L-3 Communications/ComCept Division
About the Company
L-3 Communications/ComCept Division, is a rapidly growing Systems Engineering contractor, specializing in architecture requirements and software development, modeling, simulation, communications, and systems integration.
John Messersmith is Logistics Manager at the company’s new warehouse in Rockwall, TX where 2 people handle DoD property as it passes between the government and DoD vendors. L-3 ComCept, which often acts as a software house, typically purchases computers and routers and then configures them for specific DoD contracts.
When he first learned about UID John knew that the shipping and receiving functions at the Rockwall facility would be in the forefront of UID compliance. “UID is mandatory,” he says, “so I knew I needed to be proactive in learning everything I could to make intelligent choices.”
Getting proactive for John meant reading up on the MIL-STD 130 standard and attending a UID Forum. From the start he knew he wanted a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) system. Prior experience has taught him about the ongoing cost of developing an in-house system, and he wanted none of that. “It has been my experience that when a company attempts in-house development for something as complex as UID, it can get very expensive. When programmers leave, the application leaves too, and there you are with no solution when you need one. A COTS solution makes UID as easy and cost effective as it can get,” he says.
At first, John was concerned about implementing UID. “That’s human nature,” he says now. “People are always going to resist change. But they don’t look far enough in advance.” Once he started to investigate and understand the long term implications of UID, John had different thoughts. Now he uses UID as a verb: “We UID everything as it arrives at our receiving dock, whatever its value,” he says.
As an “early UID adopter,” John is someone who has the insight to look beyond his own reluctance to change and to move beyond the minimal requirements he MUST meet. Early adopters occur in every new wave of commerce and technology. Without them there would be no progress.
UID Game Plan at L-3 ComCept
John’s game plan is simple; in addition to fulfilling DoD contracts, he is leveraging UID to support his own inventory tracking system. Here’s how that works: When a new Dell computer arrives at the receiving dock, for example, it is unpacked and a UID label is printed, verified, validated, and then affixed to the computer before shelving. Scanning the UID and the warehouse location enables tracking within the facility. That receiving data is uploaded to the Content Management System for use as the warehouse inventory database. “I want to use only one warehouse system,” he says “and since I have a requirement for UID anyway, that is what I’m using.” John is also using UID for tracking Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E) in order to have visibility of all physical assets for internal audit.
When the Dell computer on the shelf is ready for delivery under contract, it is configured to specification, the UID is scanned again, and the finished product (end item deliverable) is packed and shipped to the user. (John is also intending to UID the software that ComCept develops in the near future.) The UID data is then uploaded to the IUID Registry as proof of contract fulfillment. The cost of UID compliance was priced into the first DoD contract that required UID.
John says he can see where UID data will lead to enormous efficiencies and cost benefit in the future. Some of those benefits will include the ability to track components, repairs, and warranty information on items passing through the warehouse. Over time, when all government property is UID registered, and suppliers worldwide are in compliance, the cost benefit of this granular level of history and visibility will be almost incalculable.
One Company for UID Responsibility
After reviewing his options, John also understood that he wanted one COTS package, where one company would be ultimately responsible for all UID steps: labeling, verifying, validating, scanning, tracking and registering to the IUID Registry. He chose UID Comply! as a total compliance solution from A2B Tracking Solutions. UID Comply! includes the software and hardware necessary for all compliance steps. “You are the experts,” he says, “You work with UID all the time. Why would I want to piece it together myself?” UID Comply! also gave John the ability to utilize UID data beyond compliance into other parts of his operation. Processing UID’s certainly takes place at the workstation, however now, using a mobile HPC with integrated 2D bar code scanning, John can accurately track items throughout his warehouse.
After three months 200 items associated with new contracts have been registered with the IUID Registry. But with nearly 100 items rotating through the warehouse about every thirty days, the L-3 ComCept warehouse is rapidly becoming a UID controlled environment, and John is satisfied that UID is the wave of the future.
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