BARCODING, LABELLING & PACKAGING
WAREHOUSING, HANDLING & STORAGE
PROGLOVE: A BARCODE SCANNER THAT IS THE SIZE OF A MATCHBOX
INTERVIEW WITH ILHAN KOLKO, CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER & PRESIDENT OF NA AT PROGLOVE
What makes ProGlove barcode scanners unique? We have developed a barcode scanner that is the size of a matchbox. It gets put on the back of the hand of the human worker. The worker grabs it from the charger, scans a pairing barcode on a smart device, and then they’re ready to scan things. So their hands are free. Their eyes are free. Our solution has feedback capabilities to tell the human worker whether they’re scanning the right thing or if they have to scan something else as a part of their order pick list for instance. This is the lightest, fastest, smallest variable barcode scanner. Since the hands are free, you can save up to 4-6 seconds on every scan. We participated in the World Economic Forum last year in Davos, and a lot of the conversations were around human augmentation or augmented workforce. We want to augment the human workforce with additional data and give them the chance to also have their input in the process. As we have everything on this unified timeline in which every event that happens on the shop floor has a digital record, we can make things way better. All the wasteful things that happen on the shop floor that impact the human worker in a negative way could be eliminated. Not even minimised, truly eliminated. We can have this. It’s not utopian to think that the shop floor is going to work in great harmony with robots. No matter how complicated it looks, it’s completely possible. I think human augmentation is the key to that achievement.
On your recently published survey, you highlight some of the key stressors that impact the human worker. How can ProGlove technology improve their experiences?
We are a very human-centric company. Our number one persona is the boots-on-the-ground worker. We base our entire experience on how they complete their tasks and how we can make it easier for them to perform their role. We always say that no one scans for a living, it is always part of a larger task that you need to complete, so we want to make that as minimised as possible.
In terms of the impact on the human labour,
the blue collar workers on the shop floor are people we need to take care of. Labour retention is a corporate priority, but it is the wellbeing of the human worker that needs to be at the forefront because we have gotten used to ordering something online and having it show up at our doorsteps immediately. We always take for granted what happens in between, but these are the people who make it happen — all the way from trucking, logistics, warehouses, distribution centres. Now when it comes to automation, it is not a competition, it’s a collaboration. It’s about making it easier for the human worker.
Can the technology be used to improve health and safety in the workplace?
We have this this non-intrusive way of collecting valuable data which can be repurposed for process improvements, workflow and intelligence type things, but also human well- being and worker well-being. For instance, if there are any constraints or the workstation that they have to deal with is subpar, the data we collect from the day-to-day can contribute towards redesigning these spaces. We are also working on prototypes and looking into other ways of optimising our technology so that if the workers are bending their knees too much or making certain shoulder movements that are not ideal, we would like to make sure that our system notifies them so it can become an educational component as well. One caveat that I always highlight is that we collect data in a non-anonymized way. We are interested in what happens on the shop floor. We are not trying to be the Big Brother for the workers, we never associate the worker information with the information that comes from the scanners. We also respect the human workers in that sense.
How does your data collection work, and what impact does it have on the overall process?
First of all, the data collection is homogenous and clean and high-quality, so there is that aspect of realisation of these studies into meaningful results as you can see how
14 FEBRUARY 2023 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
things are getting better. I studied industrial engineering, and my first gig out of college was to get a clipboard and collect data from the assembly line. However, there’s always the impact of the observer effect when things are done that way. The data is not clean, and it can be intrusive to the worker. Collecting data through wearables is non-intrusive, and it gives you a more far more wholesome dataset to work with, which then reflects on the quality of the results. We can do more with less effort. Also, in tech, there are several regulations that we work with and respect a lot in order make sure that everything is done properly when we collect data.
Your survey also touches on the matter of sustainability. What role does that play in the work you do?
As a company, we prototype a lot. We apply design thinking and agile methodology very often—we build a lot of 3D printed plastic prototypes—so it starts with us internally. We actually just held a 24 hour challenge with the whole company doing sustainability projects. We are very self aware and ensure that we recycle properly.
I have always admired the European mindset on that and our investors are Swedish and they’re very keen on this as well so there is an increased awareness. I am proud to say that this is something we are taking very seriously. We are seeing a lot of participation from our customers, and we are also working on solutions to ensure our products are more recyclable, especially recurring components that we need to provide continuously. We are looking into how to make them more washable, how to make it more environmentally friendly. There is always some sort of prototype on our desk that will impact sustainability in a positive way. However, it’s a more of a collective thing that we need to focus on as an industry. There needs to be policies and governments that take this seriously. If it is not done on a global scale, it does not really do any justice to the whole cause. It must be collective thing as we do as humanity.
ProGlove
www.proglove.com 39
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