Maintaining and keeping track of equipment and assets is key to enabling higher levels of safety, efficiency and productivity within hazardous industries today. Accordingly the use of 1D / 2D barcodes and NFC / HF RFID transponders is steadily increasing. They identify items, pallets, containers, storage locations and even yard locations, and therefore help to keep track of asset movements. However, for some companies the cost of specific scanning hardware, safety concerns or certifications may hinder them from adopting more effective work processes in hazardous areas.
ecom instruments, the leading provider of intrinsically safe mobile devices and solutions such as smartphones, tablets, handhelds and peripherals, has developed a professional data capture software solution, the CamScan Keyboard App, which allows - even offline - 1D / 2D barcodes to be scanned and NFC / HF RFID transponders to be read/written simply using the camera of a smartphone or tablet.
Accuracy almost matching a hardware scan engine
The ecom CamScan app is a "keyboard wedge" software utility based on Honeywell´s SWIFTDecoder Mobile™ professional offline barcode decoding software. It uses the integrated camera of the world´s first Zone 1 / 21 and Division 1 certified tablet, the Tab-Ex® 01, and the world´s first intrinsically safe 4G / LTE-capable Android smartphone, the Smart-Ex® 01, to scan barcodes - automatically converting them to human readable text.
The CamScan Keyboard scans and enters NFC / HF RFID data and nearly all other types of barcodes - even in both sunlight and poor light conditions - directly into the selected data fields of most applications. Triggering the scan is very easy. Simply press the 'scan' button shown on the on-screen keyboard or make use of ecom's Smart-Ex programmable hardware button - reducing manual typing and eliminating copy and paste actions. Portrait/landscape scanning and batch mode are also supported.
Unlike the errors experienced from free barcode scanner apps, the accuracy of Camscan prevents incorrect asset identification and the wasteful rework this causes. Offline decoding with 100+ scans per hour in full 360° scanning rotation is also possible - ensuring spying, phishing and keylogging are unfeasible.
Where high frequency scanning (200+ scans per hour), challenging circumstances and long range scanning (up to 15 meters) are required, ecom also offers innovative hardware based solutions including Ident-Ex ® 01 and i.roc® Ci70-Ex. Ident- Ex ® 01 is a powerful, intrinsically safe Bluetooth "All-in-One" barcode scanner and RFID reader. i.roc® Ci70-Ex is the first intrinsically safe PDA with WWAN, each with changeable head modules (RFID, 1D / 2D barcode or combined head modules) for customer specific configuration.
Benefits of a professional data capture application
Using a professional barcode scan application in combination with ecoms intrinsically safe mobile devices - not every device and camera offers sufficient performance for scanning requirements - provides several advantages for companies operating in hazardous areas:
The most obvious advantage is the cost effectiveness, as no additional hardware for scanning assets is needed. The CamScan Keyboard gives the option to scan and upload data directly within third party apps, and therefore eliminates the need for mobile workers to manually input results in the field or back at the office. Using specialized software packages also helps to prevent unwanted outages. Since they're designed to integrate with other applications and backend systems, they have a direct impact on work process effectiveness and visibility, reacting faster to anomalies, streamlining decision-making and ultimately reducing cost.
Another advantage of the ecom CamScan Keyboard is the considerable improvement in the consistency and accuracy of the data captured. As many engineering managers will know only too well, descriptions of equipment and assets can vary widely depending on the engineer reporting the problem. These variations often cause confusion and wasted time since identical assets and equipment cannot be differentiated when transferred to backend systems. By scanning and entering data directly into input fields of various applications and minimizing the use of free-hand text, operators begin to record more consistent data, enabling easier manual or even automated analysis and reducing the risk of human error. Thus, incorrect input and poorly transcribed records can be avoided entirely.
More than 130 beneficial professional applications
With powerful mobile hardware - including the tablet Tab-Ex® 01, the smartphone Smart-Ex® 01 to the PDA i.roc® Ci70 and Ex-Handy 09 - ecom is helping to change the Mobile Worker's daily routine in hazardous areas. In order to take advantage of all technological advances offered by hardware options, corresponding software solutions and applications are increasingly important. The ecom App Library provides more than 130 beneficial professional applications for use in hazardous areas - enabling companies to take advantage of proven technology in new usage scenarios to streamline workflows and substantially improve the way assets are operated and managed.