobico, it’s a stroll in the park.
But what about us big kids? How do we feel that we can make a difference? And just who are the baddies? This special edition of Mobile Business
is a portfolio of case studies and ideas about how you can make a difference.
It focuses on how the superheroes in leading NZ businesses have made a difference and beaten ‘the baddies’ of poor service, unnecessary cost and rework.
While the real superheroes remain understated (and normally don’t wear a
cape), their actions have made a positive and tangible difference to thousands
of lives through improving service, profits and job satisfaction.
This is your resource to learn from their successes and maybe think about
how you can apply some of their ideas to the world that you fearlessly protect
and serve.
We have compiled a wide range of stories to help demonstrate how many
and varied industries and organisations are benefiting. And they are various;
they run the gamut from airlines, hospitals and ski-fields, to supermarkets,
major ports and one of NZ’s largest community events. The common themes
are that all the solutions have a compelling return on investment, they improve
things for stakeholders and they all use handheld mobile computer technology.
“As a country we need to improve productivity. Remember when people
started to use computers instead of typewriters, accounting systems instead
of ledgers and email instead of post. What ever the industry or government
department, things in the office changed forever with the use of computers.
The interest in mobile computing feels a bit the same. People are really starting
to get to grips with how to transform manual paper processes that still exist at
the ‘edges’ of their organisations.”
So says Mobico’s GM, Aldas Palubinskas, about what is currently happening with regard to strong interest seen recently in ‘mobility solutions’.
It’s similar to what happened with PCs in the 1990s, and it’s all about
leveraging efficiency and making people more productive. But the world has
moved on since PCs were hot. Nowadays, it’s all about computing on the
move, and one of the major efficiency boosts here is the ability to do away
with data re-entry. So, for example, instead of taking a note of work done or an
order taken while out and about, people can use a handheld mobile device –a
mini-computer, in effect – to record that information on the spot.
This also saves time at the other end, as the people (or the systems) back
at headquarters can be getting on with the job, without having to wait for the
paperwork to come in or for you to return later that day – or tomorrow.
The aim of this special edition of Mobile Business is to showcase the variety of mobility solutions presently in use. They demonstrate just how versatile
mobile computers can be, and how the range of organisations – from companies to government bodies to not-for-profits – can boost productivity with
what may just turn out to be the technology of the decade.
Simon Hendery, Editor
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
1
> CASE STUDY
MOBILITY
2
Scan-as-you go means no more
punishment for big spenders
Airlines reward big users of their services, supermarkets ‘punish’ them.
Foodstuffs’ answer is its ‘gold’ Shop ’n Go service, which is based on Mobico’s
handheld scanner POS system...
T
he supermarket industry had a problem. It
was effectively punishing its best customers,
those with the biggest trolleys, by making
them wait in long queues.
While this still happens in many supermarkets up
and down the country, Pak ’n Save Wellington wanted
to find a solution. It found one in Mobico’s self-scan
system, which is based on customers using handheld
scanners to check off items, as they move through the
supermarket, rather than waiting until they are at the
check-out.
Although this might appear to be a money-saving
idea at first, this was not what was behind the initiative, says Foodstuffs Wellington’s CIO, Egon Guttke,
who oversees the system.
What it is really about is providing the stores’ best
customers – those with the biggest baskets – with the
kind of “gold-class service” that big users of airlines, for
example, customarily enjoy.
Only people with long shopping lists tend to use
the service, says Guttke.
“We wanted to provide a better service to our best
customers. If you have a gold pass when flying, you go
through a gold check-in, but normally, in a supermarket, if you have a full trolley you are treated less well
than if you have a small basket and so can go through
an express check-out.”
This didn’t make sense to Pak ’n Save Wellington,
so, back in the late nineties, it installed the first iteration of what it calls its Shop ’n Go service. This entails
customers picking up a handheld scanner at the
supermarket’s door and then scanning their purchases
as they proceed around the store. This greatly speeds
the paying process at the till, as the items have already
been stored in the point-of-sale (POS) system’s server,
so the bill can be called up instantly at the till.
This means no more waiting; no unpacking and
repacking, and no squished bananas, says Guttke.
The solution is really a virtual point of sale (POS)
system able to store transactions ahead of the customer
reaching the check-out, says Guttke. It uses the wireless
network operating throughout each of the participating
MOBILE BUSINESS
stores.
This means transactions can be called up instantly,
he says. Nor is fraud a problem, as there is a built-in
checking mechanism. “We check at random to start
with. If the check proves that I have been accurate (that
is, the customer’s self totted-up bill is correct) then the
likelihood of my being checked again decreases.”
Scanning mistakes register as beeps, as they do at
the till. However, the human error rate is very low, with
those items that can’t be read by the handheld simply
being placed in a green plastic bag by the customer, to
be scanned later at the check-out, says Guttke.
The third-generation iteration of the Pak ’n Save
self-check system features new handhelds, with a colour display and a more ergonomic design, adds Guttke.
“You could even play video on them.”
More spending
Guttke says it’s difficult to gauge precisely the
effect of its self-check service as other marketing initiatives, such as smart marketing, have to be taken into
account, and this tends to muddy the overall picture.
“But customers who use self-check grow their
spending with us more than the average consumer,” he
says. This is partly because the handhelds keep a running total for the user, so people aren’t afraid of overspending.
They can also be used for price enquiries, to, for
instance, check the price of items in the freezer, where
the prices for different products aren’t always clear, says
Guttke.
The self-check system was originally piloted, in
Wellington, in 1998. It has been so successful that
Foodstuffs Wellington is presently on its third generation of the system, which now features much better
handhelds.
The current handhelds are Motorola MC17 Retail
Mobile Computers, tailored to Pak ’n Save customers’
needs, says Mobico’s Allan Moyle, who is responsible
for both the implementation and maintenance of the
systems. He says the durable terminals now feature
much improved colour screens that display both the
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
We wanted to provide a
better service to our best
customers.
Egon Guttke, CIO
> CASE STUDY
CASE
STUDY
> Foodstuffs Wellington
AT A
GLANCE
Industry
> Retail
Business Objective
prices of items scanned in, and also come with the
controls that allow users to add or remove items,
should they change their minds.
The price data is then transmitted over a standards-based wireless network, to be stored as a pending
transaction on the supermarket’s POS, waiting to be
called up when the customer gets to the check-out,
says Moyle.
Auckland-based Mobico provides mobile solutions
aimed at solving every day business process problems.
It uses a combination of mobile and wireless technologies to achieve this.
Time-savings
An unexpected extra benefit for Pak ’n Save customers has resulted from the time-saving tweaks they
themselves have applied to their use of the system.
Mobico’s general manager, Aldas Palubinskas, says
customers who use the service have told him they have
shaved about 30 minutes off each ‘large shop’, by bringing their own bags and boxes so they can pre-select
products, separating them into heavy items, cleaning
products and chilled goods, for example.
And, because they’ve already been scanned into
the trolley, they can then be quickly moved straight in
to the car-boot, which saves yet more time at home, as
everything is already organised for a quick stow into
fridge, freezer or pantry.
Being in control this way, and reducing the doublehandling, also has the benefit of keeping fragile fresh
goods in better condition. “This is great for timepoor working parents and busy professionals,” says
Palubinskas. “It’s also very green, as it cuts down on
plastic bag use considerably.”
Fourteen supermarkets
The Shop ’n Go system is in all 14 Pak ’n Save
supermarkets across Foodstuffs Wellington, which
actually covers the lower North Island, from Hawkes
Bay to Ohakune to New Plymouth and, of course,
Wellington itself.
Foodstuffs is a wholly Kiwi-owned group of cooperatives that dates back to 1922. One of the country’s
biggest grocery distributors, it employs 30,000 staff. It
is divided into three separate co-operatives that service
the Wellington Region, Auckland and the South Island
respectively. The company owns the Pak ’n Save, New
World and Four Square grocery stores. 
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILTITY
> To “reward” rather than
“punish” a supermarket chain’s
best ‘big trolley’ customers, by
offering them a gold class retail
service.
Solution
> Shop ‘n Go – a fleet of MC17
Retail Mobile Computers,
tailored to the chain’s needs,
that run wirelessly on the POS
system. System implemented
and maintained by Mobico.
Business Benefits
> Helping high value customers
save time and effort
> Retain key customers
> Above average spend through
handing control to the users
> Instant capacity during peak
trading
> Labour-saving benefit
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> Mobico, www.mobico.biz
[email protected], 09 303 0686
MOBILE BUSINESS
3
FEATURE
FROM
CLUNKY
TO COOL
Image courtesy of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts.
4
MOBILE BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILITY INNOVATION
They’ve always been rugged and manly, but mobile devices are
evolving. They now score cool points too. They’re now as at home
on the ski-field or in the cockpit as in the warehouse, and their
ability to boost productivity and save $$$ is proven. Mobico
general manager Aldas Palubinskas talks to Mobile Business about
the mobility revolution that's changing the way business is done.
BY JOHANNA BENNETT
M
obile devices aren’t what they
once were. Rugged handheld
computers in particular have
evolved greatly. Indeed, they’ve
become a whole family, and
some of its members are quite delicate, although
still strong.
There is the tiny ‘ring-scanner’ that straps
to your finger and acts as a miniature scanner.
Then there are the small, stripped-down cellphone style devices used in hospitals. But whatever form they take, they’re all high-spec devices
capable of a myriad of functions.
Take the latest innovation – the über-cool
RFID reader for use on the ski-field. It reads the
skier’s season pass while it’s still inside his or
her jacket. It checks its validity by pulling up a
photo, so the lift-operator can quickly confirm
that the pass-holder really is who they say they
are. It speeds up the chilly process of waiting for
the chair lift considerably.
But the ‘family’ is bigger than this, and examples of its members provide for an interesting
display in Mobico’s boardroom, the venue for
our interview with Aldas Palubinskas.
Some models are still of the rugged I-cantake-being-run-over-a-truck variety (and they
are – repeatedly – says Palubinskas), while others are more akin to your everyday cellphone.
The varied designs are no accident. They
perfectly illustrate the diverse forms mobile
technology is taking as it emerges from the
back-room and the courier depot, and starts to
appear in a lot of places you wouldn’t expect –
such as on the ski-field or inside the cockpit of a
jet liner – as well as in hospitals, universities and
throughout retail networks.
Just why they’re developing this way is a story
Palubinskas is keen to tell. The general manager
of Auckland-based Mobico provides mobile
solutions to solve what are basically process
problems we all have and that mobile technology
can deal with very effectively.
It can free us from paper mountains, and the
drudgery of multiple data-entry, with all its tedium, inaccuracy and waste of time and money.
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
5
FEATURE
And it can deliver the kind of efficiency and savings that have become pressing with the tough
recession we’re facing, says Palubinskas.
“Companies in retail and transport have used
such technology for years, both to automate
jobs, making them easier to do; and to monitor
quality and cut down on waste,” he says.
The problem is that, beyond these industries,
people aren’t aware of how and where to use
such technology despite how powerful it is, he
says. However, Palubinskas thinks a recession
is a good time to look at new ways of managing
business.
“When times are tight, people need the
opportunity to do things differently. That’s a real
cliché, but if you’re in business and you’re used
to following certain processes it can be quite
daunting to try and find another way of doing
things, even if the return seems obvious.
“Mobile technology can substantially improve
the quality of your business processes and free
up cash by giving you better visibility of your
stock or assets, or other resources. It means you
can make better business decisions.”
Making the case for adopting a mobile
model, he says; “Most business processes
consist of somebody sighting something and
recording it. The normal process, ever since
people could write, has been to record this
on a piece of paper and then manually enter
A LOT OF ORGANISATIONS
HAVE THEIR BUSINESS
PROCESSES BUILT AROUND
PAPERWORK… THIS
TECHNOLOGY LETS YOU
CAPTURE THAT DATA
INSTANTLY, SO YOU’RE ABLE TO
COMPLETE MANY OF THOSE
PROCESSES ON THE FLY.
Aldas Palubinskas, Mobico
that data later on or reproduce it throughout a
whole paper chain. Mobile technology allows
you to do that data capture at the point of
interaction, at the organisation’s edge, where
you’re serving the customer or handling an
item of inventory.
“A lot of organisations have their business
processes built around paperwork, but then
you’re locked into how that invoice or service
request gets handled. This technology lets you
capture that data instantly, and accurately, so
you’re able to complete many of those processes
on the fly.”
SMART DRIVE WASHES UP
Palubinskas gives the example of a Fisher &
Paykel maintenance technician who comes to
your home because your Smart Drive washing
machine isn’t working.
Instead of relying on paperwork, as used to
happen, the technician now has a handheld with
drop-down menus, which allow him, for example, to see if the part he needs is in his van. If it
isn’t, he doesn’t even need to go out and check,
he just sends a request straight back to F&P so
his bin will have that part placed in it. So, later
on, when he goes back to the depot, he can just
pick it and come straight back to you.
“A whole bunch of processes have been
blended together here and, once he has done the
job, an invoice gets generated on-the-job and
he’s pretty much clear of all the paperwork,” says
Palubinskas.
Although it might not be obvious at first
glance, you can translate this way of doing
things to other processes which are actually
quite similar, such as insurance or tenancy
inspections, meter reading or aircraft manifests,
and more advanced developments, in hospitals
and even on the ski-field, says Palubinskas.
20 YEARS
400 SOLUTIONS
700 BUILDINGS
4000 VEHICLES
20000 USERS
1 MOBILE SOLUTIONS COMPANY
+64 9 30 30 686 | 79 St Georges Bay Rd | Parnell | Auckland | www.mobico.biz
6
MOBILE BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILITY INNOVATION
Mobico is presently installing a ski-field
application. It illustrates one of the more sophisticated uses of mobile technology, as it uses
RFID (radio frequency ID) tags. RFID has taken
a bit of battering lately in terms of take-up, as
people come to terms with how best to use it.
Despite this, Mobico is busily installing an
RFID-based ski-pass system at Mount Ruapehu
– the ski season arrived early this year, putting
pressure on for a quick install.
The system will see ski-lift operators check
your pass while it’s still inside your jacket. The
traditional lift pass has a bar-code, which means
you have to fish it out of your jacket. This can
be a cold, unpleasant business and also means
delays as chair-lifts go past unoccupied, says
Palubinskas. With RFID-checking, chair utilisation goes up, queue throughput increases and
customers get more runs. Which is why Ruapehu
Alpine Lifts is installing the technology.
This leads us on to the need to ensure backend processes can support mobile solutions.
Palubinskas gives an example of how this is
being done in a fairly non-traditional area for
mobile technology – health.
HEALTHY OPTION
Unusually for the normally paper-based
health sector, Capital Coast District Health
Board moved to a mobile-based inventory
replenishment system in its hospital wards about
five years ago.
The system involves every ward having
a location identifier and its medical stocks –
syringes, bandages, medicines etc – being barcoded. A handheld scanner is used to identify
and capture information about stocks. It keeps
a count and then relays this information to the
three hospitals’ Oracle database. This has a set
‘refresh level’ for when stocks fall below a certain
level. The system will then ask the administrator
if he or she wants to generate an order and if so
will automatically transmit one to the supplier
concerned.
It’s effectively a real-time, ongoing stocktake, says Palubinskas. Mobico’s Ben Tompkins,
the systems architect who helped install the
system, says the solution has had a major effect.
The hospitals used to overstock on saline solution and dialysis products, for example. These
have a limited life, but it’s hard to predict how
much is needed. The hospitals would over-stock
‘SAVING THE PLANET’
THE MOBILE WAY
S
ome people now have ‘saving the planet’
on their organisation’s list of KPIs. Even
if you don’t, it’s almost certainly on your
personal list of concerns. Palubinskas reckons
mobilising your workforce can make a big
‘green’ contribution in a number of ways:
• Reducing waste and transport costs
• Encouraging the re-use of assets – think of
those ‘lost’ Canterbury hospital beds
• Recycling storage space – as you stock up
and quickly sell what you now know your
customers want
• Industrial PDAs are also way more rugged
than mobile phones – they’re designed
to survive many tumbles and drops, and
they typically last five years or more. Very
recession-friendly
QUEUE-BUSTING
MADE SIMPLE
Y
ou should be so lucky to have people queuing up in these tight times… Well, The
Warehouse and McDonald’s do, and when their
queues get too long they have a mobile solution. For instance, a McDonald’s staff member
will sometimes appear at your side and take
your order on a PDA, relieving pressure on till
staff and speeding up your order.
Similarly, at The Warehouse, especially at
Christmas when queues are long, extra staff will
often come and scan your purchases, and give
you a ticket, so when you get to the counter all
you have to do is pay – no more waiting.
Palubinskas says these “queue-busting
applications” just record what people have in
their basket, but from a business point of view
are very powerful as they take on “20 percent of
the [POS] task for 80 percent of the benefit”.
“Many field service applications take a
same approach. It makes implementation
much faster and cheaper. Applications can be
expanded over time, but just that 20 percent is
enough to gain 80 percent of the ROI.”
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
7
FEATURE
and a lot of it would go bad, says Tompkins. The
scanner-based inventory solution has helped the
DHB address this expiry-date issue, along with
many other issues.
The health sector is starting to look at
mobile solutions too. Palubinskas says that a
Canterbury hospital pilot is currently evaluating
a quite different mobile solution – an RFID system to tag beds, so they can be tracked around
the hospital.
“You might say, ‘how can you lose a bed?’
But you’ve got assets flying around the place all
the time and there’s no check on them, so there
could easily be an extra gurney in the emergency department or parked up some back hallway.”
Even though we’re talking about hospitals,
says Palubinskas, “It’s pretty much the same
technology solution that’s used to restock shelves
in your local store, but using a different business
model. And the payback is immediate for both,
with savings being derived from reducing slowmoving items and ensuring fast-moving items
are at hand.”
SAVINGS STACK UP
And what kind of savings are we taking
about? Palubinskas gives a robust retail example
to illustrate.
With the move some time ago to ‘just-intime’ manufacturing and stocking, one result has
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY CAN
SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE THE
QUALITY OF YOUR BUSINESS
PROCESSES AND FREE UP
CASH BY GIVING YOU BETTER
VISIBILITY OF YOUR STOCK
OR ASSETS, OR OTHER
RESOURCES. IT MEANS YOU
CAN MAKE MUCH BETTER
BUSINESS DECISIONS.
been gaps on shops’ shelves as popular items sell
out, while stocks of less popular items languish
unsold. A similar solution to the health board’s
– but on a much more modest level – has been
shown to increase the profits of a medium-sized
shop by $50,000 to $250,000 a year, simply by
reducing out-of-stock gaps and managing stock
better, says Palubinskas.
The solution consists of a handheld
equipped with a scanner, which is hooked up to
a wi-fi network.
“Customer satisfaction also improves greatly.
Did you know sales and margins lost due to
out-of-stocks and discounts on old expired
stock account for many more dollars than stock
theft or loss? When a full stock-take takes hours
instead of days, retailers can stay on top of their
inventory, replace what they need and clear what
they don’t far more efficiently. Even with a small
gain, such a system can pay for itself almost
straight away.”
“It’s smart technology for tough times.”
And to emphasise the low-volume point,
Palubinskas says that vertical operations – he
mentions Morgan Furniture – are starting to use
mobile-based systems. You can automate routine
jobs by using scanners, which makes for consistency and also allows you to monitor quality,
he says.
And, although initial staff buy-in can be
difficult, once people realise it makes their jobs
easier and gives them more control they’re usually enthusiastic, he adds.
AIR NZ PILOTS PAPERLESS TAKE-OFF
Moving up the company-size scale, Air New
Zealand is using a mobile solution for a manifest
makeover – that’s the folder of passenger information the pilot must have before take-off.
mobilise your workforce with
+64 9 30 30 686 | 79 St Georges Bay Rd | Parnell | Auckland | www.mobico.biz
8
MOBILE BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILITY INNOVATION
SAVINGS &
FINANCING
B
ecause it’s hard to imagine the kind
of financial benefits that a handheld
computing solution can result in, Palubinskas
quotes an example of a medium-sized shop
increasing profits by $50,000 to $250,000
a year, by reducing gaps and managing stock
better.
For bigger customers, the huge jump
in reporting accuracy of field technicians’
reports for Mighty River Power – from as
low as 25 percent to 99.9 percent – tells a
powerful story.
Palubinskas says the savings come from
less capital being tied-up in slow-moving
stock, less waste and simpler data-entry that
is more accurate, resulting in fewer incorrect
invoices. There are also soft benefits, such as
better customer service and retention.
And, because times are difficult, financing is now more flexible, he says.
“Payment can be made on virtually a
daily basis, out of profits. And a business
case and proof-of-concept roughed out pretty
quickly so people can see just what’s possible.”
“If you want to test out a solution, equipment can be borrowed or rented, but the
chances are your key business processes have
already been mobilised by another industry,
whose experience you can leverage.”
Just because a company is big doesn’t mean
it’s immune from cost pressures, and Air NZ has
faced the same pressures as other airlines, as the
industry has become intensely competitive in
recent years. This has forced it to scrutinise costs
closely. For example, airlines have to pay steep
fees for every second their planes are on the tarmac. “So, why do they walk the paperwork (the
manifest) to the cabin door and hand it to the
pilot?” asks Palubinskas.
Well, Air NZ won’t need to any more. It has
been piloting a paperless solution for its national
feeder plane airlines – the little planes of the
Eagle and Mt Cook lines. This sees the pilot
receive his or her manifest information wirelessly, over the public GPRS mobile network, to a
handheld, a Motorola MC35 handheld computer
in this case.
No more delays because of slow paperwork
– that’s the bonus from the passenger point of
view. From Air NZ’s, it’s the large savings from
not having planes tick up fees as they hang
around on the tarmac waiting.
ON ROUTE
Mobile solutions have developed even
beyond this, however. One of the latest enhancements is the geo-stamp. This has come about
because many handhelds that are used on the
road are now GPS-equipped. A recent iStart case
study, of Mighty River Power, discussed how the
company’s meter-installers now do their ‘paperwork’ using handheld computers.
These feature drop-down menus and picklists which detail jobs and record completion.
The handhelds also ‘geo-stamp’ jobs, using a GPS
stamp. This involves a reading of the longitude
and latitude of the place of installation, and acts
as additional confirmation of a job done – very
useful when third-party contractors are being
used.
Palubinskas says the system has saved on
paperwork and delays, and hugely reduced costs.
Job-sheet accuracy has gone up from as low as 25
percent, at busy times, to virtually 100 percent.
“New Zealand’s power companies like it so
much that we have ended up working with all of
them to install similar systems. They would also
work well for government, local councils and
other utility companies, and service organisations like insurance,” he adds.
Which brings our ring-scanner to mind
again. Both the ‘ring’ and the geo-stamp are
examples of novel uses of mobile technology.
While the geo-stamp records that a job has been
physically attended, the ring-scanner aids accuracy and makes its user more productive. The
wearable scanner reads bar-codes, so freeing-up
the user’s hands to move packages etc. Both
technologies show how varied the uses of mobile
technology can be.
The key is to understand the underlying
business process issue you are trying to solve.
There is often a mobile solution to it, says
Palubinskas.
FROM CLUNKY TO COOL
“Mobile computing is used all over New
Zealand and has been for twenty years. It can
solve tough business problems, which results in
big efficiency gains and cuts costs. It has been
used extensively in retail, transport and logistics, and could bring the same benefits to other
industries and organisations, especially when it
comes to reducing paper,” says Palubinskas.
“There are perceptions about big clunky
devices that are grubby, but the state of them is
just a reflection of the environment they’ve been
used in. The technology can be used in even the
most hygienic environments, as the hospitals
have shown.”
iStart’s discussion with Palubinskas finished
up with a chat about Apple’s hugely popular iPod
and how, basically, it’s really an innovative use
of the humble hard-drive. Palubinskas thinks it’s
“technology as jewellery”. Which makes it doubly
innovative and underscores the theme here: that
the same technology can solve the business process problems of quite different industries.
The iPod is a good example of innovative
thinking. It solved a consumer ‘problem’ more
neatly than its fore-runners – it made musicon-the-move easier, more varied and more fun.
Palubinskas has similarly innovative aims in the
business space. And some of Mobico’s solutions
promise more fun too – more runs on the skifield, for example. 
Mobico is NZ's largest specialist handheld
mobile-computer and wireless-network provider.
It has installed – and supports – over 700 wireless
networks across NZ, operating 20,000 handheld
mobile-computers.
Contact: [email protected]
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
9
FEATURE
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS IN ACTION
Businesses are achieving impressive returns on investment through
the combined efficiency of today’s powerful mobile computing devices
and fast, secure wireless networks...
M
obility solutions – in one form or another
– have been delivering productivity
enhancements and quality improvements
to the smart businesses that have embraced them
for more than 20 years.
Here we highlight some common applications
for today’s robust solutions, all based around a
wireless network linking handheld mobile-computing devices to the corporate IT infrastructure.
Another factor these showcased solutions also
all have in common is their ability to generate a
meaningful return on investment for the businesses
deploying them.
If it hasn’t already, it’s likely your business
could benefit from deploying at least one of these
solutions. Have you investigated the possibility of
putting mobility solutions to work for your organisation recently?
All of the solutions highlighted here also have
the potential to improve a company’s cashflow and
Eliminating errors
to achieve the
Perfect Order
reduce its working capital requirements.
Most mobility solutions cost a total of around
$10 per user per day and when you combine the
hard and soft benefits resulting from their deployment, the total returns typically add up to multiples
of that investment.
For an organisation embracing mobility
solutions for the first time, the transition can be
compared to the early days of computing when
businesses migrated from typewriters to word processors and ledgers to computer-based accounting
applications.
To learn more about the key steps to successfully implementing a mobile project, see the productivity feature starting on page 14.
SOLUTION
Warehouse Picking and Inventory Management
BENEFIT
Improving order accuracy to 99.95%
ROI
50% increase in cases per hour
picked over a manual system
Inventory reduction of 5 to 25%
Material out of stock reduction
Reduction in shrinkage
SOLUTION
In factory, building or field data collection
BENEFIT
Increased productivity
ROI
10 to 25% increase in jobs per day
over a manual system
Paperless
inspections,
compliance
and asset
maintenance
10
MOBILE BUSINESS
Enhanced safety and customer service
Improved data accuracy and quality
(including photos and GPS markers)
Significant reduction in wasted time
and double handling
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
ROI SHOWCASE
SOLUTION
High Frequency
Customer
Service Cycles
Direct Store Delivery and Route Accounting
BENEFIT
10% more customers per day with
5% increase in order fill rates, promotion
participation and customer retention rates
ROI
One additional stop per day
5% revenue increase
15 to 30% better cashflow
Handheld
personal
shopper
SOLUTION
Make it easy for customers to buy things
BENEFIT
Increased sales, decreased labour
ROI
3 to 15% basket size increase per visit
– significantly more during peak times
20% labour reduction
Increased customer satisfaction
and loyalty
SOLUTION
Field Service and Proof of Delivery
BENEFIT
Increased service profitability & first call
resolution; More stops per worker
ROI
27% improved service profitability
19% better collections
Delivering
Prompt Service
and Proof
of Receipt
Travel time reduction of 53%
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
11
> CASE STUDY
RFID/MOBILITY
Mt Ruapehu skiers slide through
queues after technology overhaul
Skiers at Mt Ruapehu are the first in New Zealand to take advantage of a new
wireless RFID scanning solution that increases customer convenience, reduces
overheads and minimises ski pass fraud...
I
nspecting the passes for season and life pass holders
at Mt Ruapehu’s two commercial ski areas is much
easier and convenient for skiers, faster for the ticket
checker and has significantly cut down on incidences of pass fraud, all thanks to a smart card / RFID (radio
frequency identification) system supplied and supported
by Mobico.
“About half of the skiers on the mountain are holders
of life or season passes,” says Dave Mazey, general manager of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL), the operators of both
Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields. “We want to make their
experience as comfortable as possible. With the combination of the RFID passes, rugged wireless scanners and our
new POS (point of sale) system, pass holders don’t have to
take off their gloves and rummage around their pockets
to show their cards. In addition, once the pass is scanned,
a large, clear image of the pass holder is displayed on the
handheld scanner which allows the pass checker to ensure
that the skier is actually the pass holder.” In the season
so far, as a result of the new technology, more than 50
people have been caught trying to use a season/life pass
fraudulently.
RAL owns and operates the assets of New Zealand’s
12
MOBILE BUSINESS
two leading North Island ski areas, Whakapapa and Turoa
on Mt Ruapehu. During the winter ski season up to 750
staff are employed with snow-related activities. Total lift
capacity for the two areas is 15,000 skiers per hour at
Whakapapa and 11,300 skiers per hour at Turoa.
The RFID solution is a quantum leap from RAL’s old
barcode scanning system which, in turn, was another
quantum leap from the traditional method of visually
inspecting passes. “We should be able to reduce the
number of ticket checkers we’ll need next year by around
25%,” says Mazey, “a significant saving. And now that we
have the system in place, we can start using the smart
cards in other aspects of the ski field operation such as
equipment rental, food and beverage and customer relationship management.”
World-Class Technology
“As part of our constant effort to optimise the experience of our customers,” says Mazey, “the RAL senior
management team makes it a point to visit other leading
ski areas worldwide to see the latest in technology. Ski
field operators in the Northern Hemisphere are beginning
to use RFID smart card technology and we thought that it
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
We should be able to
reduce the number of
ticket checkers we’ll need
next year by around 25%,
a significant saving. And
now that we have the system in place, we can start
using the smart cards in
other aspects of the ski
field operation such as
equipment rental, food and
beverage and customer
relationship management.
Dave Mazey, general manager
with RAL, Siriusware and Motorola to ensure that when
the season opened the new pass checking system would
operate as expected and continue to operate in the harsh
environment. We even tested solution prototypes in commercial freezers to simulate the environment to assist with
the early identification of any potential issues.”
Personal Service
CASE
STUDY
> Ruapehu Alpine Lifts
AT A
GLANCE
Business Objective
> Optimise the customer experience by streamlining the ski
pass inspection process
> Over time, reduce the number
of ticket checkers required over
time
> Reduce the incidence of
season/life ski pass fraud
Solution
> Motorola MC9090-G Wireless
Handheld RFID Scanners
> Motorola AP5131 Access
Points to support mesh wireless
network
RFID/MOBILITY
“We really appreciate the personal service we’ve
received from Mobico,” notes Mazey. “When we had two
scanners go down at the same time – the conditions here
can wreak havoc on any type of machinery or electronic
device – they immediately sent down a replacement unit,
the only one in the country at the time, and sourced
another from Australia. When we were running short of
blank passes and the shipment from overseas was late,
Matt personally picked up the cards from the airport and
drove them down after hours. Plus they have been most
helpful with the configuration of the Motorola scanners
and have given us great advice as we’ve deployed the
Siriusware solution elsewhere on the mountain.”
RAL is just scratching the surface with their RFID
initiative. “Once we have the new wireless mesh infrastructure in place,” concludes Mazey, “and have more
experience with Siriusware, we’ll be replacing our barcode scanners with RFID throughout our operations in
areas such as equipment rental and food and beverage.
Of course, RFID is more expensive than barcodes, but it
has so much more potential down the road. Our focus at
Whakapapa and Turoa is to make the customer experience as fun, rewarding and convenient as possible and
RFID, and the team from Mobico, will help us achieve
that goal.” 
> CASE STUDY
would enhance our appeal if we could implement a similar solution here. We had a barcode scanning solution in
place that linked to our point of sale system via a wireless
network, but all were in need of an upgrade. So the timing was perfect.”
“Our POS system just didn’t have the functionality
we required nor were we getting the support we wanted,”
says James Fisher, IT Manager at RAL. “And the bar code
readers at the lift line had surpassed their ‘use by’ date.
Dave and the management team really liked the idea of
an RFID-based system so we looked at the market to see
what was available. As it turned out, Siriusware was one of
the very few solutions that fulfilled our requirements. An
added incentive was that Siriusware was compatible with
Motorola RFID scanners. We had been using Motorola
radios at the ski field for years and were impressed with
their robust operations, not an insignificant fact considering our harsh environment.”
Once the team at RAL had decided on Siriusware,
they contacted Mobico for the provision of RFID scanners. “Matt Higgs, Corporate Account Manager at
Mobico, had literally grown up on the ski field and had
been in contact with us about Mobico’s products and
services,” continues Fisher. “So we called him up to see if
they could help us. His understanding of our operation
and the unique environment we operate in has been a
distinct advantage.”
“We jumped at the opportunity to help out our
friends at RAL,” says Higgs. “After a few conversations to
clarify their requirements, we were able to provide them
with a full solution including Motorola wireless handheld
RFID readers and Gen2 UHF RFID seasons pass cards.
Plus we are currently in the process of upgrading their
legacy wireless network with a state-of-theart dual-band mesh network like that used
at C3. This will improve both coverage
and data transfer rates. From the outset,
we were very mindful of public nature and
the size of the project. We worked closely
> Siriusware access control /
sales point software
> Professional services and support from Mobico
Business Benefits
> 25% forecast reduction in
ticket checkers in ensuing ski
seasons
> Queues moving 30% faster
> Significant reduction of
fraudulent use of season / life
passes
> Provides powerful new platform for applications elsewhere
within the operation
Members of the project team
(left to right):
James Fisher (RAL),
Annah Dowsett (RAL),
Aldas Palubinskas (Mobico)
and Matt Higgs (Mobico)
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> Mobico, www.mobico.biz
[email protected], 09 303 0686
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
13
FEATURE
‘Please sir, can I have some
more productivity…?’
GM of leading NZ mobile solutions provider Mobico, Aldas Palubinskas,
is passionate about productivity. He discusses how leading NZ businesses can achieve real world productivity gains and how they can get
the dickens out of their day…
D
o you sometimes wish your people
were more like machines, robots,
worker bees or soldier ants? Why do
people have to have feelings, good
days, bad days, pride and goals? How come there
are still so many jobs that require staff to do
menial and highly repetitive tasks. For example,
moving goods, or recording details about tasks.
Every day, in New Zealand, millions of these
repetitive tasks are performed. This is the backbone of modern life. But it is often dreary and
boringly repetitive work.
Could you do it, day after day, year after
year? Thankfully, life is probably not a Dickens
novel for you or I, but it is staggering how many
Victorian era paper-based practices remain in
the modern workplace.
We can all talk about how government
should improve productivity, but how many of
us have really improved productivity within our
own workplaces?
14
MOBILE BUSINESS
Is it up to you to change this? Will jobs continue to be lost as larger and/or offshore companies swallow up NZ companies, because they fail
to invest in technology to streamline necessary
but error-prone menial repetitive tasks? What
can you do?
Changing business processes is certainly
hard. It can feel like trying to get out of a moving
car because there is so much momentum. But it
need not be like this. Here are three simple steps
to improving productivity. These are based on
how the leading businesses we work with and the
“agents of change” that work within them do it.
It’s a simple, proven and potent approach.
1. Find it
2. Prove it
3. Do it
1. FIND IT
If you’ve read previous features or case studies, you may recall Mobico specialises in handheld
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
mobile computers. The majority of the 20,000 or
so units they look after throughout NZ are doing
the most boring jobs in the country. You might
say: “What they do isn’t innovative, it’s repetitive”.
So, what are the most repetitive tasks in your
organisation?
•If you are a service company, it’s scheduling
jobs, recording time and replacing parts
•If you are a wholesaler or retailer, it is replacing stock
•If you are in freight or warehousing, it is moving stock
•If you are a hospital, it will be ordering/replacing supplies, recording details and cleaning
•If you are a council, it will probably be maintenance and inspections
•If you are a hotelier, cleaning rooms and
restocking the mini-bar
Large parts of your organisation’s people and
capital are committed to similar tasks every day.
They are repetitive, but always need to be done
PRODUCTIVITY
WHY THE DICKENS?
Don’t continue to stand still and let others consume
your business and potentially our country. Don’t keep
using processes that have been around since the
1800 and 1900s.
1. Find the dreary tasks. Form your hypothesis about
what can be changed and the expected benefits.
2. Keep the scope tight and prove it. Convince yourself
and then the sceptics.
3. Know that productivity is improved through evolution – and get on with it.
on time, with accuracy and care. Every day, year
after year.
FORM YOUR HYPOTHESIS:
“We can reduce shipping errors by 90%”
“We can reduce stocktake time from 24 hours to 4
hours”
“We can make two additional customer visits per person, per day”
“We can reduce stock losses by 50%”
“We can reduce the time to complete the task by 20%”
“We can reduce inventory by 15%”
Once you have agreed on a theoretical target,
work through what the business benefit is. Be specific. Productivity gains are typically evolutionary,
not revolutionary in size and value. If your hypothesis is credible, you will be able to theorise repeatable benefits, but typically they may be “small”.
Such benefits frequently range from $20 to $50 per
task worker, per day. While costs to achieve them
are around $10 per day. People can often lose heart
at this stage, feeling that it will take a lot of work
and cost to achieve what on the face of it looks to
be quite a small gain.
Using a handheld mobile computer improves
the quality and consistency of these tasks. These
reduce errors, eliminate double-handling (ie.
the re-keying of data) and speed up service. But,
perhaps most importantly, they take some of the
drudgery away from the tasks.
However, $20 to $50 is actually a very large
gain. Did you know $30 per person, per day
easily extrapolates to the equivalent of $200,000
per year in extra sales. Consider this: average
net earnings are often less than 5% of revenue
and, in most cases, the benefits proposed can be
viewed as flowing directly to the bottom line,
given they are normally a direct cost of sale or
operating cost reductions. So, $30 divided by 5%
= $600 per day x 365 days, or 250, depending on
your company. So, do the maths. Also take into
account the compounding effect. However, you
look at it there will be a good return. So, keep
believing in it.
2. PROVE IT
With a clear hypothesis, like any scientist, you
will need to prove it. Think about the processes
around this task. But not too many of them. The
secret to a successful mobility project is to keep
the scope tight and the concept simple.
This can also be said about many projects,
but specifically with mobility the tasks being
improved on are repetitive. Start with the most
simple repetitive task. You can always add other
tasks later. Also keep the error handling process
simple and ideally not on the mobile computer.
For example, when doing a stocktake, if the item
you’ve just scanned isn’t recognised, just take it
to the stocktake supervisor. Don’t design your
stocktake application to add the item as this will
complicate the process and potentially introduce
data integrity issues.
Once you have a tight scope and functional
specification, it is then very easy and cheap to build
a prototype/proof-of-concept mobile application
and run it on borrowed or rented equipment. Once
you have this, you can then work through your
new improved process recording the results and
findings. Then record the same process done the
current way and estimate the savings.
EXAMPLES:
“We ran the proof of concept order picking system for 2
weeks. We found orders took on average 8 minutes less
to pick and every order was 100% accurate. Without
the order picking system 5 out of every 100 orders had
issues. Based on 25 orders per day per person, we estimate the system will save 100 minutes per day in picking, plus at least 20 minutes per day sorting out incorrectly picked orders. This improves our performance by
2 hours x $20 per hour = $40 per day”.
“Our stocktake used to take 6 people 4 hours for 4
nights. That’s 96 hours. What’s more the stock changed
as we opened during the day. We put in the stocktake
system, it now takes 4 people 4 hours. That’s a saving of 80 hours and we get it done all in one night, so
the stock is accurate. The time saving alone is worth
$1,200 each stock take”.
“The technician saves on average 8 minutes per job.
They do 7 jobs per day. Saving 4 minutes 7 times per
day means we save 56 minutes per day, which allows
us to squeeze in an extra job most days, which generates an average of $70 per day extra”.
3. DO IT
Great. You’ve found out how to save some
money, or make some more. Is this the moment
of truth? Is $30 per day, per worker enough
benefit to get the project approved? It adds up to
a lot extra on the bottom line at the end of the
year – or does it? What is your threshold?
Some businesses will do it for $10 and some
will easily get $100 or more. However, many
businesses seem to feel that $30+ per day, per
task worker is not enough of a benefit to pursue. Did you know most mobility projects have
an ROI of less than 12 months, but they take
on average 4 years to get the go ahead. There’s
always plenty of excuses:
EXCUSES EXCUSES:
“We can’t reduce head count, so it isn’t a real saving”
“We just need to try harder and reduce errors”
“Everyone does it the way we do, so why should we
change?”
“It’s not in this year’s budget”
“If we are going to do that, we also need to do this and
this and this”
These are the same reasons that government departments find it hard to change. Is
your business the same? Have modern business
management practices paralysed common sense
decision making?
Improved productivity is not a destination,
it is a journey. Make some decisions, follow in
the steps of others and enjoy the benefits of their
learning. Start focused and expand the scope
over time. Provide your workforce with tools
that improve the menial, task-based jobs, that
even make them fun. 
For more information:
Mobico is NZ's largest specialist
handheld mobile-computer and
wireless-network provider. It
has installed – and supports
– over 700 wireless networks
across NZ, operating 20,000
handheld mobile-computers.
Contact: [email protected]
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
15
> CASE STUDY
WIRELESS NETWORK
16
C3 clears log jam, allowing customers
to see the wood through the trees
Tracking logs was a long-standing problem until a modern wireless network
solution was implemented which gave C3 customers the ability to monitor
their consignments at the Port of Tauranga...
F
orestry is one of New Zealand’s largest export
sectors. C3, New Zealand’s largest on-wharf
logistics company, provides logistical services
for 21 million logs and 6.3 million tonnes
of forestry products annually. In order to provide their
customers with real-time, web-based access to the status
of their consignments, which is captured by an array
of wireless handheld bar-code scanners, C3 needed to
significantly expand the wireless coverage of its port facility. To help them identify the most appropriate network
topology, optimise the placement of wireless access points
to maximum coverage and offer value-added services for
on-going support and further network development, they
turned to Mobico.
C3’s new wireless mesh network, powered by a configuration of indoor and outdoor access points provided
by Mobico, now covers 13 hectares (32 acres), up from
three hectares (7.5 acres). In addition, the coverage can
be easily expanded as required and even ported off-site.
C3’s flexible and scalable wireless solution underpins its
current log management applications, provides the infrastructure to support customer portals and gives the company a competitive edge for winning new business.”
MOBILE BUSINESS
Outdated system
C3 had been running a proprietary wireless network
to support its log handling and warehousing solution.
“We had been operating a legacy wireless network to
support our handheld terminals,” says Jason Garrett, IT
manager at C3. “At the time of installation, in 2002, our
network was the most advanced wireless solution on the
market, and it had supported our applications as well
as we could reasonably expect. Our technology partner,
Mobico, had been supporting the network and had provided our handheld terminals. But, especially in the wireless space, the technology moves right along so we started
to think about upgrading.”
The legacy network only covered about three hectares
(7.5 acres) of the wharf area, just two (out of four) log
berths. “We found ourselves limited with our current coverage,” explains Garrett. “We shift logs all over the facility
and if we moved them out of the coverage range, away
from the log berths, we lost the signal. At the same time
we were thinking of extending our wireless RF and bar
code scanning applications to include sawn timber and
containers. Again, we didn’t want to be constrained by our
coverage area.”
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
Allan and the team from
Mobico are fantastic when
it comes to keeping us
up-to-date. They, and the
Motorola people as well,
tell us what’s new and how
we can add even more
value to our network.
Jason Garrett, IT manager
Finalist for the 2009 TUANZ
Innovator of the Year Award
“Jason is a hands-on manager and makes a major
effort to stay current with the latest trends and technologies,” says Allan Moyle, account director at Mobico. “He
was asking us for advice about extending his wireless
coverage with a mesh topology, as well as upgrading his
handhelds. He was spot on with his homework, though,
because Motorola had just released the mesh-enabled
indoor access points.”
The key advantages of mesh technology are its scalability and flexibility. Mesh networking is based on a series
of ‘nodes’, each of which is capable of providing wireless
network access to local users. Mesh technology offers a
cost-effective solution for extending wireless coverage
for large outdoor facilities, by increasing the range and
coverage of the network without increasing system cost.
In addition, mesh networks only require cables for power.
This makes mesh networks ideal for outdoor wireless
networks and hard-to-cable buildings, such as historic or
very large buildings that require long data cable runs.
More Options
The flexibility of the mesh network gives C3 even
more options. “We placed a Motorola access point inside
our ‘Portacom’ command centre, which is a shipping
container that contains a mobile office,” says Garrett. “We
simply move the Portacom next to a berth or work area,
connect it to the power leads and we have a fully-functioning office with network access. We can even use the
Portacom as a network extender if we need to temporarily
expand the coverage. Or we can even move it off-site if
need be.”
While Garrett and his team have a firm grasp of the
technology, he appreciates the professional services from
Mobico. “Sometimes it’s hard to get the specialised advice
we need to move ahead with our IT initiatives,” says
Garrett. “Allan and the team from Mobico are fantastic
when it comes to keeping us up-to-date. They, and the
Motorola people as well, tell us what’s new and how we
can add even more value to our network. We are always
expanding our capabilities and the mesh network has
given us a wireless backbone that will allow us to fully
support our RF and related initiatives.” 
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
CASE
STUDY
> C3 Limited
AT A
GLANCE
Business Objective
> Expand wireless coverage of
wharf area to support vital port
operations
> Upgrade handheld scanners
to be compatible with enhanced
log tracking applications
> Provide flexibility and scalability in wireless network for
expanded coverage
Solution
> Motorola AP-5181 outdoor
and Motorola AP-5131 indoor
access points to support mesh
wireless network
Business Benefits
> Expanded coverage from three
hectares to 13 hectares
WIRELESS NETWORK
Mesh wireless networking
After a few discussions, Garrett commissioned the
Mobico team to do a formal wireless site survey and
recommend appropriate wireless infrastructure. “We
had been dealing with the Mobico team for years,” says
Garrett, “and they have always given us excellent service
and good advice. They are always quick to help and they
maintain what they sell. In fact, they even honoured a
warranty even though our own repairs had voided the
exact terms and conditions. Now that is what we would
expect from a trusted partner.”
“We sent one of our technicians out to their facility,”
says Moyle, “and prepared a comprehensive site survey
that identified 17 locations for access points that would
give the coverage they required. We specified a mix of
wired and wireless access points, with some requiring
power-over-ethernet capabilities, to avoid running power
cables.”
“The site survey was exactly what we needed,” says
Garrett. “It showed us where to place the access points
and outlined the additional coverage we could expect.”
“The advantage of the mesh topology,” he says, “is
that we can add nodes as we need them, without too
much configuration. During the initial roll-out, Mobico
helped us test the network and offered a few technical
tips to make it work more efficiently. Because the initial
installation went so well, we’re now in the process of adding more access points whenever we need to expand our
network coverage.” Currently, C3’s mesh wireless network
covers 13 hectares (32 acres), over 40% of the facility,
and expands the reach of the wireless mesh network to
include all four log berths and the majority of the log
marshalling yard.
> CASE STUDY
One of the drawbacks of the legacy network was its
ability to scale. “We were limited to three nodes on the
network,” says Garrett, “so we really couldn’t just add a
few more access points here and there. We trialled a couple of ‘off-the-shelf ’ consumer/office access points to see
how they would work, but for any number of reasons they
didn’t have the capabilities we wanted. We had been hearing about a new wireless topology, mesh networks, and
started to ask around to see if that would be appropriate
for our needs.”
At the same time, Garrett and his team wanted to
upgrade their handhelds. “While our older terminals had
worked well, they were based on the Palm operating system which was no longer the most appropriate platform,”
he explains. “Most of the newer crop of handhelds run
Microsoft’s mobile OS, so we started to look around for
some replacements.”
> Flexibility of mesh network
means C3 can move access
points without reconfiguring
network
> Mesh networks are fully wireless, expanding flexibility and
reach while reducing hardware
requirements
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> Mobico, www.mobico.biz
[email protected], 09 303 0686
MOBILE BUSINESS
17
FEATURE
THRIVE,
DON’T JUST
SURVIVE
Current rhetoric is still focused on surviving the recession, but fortunes have been built
in bad times. Mobico’s Aldas Palubinskas talks to Johanna Bennett about how business
can thrive by focusing on managing the job – with a little help from mobile technology…
E
ver wondered how the big get bigger and why you aren’t one of
them?
In the long term, it’s seldom about what you do or make.
“It’s about cashflow, cashflow and more cashflow” says Mobico’s
general manager Aldas Palubinskas.
As demand dries up and margins get squeezed, the temptation is
to focus on what you do – rather than better managing those tasks that
improve cashflow. Then, when demand increases again, everyone gets busy
doing what they do and, again, the tendency is for attention to move away
from managing the tasks that improve cashflow.
Nor is this just a corporate phenomenon, says Palubinskas. It applies
across the board – from the smallest business to the largest organisation.
However, improving cashflow is seldom just about chasing debtors. It’s
about making sure your price, order, shipment and invoice are right first
time. If anything isn’t right, the account doesn’t get signed off and you miss
the opportunity to get paid on the spot and on time.
Who is going to pay a bill if it isn’t correct? Nobody – it’s human
18
MOBILE BUSINESS
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
nature. And, sadly, if you miss the payment round, it usually it takes a
month to sort everything out, and you get paid next time round.
This is the fundamental reason why most non-corporate businesses
need overdrafts, factoring or larger amounts of working capital, says
Palubinskas.
They collect too much in 60 and 90 days. Even worse, they often end
up using their GST or provisional tax funds to bridge the gap, resulting in
high, unbudgeted-for penalty costs. To thrive, you need to get the paperwork right first time, so you can collect in 30 days.
The same applies to order-handling. The less time an order takes to
process and fulfill accurately, the greater the opportunity for others.
This means you shouldn’t just focus on processing orders. Think about
how they are processed; how quickly they are processed; how accurately
they are processed, and how many are processed.
Also think about how they’re billed; how accurately they’re billed, and
when the money is collected. Manage your business – not just the tasks.
You can’t thrive just by doing the job well, says Palubinskas.
MOBILITY
CAPTURE THAT DATA
Even those at the more modest end of the commerce food chain can
benefit, says Palubinskas, as the solution is becoming increasingly affordable. He gives the example of the plumber who, stereotypically, puts his
paperwork off to the last minute.
“It leads to so much waste and it affects cashflow,” says Palubinskas.
“Say, he’s out on a job and he uses four or five metres of piping – he
can’t remember which or what type. He wrote it down on a piece of paper,
but struggles to find it when he does his paperwork a week later. He’s not
short of work, but he can’t collect his money if the bill is wrong, so he
rounds it down, to help ensure that the customer will be happy to pay. If
he repeats this scenario for too many jobs per month that’s a lot of money
written off or not recovered. If he doesn’t, he
probably collects slower.
“This is why many small businesses find
themselves having to use overdrafts, or worse
ACCURATE
use GST or provisional tax to fund cashflow.
The owner often wouldn’t need to if he or she
AND TIMELY YOU CAN MAKE THE
captured and processed the data around the
BIG AND SMALL GUY PROBLEM
CAPTURE AND THE PROCESSING OF
business better.”
And to illustrate that this is both a big guy
Palubinskas is in the business of selling
or gal and a small guy or gal issue, Palubinskas
THAT DATA, THE BETTER YOU CAN
handheld-based business solutions, but he
cites examples from different ends of the comBUILD, THE BETTER YOU CAN RUN
makes a valid point that getting such data down
merce food chain.
YOUR BUSINESS, AND THE BETTER
on a handheld computer straight away can take
Demon Drinks is quite a newbie company.
as little as 10-20 seconds.
New Zealand-owned, it sells the “baddest and
YOU CAN COLLECT CASH.
“And a mobile handheld solution can cost
most kick-ass energy drink” – or so it says on
you as little as $5 a day. It pays for itself many
its website. It’s got a sassy attitude to promotion
Aldas Palubinskas, Mobico
times a day,” he says.
– rather like Hell’s Pizza actually, but with more
“Anyone who is involved in distribution, a
girls and toilet humour.
route trade or field service, as well tradespeople, can benefit from better
It also has a bold attitude to sales, and has gone ahead and equipped its
organised data collection. The more accurate and timely the capture of
sales staff with handhelds – aka mobile computers – to do away with the
data, the better you can collect and the more you can sell or do” he says.
need for a middle-man and the admin. It’s a productivity and recessionEven service technicians working for a number of companies, as is
beating move that many larger, more mature companies have yet to make.
often the case in regional New Zealand where jobs are more scarce, can
Handhelds allow tradespeople, and service and sales staff in the field
benefit from such solutions, as they also allow for better job allocation.
to handle their paperwork on the spot – without having to write anything
Palubinskas sees such capture of data on-the-go as still being quite
down, says Palubinskas.
innovative. There have been the early adopters, of whom Frucor and
“With a mobile handheld you can manage stock, process payments,
Goodman Fielder are two examples.
feed information back to MYOB or the home office, all at once,” says
“Frucor’s and Goodman Fielder’s margins are a lot less than, say, a
Palubinskas.
hose company or a bearing company that calls on a range of manufacturDemon Drinks is actually reasonably far up the SME food chain, but
ers out in Penrose one day, goes out to West Auckland another day, maybe
it’s still not a large corporation. The likes of Frucor (which also sells energy
has a long lunch on another afternoon, and then does the paperwork on a
drinks, as well as fruit juice) and local food giant Goodman Fielder have
Friday.
been automating route sales in this way for years. However, it’s still not that
“Those guys don’t have these field sales automation systems, but they
common, says Palubinskas.
should have. They’d get much better productivity and control over their
workforce.”
MOBILE EQUALS SALES-TO-GO
Palubinskas believes some New Zealanders are innovative, but many
Mobile systems work by loading up the person’s handheld with all the
are slow to change, choosing to focus on just doing a better job, rather than
necessary customer details, products, pricing, order history, stock and
managing the job better.
sometimes even routes or sales targets, so they can self-manage.
“New Zealand has a few innovators and they grow much faster than
In this way, handhelds do away with the paperwork that reps, contraceveryone else, so they get a much bigger market share,” he says.
tors and tradespeople typically hate, as information on a job, sale or order
“Our innovators have done really, really well. They thrive. But, do we
is entered straight into the handheld and can either be sent straight back to
have more of them than other countries? I hope so.” 
the office or downloaded later, all without a piece of paper in sight.
“Fundamentally, business involves people either doing or selling
things. So, business needs to capture how much time was involved – and
maybe what you were doing at the time – or else capture what items were
required, and at what price,” says Palubinskas.
“Now, the more accurate and timely you can make the capture and the
process of that data, the better you can build, the better you can run your
business, and the better you can collect cash.
“But, what do people do? Instinctively, they’re practitioners in what
they decide to do. And they do this whether they’re a small, medium or
large company. They focus on the practice; they focus on doing the job,
rather than managing the doing of the job.
“You see it right across industry. If people
just stepped back and said: ‘How can we do a
better job of managing the doing of the job?’
NOW, THE MORE
they would be a lot more successful.”
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
MOBILE BUSINESS
19
> CASE STUDY
MOBILITY/WIRELESSS
Mobico turns finish line
nightmare into dream run
Processing finishing times for the Ports of Auckland Round the Bays used
to be a marathon effort for event organisers. Now, thanks to Mobico,
it’s a stroll in the park...
P
orts of Auckland Round the Bays has been
an annual event in Auckland since 1972. It
has grown to be one of the world's largest fun
runs with nearly 40,000 registered runners
and an estimated 70,000 participants.
Every registered participant in the 8.4km run receives
a runner number to wear on the day and a personalised
certificate recording the time they completed.
When they arrive at the finish line, runners expect
to have their time recorded quickly and accurately, with
minimum demands on themselves in their exhausted
state.
As the popularity of the event continued to grow, the
organisers, Pants Events, realised they needed an automated system capable of capturing the results quickly and
accurately on the spot with minimum interference, record
them centrally and make them available immediately.
The Challenge
In the past runners were channelled into ten chutes
as they finished the run. Barcoded slips were torn from
their bibs and spiked manually. Every 30 seconds, a time
divider was added to the spike.
For the runners, this system was slow and inconvenient. If it worked perfectly, runners received an approximate race time within a 30-second band. With the probability of human mistakes, the actual margin of error was
even wider.
Once all the data was collected, some 400 man hours
had to be spent to manually scan, allocate, cross-check
and enter results into a computer before it could be made
available. It could be up to three weeks after the event
before the results were out.
With the event attracting more participants year-onyear, this system was becoming increasingly impractical,
leading Pants Events to trial a mobile wireless technology
solution from Mobico.
The new solution was trialled in 2005 and, since 2006,
Mobico has undertaken to shoulder the full responsibility
for race results, delivering a system that achieves reliability, accuracy and timeliness which would have been
impossible under the previous manual system.
The Solution
At the heart of Mobico’s solution are 24 Motorola
20
MOBILE BUSINESS
MC9000-series ruggedised handheld mobile computers (with inbuilt barcode scanners) linked to a central
database, through a secure wireless Local Area Network
(LAN) operating over the race finish area.
As runners reach the finish line, they are funnelled
into one of 20 chutes, each staffed by a race official
with one of the Motorola devices. The officials scan the
barcode attached to each runner’s race number and the
finish-time data is stored on the device’s memory and
simultaneously transmitted over the LAN to the race control system.
Up to 1000 runners an hour – or one approximately
every 3 to 4 seconds are scanned in each of the 20 chutes,
making the data processing intensity of the Ports of
Auckland Round the Bays finish line up to ten times more
intensive than the busiest distribution centres in New
Zealand, which typically use similar scanning technology.
The finish time information is required almost immediately because runners have the option of moving from
the chutes to a “print tent” where they are given a sticker
with their race time printed on it.
After the event, the data is integrated with the event’s
website and the day after the Ports of Auckland Round
the Bays, runners are able to visit the site to download a
certificate recording their name and completion time.
The whole race timing process is one where there is
no room for failure at any point across the system.
“Obviously one of the biggest issues is that we only
get one chance to collect the data and if we miss it, it’s
gone,” says Ports of Auckland Round the Bays organiser
Catherine Buchanan from Pants Events.
“If we fail to capture a participant’s time, we can’t
ask them to come back to the finish line or run the race
again,” she says.
“Mobico have done a great job of making sure the
system is reliable.”
Pants Events has investigated the option of using
RFID tags rather than scanners to record runners’ times
but Buchanan says the technology remains too expensive
for an event where organisers are focused on keeping the
entry fee as affordable as possible.
“Barcode scanning is absolutely the best solution for
Ports of Auckland Round the Bays,” she says.
To ensure the chances of the race timing system failing is kept to an absolute minimum, Mobico have built
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
Every year the Mobico
team volunteers their
time, skills and equipment
to provide timing systems
for Ports of Auckland
Round The Bays. On behalf
of the Auckland community, the event entrants,
sponsors and charities, a
big thanks to Mobico and
their team. The event is
much better because of
their efforts.
Catherine Buchanan,
Pants Events, Ports of Auckland
Round The Bays.
> CASE STUDY
CASE
STUDY
> Auckland’s annual Ports
of Auckland Round the
Bays fun-run, organised by
Pants Events.
multiple risk mitigation factors into the timing solution.
Results data remains stored on each handheld device
even after it is transmitted over the secure wireless LAN.
While weather-proof ruggedised devices are used to
ensure environmental factors don’t hamper the scanning
process, back-up handhelds are on hand in case one fails.
The LAN is set up as a mesh network, meaning no
single point of failure can lead to data transmission being
blocked. An uninterruptable power supply is also used to
ensure power outages do not affect the event.
And whilst Mobico has significant experience building custom-made scanning solutions to meet clients’
specific needs, the company encountered some unusual
conditions associated with Ports of Auckland Round the
Bays which needed to be taken into account when designing a robust solution.
A major consideration was that a large number of
human bodies in close proximity – especially sweaty
bodies – can interfere with wireless LAN transmissions.
Because literally thousands of runners can be around the
event’s finish chutes at any one time, Mobico needed to
come up with a way to mitigate the potentially disruptive
impact of all those bodies on the ability of the LAN to
keep transmitting data effectively. This was achieved by
routing transmission up to the top of the 6-7m high fin-
ish line gantries, rather than simply across the park to the
race system control centre and print tent.
The density of access points in the area of the finish
line was also increased and directional aerials used to
ensure the signal strength was maximised in the areas
where the handheld devices are scanning.
The Results
Mobico’s race timing system for the Ports of
Auckland Round the Bays run means runners’ times can
be captured to within a second and without any inconvenience to those taking part in the tiring event. The data
is available immediately, enabling finishers to receive a
sticker confirming their time within minutes of completing the race.
Event organisers no longer have to spend hundreds of
hours after the run collating results. They are now posted
to the website the following day.
The Mobico solution provides race organisers with a
robust and reliable system, capable of withstanding everything from power and equipment failure to the unusually
harsh operating environment caused by thousands of
sweaty bodies simultaneously rushing towards the Ports
of Auckland Round the Bays finish line. 
SPECIAL EDITION: Productivity Showcase
AT A
GLANCE
Business Objective
> A robust, low cost, automated
race timing system capable of
capturing and storing tens of
thousands of the runners’ results
quickly, accurately and with
minimal interference as they
crossed the finish line.
MOBILITY/WIRELESS
Solution
> A customised real-time data
scanning and race control system developed by Mobico.
Business Benefits
> Accurate finishing time data
is now available for instant use
race organisers, saving hundreds
of hours of post-event manual
processing.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
> Mobico, www.mobico.biz
[email protected], 09 303 0686
MOBILE BUSINESS
21
FROM CLUNKY TO COOL
Working closely with Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, Mobico
designed and manufactured UHF RFID ski passes, supplied
and integrated Motorola handheld computers with RFID
readers, Zebra card printers and RFID encoders.