{"id":506,"date":"2010-02-02T23:21:55","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T22:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/?p=506"},"modified":"2018-06-01T06:45:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T04:45:22","slug":"apples-ipad-is-it-also-good-for-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/2010\/02\/02\/apples-ipad-is-it-also-good-for-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple’s iPad: Is it also good for Manufacturing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I saw Apple’s presentation on the iPad I was very excited. I also own an iPhone privately and I find it very useful. So I am definitely interested in having one for me. \ud83d\ude42 But then I also started thinking about other more business-like usages for that device. One obvious use case is for mobile CRM where a sales agent would have all his data right in his hand without the need for a (still heavy) notebook to carry with him. But what about tasks in a manufacturing environment?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Several years ago I did an implementation for a pharmaceutical customer. The scope was about weighing and all other manufacturing related tasks to be captured in a PI Sheet. For the weighing part it was obvious that the users are always at the same place in a weighing room so the computer terminal could be right there. But most of the other manufacturing stations were pretty much spread around but still the customer wanted that all data has to be captured accurately on the spot. They did not have the money and the space to put a stationary PC at every place so they first thought about a tablet PC as a replacement for the stack of papers that they used until then as the batch record.<\/p>\n

However back then there was no device with a battery that would last for a whole shift so the idea was dropped and we decided to go back to paper (defined by and printed from process instructions though). Now with this wonderful device from Apple with 10 hours of battery life\u00a0I wonder whether such a device would be suitable for mobile manufacturing. Of course there is currently no support for a PI Sheet type of application that runs on such a machine (and I don’t say that there will be such a support – please keep in mind that these are only my private thoughts).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another thing that comes into my mind is the possibility to add another dimension to the electronic batch record. With the built-in GPS you could also track the position together with the time when an action is confirmed. Of course this is not possible with GPS in closed rooms but there I believe you could use the WiFi signals signature and strength to capture the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[poll id=”5″]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

So here are my pro’s and con’s:<\/p>\n

Pro’s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Lightweight (680 or 730 gram)<\/li>\n
  • 10 h battery life<\/li>\n
  • Cheap (499$)<\/li>\n
  • WiFi or 3G \u2192 Even remote areas could be coverd<\/li>\n
  • GPS (3G only) or WiFi tracking<\/li>\n
  • The users would love it (I’m sure)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Con’s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • No ‘tough’ device<\/li>\n
    • Probably not suited for areas with explosion hazzard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      If you have any additional thoughts or pro’s and con’s please comment on this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When I saw Apple’s presentation on the iPad I was very excited. I also own an iPhone privately and I find it very useful. So I am definitely interested in having one for me. \ud83d\ude42 But then I also started thinking about other more business-like usages for that device. One obvious use case is for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[68],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":520,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websha.de\/xstepcafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}