Aiming to revolutionise warehousing operations

Shaving seconds off each repetitive motion saves one hour per worker per shift – increasing productivity by an average of 14% based on workflow. Paul Reed, Product Manager for Zebra Technologies, commented: “The TC8000 is new and different. Traditional mobile warehouse computers are generally a ‘brick on a stick’ incorporating a handle, keyboard and display. We’ve spent a lot of time on customer research, and we have an innovation design team that goes out into the industry to observe workers performing their day to day activities in the warehouse or retail environment, trying to identify what could be done differently and what could be improved.

“Traditionally in a warehouse there’s a lot of activity that involves looking at the screen and then tilting the device to scan something, and then bringing it back up to your hand to enter a number or check what you’ve done is correct. Our designers asked why don’t we take away the need to do this? And they’ve altered the technology so that the camera and the barcode reader is all at the back of the device so you can look at the screen and scan at the same time – thus eliminating ‘tilt and verify’. This has huge productivity benefits. A warehouse costs millions of pounds to run and everyone is looking at how to increase productivity and if we can save a second on every scan, that really adds up.”

Zebra worked with users around the globe to completely re-think, re-design and re-engineer industrial mobile computers based on deep research and human factors analysis. The result is the new Android-based TC8000 mobile computer - 33% lighter than traditional mobile computers and requiring less muscle effort and reduced wrist motion to help increase the productivity of warehouse workers. It also reduces training time and makes data entry significantly faster and more accurate in challenging industrial settings.

Designed for warehouses, third-party logistics, manufacturing and back-of-store retail environments, the TC8000 offers triple-shift battery power and can be used for warehouse management, price audits, store receiving, inventory management, voice directed picking (VDP) and supply line replenishment applications.

The TC8000 automatically updates legacy Terminal Emulation (TE) ‘green screens’ into modern, graphics-based All-touch Terminal Emulation screens without requiring IT to modify back-end systems. The user experience on the TC8000’s large touchscreen not only reduces the number of interactions required to complete a task but also increases accuracy.

The TC8000 is available with Zebra’s scanning engine and a hands-free proximity scanner in a handheld device, which can be enabled from a hip holster, presentation holster or a cart mount. Coupled with Zebra’s SimulScan Document Capture, it is now easy to capture multiple barcodes and entire forms with a single scan.

Zebra OneCare Support Service contracts can significantly reduce unforeseen support expenses for the TC8000 by providing coverage, technical support, software updates and device diagnostics that will detect WLAN connectivity, memory and battery issues helping improve mobile worker productivity and reducing down-time.