WITH JUST A WAVE OF A WAND, QUALITY FOODS CUTS ITS COSTS

CHRIS O'LEARY

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. -- Quality Foods here is using a laser-activated wand scanner to enhance productivity and cut costs.

The cordless system features a voice prompt that announces product information when a shelf tag is scanned.

Quality Foods, a five-store independent, credits the system with improving accuracy at the receiving docks, slashing equipment costs and reducing the amount of time store managers need to record and transmit grocery orders.

It is also enabling the retailer to make price changes and collect inventory data on individual items rather than having to collect and upload information on a batch basis, said Bill Walton, head of computer programming for Esse, a subsidiary of Quality Foods.

Because the system, TriCoder Portable Reader from Worthington Data Solutions, Santa Cruz, Calif., is easy to program and comprehend, Quality Foods has been able to streamline its technical staff, Walton said.

"We have been able to eliminate a scanning coordinator position, since the system does not need an expert to maintain it. We just need somebody there now to take the price changes," he said.