Menzies Distribution Improves Efficiency with Sandpiper and Datalogic

Menzies Distribution is a leading UK provider of added value distribution and marketing services to the newspaper and magazine supply chain. The division handles 4.5 million newspapers and 2.5 million magazines each day. Running a distribution network of this size efficiently places a heavy reliance on technology. 

Menzies had been running a legacy narrowband wireless system that had served its purpose over 10 years but had gone end of life. When Menzies’ existing supplier said that it was struggling to support the old units Menzies knew that it needed to make changes.  A steering committee was set up to look at the best way of controlling stock.  The committee came up with two options; replace the old terminals with new RF devices to enable the users to take the terminals to the product, or replace them with fixed position scanners that the users would have to take the product to for scanning.

Following the recommendation by Sandpiper, Menzies decided upon the Datalogic Viper-Net as it worked perfectly on the existing Cisco RF network and was rugged and clearly suited to the demands of a fast moving warehouse and distribution environment.  The unit was also preferred by the users because they felt it was more user friendly due to having a larger screen and a better key layout than the other RF option.  There was also a preference for a mobile rather than fixed unit.

Matthew Stoner, Senior Computer Operations Supervisor comments “We chose Sandpiper based on their competitive pricing, and  the amount and quality of support they provided in the pilot stage.  They were extremely helpful and deserved to win the business.”

Sandpiper helped Menzies throughout the roll out, providing support for coverage issues caused by large packing machines and attended site throughout the pilot and rollout. As part of the solution, Sandpiper is also providing Next Day Emergency Exchange support, giving Menzies a guaranteed next day replacement unit from a pool of pre-configured terminals should a terminal get damaged or fail for any reason.

Menzies has seen a dramatic reduction in costs since the roll out as Matthew  comments “Since changing to the Datalogic Viper-Net we have managed to substantially reduce our maintenance costs, reduce demand on our IT Helpdesk and we have virtually eliminated misreads and errors.”

The new handheld terminals from Datalogic are proving to be very reliable, and popular with their warehouse staff, which has also reduced the amount of downtime caused by the high failure rates of the old terminals. 

Matthew feels that the project has been a great success and this is largely down to Sandpiper.  “Sandpiper has been extremely professional.  They have been responsive and understanding and made an excellent recommendation with the Datalogic Viper-Net which has a much longer battery life and is far more rugged than our previous terminals.”