Rolls out mobile computers from Symbol to improve operational efficiency, enhance customer service
Holtsville, NY — September 27, 2005 — The Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. (HBC) S.A., in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has selected Symbol Technologies Inc. to provide an enterprise mobility solution to help increase productivity and improve operational efficiency within its organization.
Coca-Cola's deployment of Symbol's MC9000 mobile computers across EMEA operations is part of a strategic initiative to improve the company's efficiency, productivity and customer service delivered by its mobile workforce.
The Symbol mobility platform replaces a range of working practices that were based on paper, laptops and PDAs. The solution now helps support Coca-Cola HBC's mobile enterprise strategy of capturing and delivering information while workers are on the road, such as inventory, delivery schedules and store set-up and displays to its mobile workforce, customers, partners and suppliers in a timely fashion.
Serving a population of more than 500 million consumers across 26 countries, Coca-Cola HBC will equip more than 6,000 associates across EMEA with Symbol MC9000 mobile computers. Coca-Cola HBC plans to rollout enterprise applications on the ruggedized MC9000 mobile computer, which includes a color screen, built-in bar code scanner, wide-area networking (WAN) and Wi-Fi wireless networking.
Symbol has provided four customized versions of the MC9000 mobile computer to meet the varying needs of Coca-Cola's business operations, including tracking outlet sales history, inventory levels, product profitability and promotions; ensuring merchandising is in accordance with current contracts and promotions; assisting delivery teams with route planning and accounting; and enabling electronic service management teams to maintain equipment such as refrigerators and vending machines.
The MC9000 mobile computer provides us with the ability to both capture data and have timely access to business-critical information from various points in the supply chain, said Vagelis Ballas, manager of IT mobile solutions, Coca-Cola HBC. The MC9000 mobile computer offers an intuitive mobility tool for increased productivity within our sales, driver and technician teams.
Coca-Cola HBC has already deployed 3,000 MC9000 mobile computers and plans to continue to develop and implement solutions on the devices over the next two years. Coca-Cola HBC previously conducted a pilot of the technology to test its ability to perform in extreme conditions, specifically with its Sales Force team in St Petersburg, Russia, where temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees Centigrade during the winter of 2004.
The most recent application is a gun version of the Symbol MC9000 mobile computer for a factory-based lot tracking solution. It allows Coca-Cola HBC to track specific production runs and record distribution enabling the delivery location of any batch to be identified. Should it be necessary to recall a batch of products, the process will be much faster and more accurate, said Ballas.
We selected the Symbol MC9000 mobile computer for its reliability, robustness and ability to support multiple configurations and applications, and to make mass deployment, training and maintenance far more manageable, continued Ballas. Symbol has provided us with a flexible mobility platform on which we can continue to build and innovate to drive further improvements on our business performance.
