Increasing the visibility of your organisation’s data is a constant goal for managers as achieving it enables them to make the most informed decisions to improve their daily operations’ productivity. As a result, many innovative systems have been created to assist this goal, and they all fall under the collective title of Intelligent Edge Solutions.
Read on to learn about the benefits of these solutions and why they need high-quality barcode labels to operate.
What are Intelligent Edge Solutions?
The physical location of Intelligent Edge Systems is what sets them apart. Unlike traditional closed digital networks, these systems are located on the border or outside your network. Essentially, edge solutions are specifically installed where the relevant data will be generated, such as monitored industrial machinery, warehouse storage or remote healthcare monitoring.
The relevant data comes from a range of hardware devices, such as industrial sensors or automated inspection cameras. Other systems classified as IoT (Internet of Things) will transmit to your edge system software for analysis.
What makes Intelligent Edge Solutions unique is its ability to automate and aggregate the data for analysis and generate potential authorised solutions. These solutions will constantly record and analyse the required data, either present clear, informed decisions for managers or even operate autonomously with adaptive decision-making software. With the addition of AI intelligence and machine learning capabilities, edge systems’ limited usefulness is significantly increased to support process automation beyond alternative systems.
Barcode Labels for Intelligent Edge Solutions
Whilst various tracking technologies are used within Intelligent Edge Solutions, such as RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) and standard barcode labels, RFID labels are upgraded elements perfect for Intelligent Edge Solutions. Our Zebra RFID printers are a reliable RFID label printing solution enabling your business to produce these essential labels in-house.
Intelligent Edge Solutions rely on barcode labels to function effectively. Barcode labels provide a way to identify and track assets, products, and inventory in real time, enabling Intelligent Edge Solutions to process and analyse data quickly and accurately. Barcode labels contain a unique identifier that can be read by a barcode scanner, which the Intelligent Edge System then processes. This allows warehouses, manufacturers, and healthcare providers to track the movement of assets and inventory, monitor equipment status, and ensure accurate product identification. Barcode labels are essential for Intelligent Edge Solutions to operate effectively, as they provide the necessary data to enable real-time decision-making and improve operational efficiency. As Intelligent Edge Solutions continue to expand, the importance of barcode labels will likely increase as they provide the foundation for real-time data processing and analytics.
Intelligent Edge Solution Elements
Intelligent Edge Solutions are beneficial because they can collate invaluable data from a broad range of sources and present it through a single platform, but this doesn’t mean the system is a single entity. These edge solutions are generally a hardware collection of different data monitors and transmitters to suit various application requirements.
Asset Tracking and Utilisation
As long-term partners with Zebra Technologies, we at GSM Barcoding can supply many superior solutions, including Zebra Motionworks. This system is built on the Zebra Savanna system to provide facility managers with clear data from connected Intelligent Edge hardware and the barcode-labelled assets they are tracking.
Disparate Data Analysis Software
Zebra Savanna is the future of data capture for any organisation or business. It captures the data collected from various hardware edge devices and unifies it into a single analytical software platform. This provides invaluable insights for managers and will support any automation processes through an IoT system.
Team Communication and Productivity
Intelligent Edge Solutions also go beyond storage, equipment and analysis; they are also highly effective at increasing communication and productivity within your team. Zebra Savanna supports many attached modules that support various aspects of a workspace, and one of those elements is the Zebra Workforce Connect. This system turns hand-held mobile computers already used in many sectors into push-to-talk (PTT) communication devices to improve teamwork. IoT integration also tracks staff and equipment locations so managers can easily assess and improve allocation to produce more productive results.
Sectors Using Intelligent Edge Solutions
Retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors are already benefiting from the increased visibility of using RFID labels to track stock or assets wirelessly. Combined with Intelligent Edge Solutions, this effectiveness rises significantly. For example, Intelligent Edge Solutions are redefining retail by providing organisations with 95% visibility of existing inventory, and manufacturers have reported a significant increase in productivity by 20%. These systems have also been used in sports, such as the NFL, as an AI-enhanced analysis tool for tracking real-time data on players and providing predictions on player strain to maximise strengths and avoid injuries.
Intelligent Edge Solutions for Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, wearables can be used to remotely identify patients with chronic illnesses. These harmless devices, such as biosensors, fitness trackers, and blood pressure monitors, provide critical health and fitness data transmitted to the local server for analysis. By analysing this data within established parameters, medical professionals can respond quickly and accurately to patient needs, often through an early alert system. This real-time patient monitoring significantly reduces the time between an alert and potentially life-saving decisions. In addition, edge systems help improve data security by analysing sensitive data at the source, eliminating opportunities for data breaches. Overall, wearables in healthcare combined with Intelligent Edge Systems are revolutionising patient care, allowing for more efficient and effective healthcare delivery.
Intelligent Edge Solutions for Factories
In manufacturing and industrial settings, wear and tear on machine parts can lead to expensive and time-consuming downtime. Components related to motors, pumps, belts, and valves are particularly susceptible to damage, and diagnosing and repairing the issue can require the attention of a technician or engineer. However, edge systems can be customised to monitor overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) metrics and transmit them to the appropriate teams, quickly identifying problems and reducing costly downtime. Intelligent Edge Systems take this further by monitoring a range of metrics beyond OEE, providing facility managers with a clear understanding of even the most complex working environments. By eliminating wasteful downtime, these systems increase efficiency and profitability for industrial facilities.
Intelligent Edge solutions are the future of data capture and are used within most organisations and businesses, with every sector investing heavily in them to improve their data visibility. Contact us today to explore how our reliable solutions will benefit your daily operations.
