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Effective Consumables are the Foundation of your Traceability System. Here’s Why

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By now, most businesses have begun to understand the importance of traceability systems as it safeguards operations from missed compliance standards and satisfied skeptical customers. Simply put, when it comes to products that will be entering the human body -i.e. food, medicine, and vaccinations- transparent traceability can either make or break consumer trust, yet almost two-thirds of businesses have yet to adopt modernized traceability technologies.

Creating and/or updating a traceability system can be time-consuming and costly. Consequently, Avalon’s Experts work diligently in setting a firm foundation for your solution with Zebra’s Certified Consumables to address today’s major traceability concerns. 

Listen to our podcast to see how to find a traceability label fit for your business.

Top Traceability Concerns Label Can Address:

Yellow Forklift Picking Up Box in a Warehouse to Improve Traceability System

Traceability system by tracking crucial indicators such as order preparation, storage environment, transit times, and delivery status

To recap, your enterprise labels anchor your traceability system by tracking crucial indicators such as order preparation, storage environment, transit times, and delivery status. With these perks in mind, it’s clear to see how labels assist in diffusing popular consumer concerns such as:

  • Proper Storage – From the production floor to the checkout lane, over 40% of food is discarded in the U.S. due to improper handling and storage. Temperature-sensitive labels can help ensure storage requirements are met without requiring additional freezer-grade hardware, and dissolvable labels like Zebra’s 8000D help identify containers while seamlessly dissolving away once containers are ready to be reused elsewhere.
  • Foodborne illnesses – In addition to preventing waste, proper storage labels can also curb the spread of foodborne illnesses. The label’s smear-proof and coating and temperature-resistant adhesive help secure the tag on the product as it moves between drastic temperature changes, preserving vital information.
  • Product origin – Allergies and intolerances have created a greater demand for easy-to-read labels that detail product origin and ingredients accurately. While Passive RFID tags help monitor production steps in real-time, long-lasting product labels connect the consumer to the product’s key facts, securing ultimate profitability.
  • Recalls – Recalls can damage brand identity and consumer trust, but careful tracking can help minimize the number of products recalled, minimizing damage. By creating custom labels to store more information, you can better track product variety to best manage recalls if and when they occur.
  • Worker hygiene – Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, cleanliness has always been a top concern for consumers regarding food and medicine. RFID locationing can also help track your team and assets to prevent crowding and unmonitored touchpoints.

While there is much more to efficient traceability than labels, exploring consumable options is a great place to start. Speak with our labeling specialists today for more information as to how you can implement greater visibility in your operations with a label made for success.

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What does reliable customer support look like now?

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For the past twenty years, Avalon Integration has always prided itself in being able to offer in-person development and maintenance support, yet with the coronavirus spread, on-site services are no longer recommended. However, this has not changed our commitment to providing quality service. That’s why our experts have taken the time to round up all the resources you need to facilitate remote technical assistance. From specialist advice to hands-on virtual assistance, we are here to make sure you receive reliable and knowledgeable technical support no matter the crisis.

Jump to a Specific Resource:

How to Build Your Mobile Workstation

Dan Mccabe Shows You How to Build Your Mobile Workstation with the Newcastle PowerCart

Dan Mccabe Shows You How to Build Your Mobile Workstation with the Newcastle PowerCart

Now more than ever, mobility is crucial to keep operations running smoothly, which is why Avalon continues in its partnership with Newcastle and Zebra Technologies to provide you with mobile workstations that streamline data entry with:

  • One long-range Zebra handheld scanner
  • One industrial yet movable Zebra printer
  • Newcastle’s mobile cart and display screen. 

See how it comes together in our video:

What Specialized Types or Media Should You Integrate Into Your Operations

Integrate into Your Operations

Integrate Zebra Certified Consumables into Your Operations

Print and apply labels dominate most applications, yet at Avalon, we are always striving to take efficiency up a step, which is why we equip your operations with Zebra’s family of certified consumables, designed to accelerate processes with your choice of:

  • Continuous labels – Eliminating paper waste, continuous labels allow you to choose label length to fit your applications.
  • Peel-and-present labels – These consumables accelerate labeling by removing the liner as labels are printed. They are ideal for low to medium volume operations.
  • Linerless labels – Get more prints per roll with a label that has no liner at all. This is ideal for mobile printers since it eliminates hanging liner paper, which could cause an accident on the warehouse floor.  
  • Custom labels – Choose from over 300 pretested materials to assemble a label tailored to your operations’ needs. Plus, count on fast replenishments since Zebra labels are sourced from your nearest label converting facility.
  • Dissolvable labels – Remove the stress of time-consuming label removal with the 8000D label which dissolves readily in water.

Explore Zebra’s full range of certified consumables here.

How to Properly Clean Your Zebra Printhead

How to Properly Clean Your Zebra Printhead with Raymond Scipioni

Raymond Scipioni Explains how to Keep Your Zebra Printhead Clean

In time, even the best printheads can become worn down. While Zebra Certified Consumables are designed to minimize adhesive buildup and printhead scraping, we still recommend cleaning your printhead to avoid surprise downtime. Discover a quick and fast way to clean your Zebra printhead in our video below:

Further eliminate premature printhead failure when you enroll in the Zebra Printhead Protection Program and make Zebra Consumables your media of choice, so you get:

  • Free printhead replacements
  • Consistent print quality devoid of scannability and reprinting issues
  • Convenience of a one-source supplier

Download our flyer to learn more. 

How to Properly Clean Your Mobile Devices

Cleaning Zebra Mobile Devices

Cleaning Zebra Mobile Devices

Improper cleaning and harsh chemicals can damage your device, and with hundreds of bacteria inhabiting warm handheld devices, establishing proper sanitation practices is crucial to ensure workforce safety and device availability. As a Zebra Premier Solutions Partner, Avalon Integration helps you create proper disinfection strategies tailored to the device type. 

Further, protect your operations by referring to your device’s user guide for proper cleaning methods.

How to Run Diagnostics Independently on Your Zebra Device

Run Diagnostics Independently with Zebra Devices

Run Independent Device Diagnostics with Zebra Mobile Computers

Your workforce needs their technology to keep operations running, so when devices are out for repairs, your overall workflow is impacted. As part of Zebra’s valued Mobility DNA family, Device Diagnostics increases device availability by empowering you to run simple diagnostics on-site without prolonged wait times or extensive repairs.

  • Certify issues are found and resolved through an easy-to-understand interface
  • Test scanner operability, audio, and touchscreen/button functionality at the palm of your hands
  • Troubleshoot connectivity issues no matter your networking preferences
  • Monitor battery performance and cradle functionality

With the press of a button, test your devices’ major systems to either eliminate common errors or accelerate the repair issue by targeting the problem before your device reaches the repair center.

How to Repair/Replace Your Zebra Device

Repair or Replace Your Zebra Device with Zebra OneCare

Repair or Replace Your Zebra Device with Zebra OneCare

When your device truly needs to be repaired, Avalon works hard to match your needs to qualified experts while providing quick replacement solutions to uphold productivity. Zebra’s OneCare service stands as an excellent example of timely support tailored to your business size. Choose from three tiers of coverage to get:

  • Trusted comprehensive coverage
  • 3-time repair turnaround time
  • Entree to restricted software
  • Cloud-based view for your mobile devices
  • Up to 24/7 live-agent support
  • Assisted Device commissioning and spare pool management (Available for Select and Premier tiers)

See how easy it is to integrate Zebra’s OneCare service into your support system when you download our flyer here.

Still Having Trouble?

If you need more in-depth assistance, ask our warehousing experts to find the answers to all your questions. To see how you can maximize uptime with Zebra hardware, contact us for a free demonstration of any device of your choice.

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3 Challenges Companies Expect in the “New Normal”

The spread of COVID-19 has changed much of the economic landscape across the world, disrupting supply chains and creating novel demands in virtually every industry. From manufacturing to retail, companies now face unprecedented challenges in creating a safe work environment that can still deliver quality service. Serving a wide range of clients, Avalon integration has gathered several adaptable resources to address today’s obstacles in navigating through the “New Normal”. Working alongside several technology and health solution specialists, we’re exploring the top three challenges companies expect to face.

1. How to secure health practices with shared devices

Warehouse worker in a red shirt scanning a barcode while wearing a mask

Create a safe work environment for your employees

While several health organizations have given ample lists of preferable health practices to add to your operations, some may be harder than others to implement. In the warehouse, sanitation practices should still be extended to mobile devices since they can house and share bacteria. A few ways to do this include:

  • Create sanitation cycles before and after devices are in use.
  • Refer to your device’s user guide for the best sanitation practice. All Zebra user guides can be found here.
  • Automate sanitation reporting to certify schedules are maintained. For example, Proximity’s UV-Clean helps record sanitation times, killing both bacteria and guesswork between devices.

2. How to reintroduce larger workforces without risking exposure

As operations begin to restart, it may be hard to manage high-density areas and shared spaces (such as loading docks and/or bathrooms). To maximize visibility without requiring a new infrastructure, Zebra’s MotionWorks Proximity integrates proximity alerts to enforce social distancing without creating bottlenecks, all while using your current Zebra mobile computers and Bluetooth technology.

3. How to maintain productivity in the event of exposure

Despite these initiatives, the risk of exposure still persists. That’s why it is crucial to develop an easy-to-follow response plan that encompasses your whole workforce, including those that do not work with enterprise technology. As a result, Avalon has also partnered with Accent to develop seamless exposure awareness solutions that do not require personal data or the use of personal technologies. Both Accent’s bracelet and Bluetooth connectivity partner together to create a strategy that:

  • Pinpoints exposure risk to help deploy partial quarantines within a timely manner
  • Helps you track possible points of contact without infringing privacy rights
  • Alerts workers when social distancing measures aren’t upheld

Learn more about our Exposure Awareness Solution in our infographic.

Warehouse worker in a red shirt scanning a barcode while wearing a mask

Download the stop germ spread with exposure awareness infographic and get started today!

While there is no concrete way to predict what supply chains will look like within the months to come, Avalon Integration works hard to equip you with proactive health strategies that protect your greatest assets – your employees. Contact us today for a free remote assessment of your reopening plan and stay ahead of challenges with solutions that fit into your operations.

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3 Ways to Secure Reliable Supply Chain Communication

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Way before the COVID-19 outbreak shook operations worldwide, modern supply chains were already on their way to becoming increasingly more dynamic. Constant technological advances and customer demands have created an unprecedented competitive landscape. Moreover, rising cyberattack risks have further driven up the need for secured connectivity amongst a growing complex supply chain to keep teams connected and operations moving smoothly. Now, as new obstacles emerge, such as overloaded networks and dwindling workforces, Avalon Integration works alongside leading manufacturers such as Zebra Technologies to leverage three purpose-built connectivity solutions that give you a competitive advantage at the face of adversity.

Improve your Supply Chain for your field services workers with the L10 Tablet

Field Services Worker Carrying L10 Tablet

  1. Integrate trackable inventory visibility – From the production floor to the checkout lane, your inventory passes down multiple touchpoints, each holding their potential for human error. Facilitating real-time verification, novel tracking technologies such as RFID solutions and blockchain connectivity break down obstacles by keeping inventory information accessible to your whole team. Other tracking tools such as Zebra Certified Printing Supplies can also boost efficiency and protect identification barcodes to facilitate locationing even in extreme environments.    
  2. Choose a fortified operating system – Without crucial security patches and OS updates, devices running on outdated operating systems are a gateway to cyberattacks. As the leading OS of choice, Android for Enterprise facilitates ease of use with its familiar interface while also delivering higher security measures, backed by government-grade encryption and adaptive authentication. The result is a protected future-proof communication channel that can be shared amongst your entire supply chain with minimal security risks. 
  3. Streamline connectivity and productivity – Chances are, your field teams are traveling farther today than ten years ago. When facing harsh environments and extreme temperatures, Avalon turns to Zebra’s ultra-rugged mobile devices, such as the L10 Rugged Tablet, to streamline multiple functionalities, such as connectivity and data-capture, into one high-performing interface. 

As leaders in intelligent efficiency, Avalon continuously approaches change as opportunities to adapt and surpass new expectations. Contact us today to how these solutions can fit into your operations, and keep your team connected with dependable systems built for enterprise success.

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Dial Dan: 4 Top Priorities to fit into Your Workspace

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I can’t believe it was only February 20th when my blog posting started with “Unemployment is at a 40 year low”.

While 2019 was all about maximizing labor productivity, 2020 is shaping up to be about how we can all get back to work as safely as possible.

Here are some of the ways that we are helping our clients implement current best practices:

Signage everywhere should be project #1.

Signage – Back in WW2, you couldn’t walk 10 feet at a government facility or factory making war materials without passing a sign that said “Loose lips sink ships” or something similar. It only takes one person to speak out of turn to give the enemy an advantage. Today’s enemy is the virus, and it only takes one or two folks to give it a foothold in a community. We need people wearing masks, maintaining distance, and disinfecting shared surfaces and devices to minimize exposure and spread. We’ve got a huge collection of signage of various sorts that our clients can post throughout their facilities to constantly remind people to stay safe.

Disinfection everywhere should be project #2.

Healthcare Worker wearing a mask and putting on gloves in a hospital room

Disinfection cycles for shared devices – While you can protect yourself from some diseases by wearing gloves, COVID-19 required more in-depth strategies than that. Rather than gloves, constant disinfection of shared devices and surfaces is the way to go. Hospitals and hair salons/barbershops have long used UV light for this purpose, and UV light can be a great way to constantly disinfect things like mobile computers, tools, printers, and keyboards on shared PCs. We’ve got a collection of UV light-based products, long used in hospital settings, available for our clients.

Employee and visitor screening should be project #3.

Zebra Android Scanner being used in a Hospital to track patients barcode

Employee and visitor screening – Keeping sick people out of your facility keeps your employees safe. The best way to do that is via thermal imaging cameras. We’ve got a selection of cameras that can passively monitor employees and visitors as they enter, alerting you to ones that may be running a fever (for future screening).  The cameras can also optionally check for mask usage.

Social distance monitoring and tracing should be project #4.

Real-time social distance monitoring and contact tracing – For our clients lucky enough to have deployed Zebra Android devices in the past few years, we have a solution that can enforce social distancing and also provide for historical contact tracing, via Bluetooth tags. When one user of a Zebra device gets too close to another, both of their devices beep, vibrate and remind them to separate. And, weeks later, when one of them is diagnosed, you can see exactly who they were in contact with and for how long. In the near term future, we expect these technologies to become available on non Zebra devices as well, including employees’ phones (You’ll still need a Zebra Bluetooth tag per employee though for best results).

We hope that it won’t be long before we can get back to figuring out how to maximize employee productivity. In the interim though, please look to us to help you get back to work!

For more information on how to implement these projects into your workforce, dial Dan McCabe for a free remote demonstration and assessment of your current workspace.

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How to Develop an End-to-End Infection Control System

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In years past, infection control systems seemed to be reserved mostly for the healthcare field. Nevertheless, as more COVID-19 cases are reported amongst warehouses and distribution centers, the need for trustworthy and infallible infection control systems has become higher than ever. The question is no longer “if” but “how” you should develop a recurrent infection control system. In our commitment to enhancing operations, Avalon Integration continues in its investigation as to how we can halt germ spread without hindering your workforce’s overall productivity.

Clean. Sanitized. Disinfected. Understand the Difference.

Clean Sanitized Disinfect Control System

From automated cleaning to disinfectant-ready surfaces, there are many options when it comes to creating a thorough cleaning solution. However, before any of these resources are selected, Avalon recommends understanding the crucial difference between your solution’s key aspects since these differences can do more than curb germ spread.

  • Cleaning – As the first step of your infection control process, manual cleaning serves as the front line to germ mitigation, yet it is only a starting point. This step involves wiping down high-touch equipment from any visible grime and dust particles. This should be done whenever devices are utilized in dusty/dirty areas to avoid bringing foreign contaminants into the workplace.
  • Disinfecting – Studies suggest there may be well over 3000 bacteria colonies residing on your handheld devices. Going beyond visible contaminants, proper disinfection strategies eliminate pathogenic microorganisms which are usually the perpetrators behind disease spread. A common disinfection solution can involve liquid chemicals, which if used inadequately can harm your mobile device. As a result, Avalon has worked with Zebra Technologies to provide disinfectant-ready hardware and specified cleaning guides that protect your device while accommodating your preferred disinfection strategy.
  • Sterilizing – Last but not least, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention cites sterilization as the eradication of all microbial life, including bacterial spores which can survive thorough disinfection. Although complete eradication is not likely, experts still encourage facilities to strive towards 100% sterilization when possible. While this procedure may seem more demanding, it can be vital when dealing with shared devices since most pathogens are transmitted via touch. Because today’s warehouses are generally fast-paced environments, Avalon partners with Proximity to accelerate sterilization with UV-Clean, killing 99.99% of bacteria in less than five minutes by scrambling bacterial DNA with controlled UV-C rays. In doing so, you minimize potential illnesses as devices are shared across your workforce.

When implemented correctly, these steps can also stop cross-contamination and other traceability issues in addition to germ spread. Take a closer look into any of these steps when you contact our automation experts today for your free demonstration.

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