Ryan and Suuchi Speak on The Future of Wearable Technology
So we’ll get started and we still have folks coming in, but why don’t we dive right in.
So Ryan, I’m so excited to have you on this call today and you and I connected. I don’t know what it is around about two or three quarters ago, but I will say that everything about you and what you represent with Proglove and otherwise was just very impressive.
We’re both representing companies in the supply chain space and there’s just so many potential synergies that kept, you know, cropping up in my mind.
And I just felt like this would be something we should share with an audience and also the markets that we’re in.
So I am very excited to learn more myself through this conversation beyond the conversations you and I have had and hopefully we could share this with the folks that are in our community.
So why don’t we begin with introductions and I, you know, I know you and what Proglove does, but for our audience and those that will watch afterwards, I’ll pass it to you.
So if you want to tell us about yourself and and Proglove, why don’t we begin there and and then I’ll do the same and then we can get into some fun questions after that.
No it sounds great.
Succhi and I appreciate the opportunity to join you today.
It’s definitely uh, it’s something new for me but I’m definitely aware.
What is Wearable Technology??
So Proglove, we provide a wearable technology, it’s a wearable barcode scanner goes in the back of the hand and the triggers on the glove where the scanner slides into the the glove and we provide those actionable insights you know on the go so to speak, right.
So our big thing is we focus on ergonomics, we focus on efficiency and we focus on employer retention, right.
So those are the benefits that our scanners bring along.
And then there is, there is we do a background platform as well that can show into the analytics and can go into you know device management regarding battery life and firmware updates etcetera.
So yeah, we’re pretty excited.
It’s a very exciting industry to be in the wearable technology space which is getting bigger and bigger, but there are definitely some some key players and some key technologies including ours that that can be focused on for sure.
Yeah, thanks for that introduction Ryan.
It’s definitely cool.
We work as a part of what we do with the GRID a lot of different 3PL warehouse solutions and and you guys just bring something really unique.
But in terms of the GRID we’re the next generation supply chain software solution.
So we can be the system of record IE the product master ERP procurement and master for fast growing companies.
So they don’t need to leapfrog into something big or an expensive ERP, but those that already have systems we integrate to provide a connective tissue and an operating transaction layer towards better reconciliation, democratizing access and just a more intelligent margin optimized supply chain.
And through our implementations not only do we get to work with the best customers but we also work get to work with best partners that we integrate with
so and you know like program hopefully.
Benefits of using Wearable Technology with the Supply Chain
So let’s start with double clicking on, you know I’m really excited to, like I said Ryan, educate myself but also give our audience a deeper understanding into wearable technology and the benefits so far as supply chain.
So when you look at if you compare what Proglove offers to warehouses that are not equipped with your technology, what would you say or just for lack of a better word legacy where it’s just being scanned in through the traditional methods.
What would you say would be the top benefits in having wearable technology at the warehouses?
100%, that’s a great question.
So I think it’s all about streamlining processes and and typically through the use of data, and before I go in deeper into that that conversation, I’m going to peel back a layer to provide some context.
And I think there are three main advantages I think to wearables from inefficiency standpoint, labour reduction, real time feedback and providing comprehensive data package for data-driven decisions.
And I think data in a worker’s hands in case of program on a worker’s hands drives huge efficiency gains.
An example I’d use is think of a picking process and how that’s been transformed over the years.
We’ve gone from a pick list derived from a paper order to a pick list amalgamated from an ERP or WMS.
And now we’re adding in the aspect of wearable wearables providing data via real time virtual pick tickets on the back of the hand or another on another technology.
And that information is coming directly from the same ear, appeared in WMS, but it’s it’s used in a wearable fashion so you don’t have to worry about, you know, reading off a paper or scanning a paper that’s been derived from an ERP or WMS.
It’s on its back of the hand what’s right there for you to use, you know, from an information standpoint.
And so efficiency just spikes dramatically from there and the same can be applied to packing, shipping, receiving, put away.
Wearables provide real time data and real time data allows for accurate and effective decision making.
So, yeah, sorry, I was muted there.
No, I love what you said.
You hit on some of the key themes and objectives that whether it’s wearable technology or what the solutions are then the grid implements.
Ultimately we’re trying to get our customers to reduce redundancies, errors, inconsistencies, manual work.
All of that has an impact on operating expenses.
And so you hit that right away where you can eliminate paper, eliminate the traditional methods of getting the data in so people can spend their time right on more strategic tasks versus scanning paper in.
And not to mention, I would imagine there’s a lot of data redundancies that are illuminated as well with that.
So that’s great to uh.
That’s created as a way to for not just for me for the audience to understand.
I mean I when I the first few times I, I did speak with you the question that comes to me or any other or anybody else that’s implementing an ERP or a company that has these upstream systems that would read your data.
Wearable Technology and Integrations
You know in researching what Proglove does a little bit more you speak a lot about integrations which is very key, because if your technology can’t be, can’t be integrated then you know the whole idea is to scan that data in.
So tell us a little bit about, if I were a, you know, speaking from the grid’s perspective of any other or any other product ERP system or from a customer perspective that’s looking to implement Proglove into their warehouse.
How do you think about integrations and making that easier?
And is there a certain process or standard when it comes to integrating this data into the into the current text stack?
I think from a best practice standpoint, I believe a great integration involves 3 things, people, process and technology.
From from you taking that thought process and moving it to a data standpoint, it’s best to make sure that I think the following happens.
I mean from a people standpoint first discuss the challenges that your frontline people face and and document data and show that you understand and that you’ve you’ve taken the time to to listen to them and then show how the data can help alleviate those challenges.
I think once you have frontline buy in, I think that’s that’s really important from a standpoint like that that will drive efficiency, efficiency gains because they’ll be excited on using it.
From a poster standpoint, it’s very it’s it’s valuable to meticulously document the process and then inject the use of wearables.
And often what you’ll see is that the process naturally morphs with the use of wearables.
As an example, I give with a wearable, you can scan as you reach to grab a product when you’re picking.
That saves valuable seconds.
And as Henry Ford said, when you’re when you were wasting time, other people are getting ahead of you.
So I think it’s very important to understand that that if you can, if you can smooth these processes out from a process standpoint then it’s it’s your data will flow naturally.
And from a technology standpoint I think it’s important to ensure that the data intake pathways and more importantly the data manipulation pathways are clean and have as little manual input as possible.
Humans are are are amazing but they’re fallible.
So it’s been, it’s very important to that you’re going to use wearables to, to grab data and have data transformed into actionable, you know actionable items going forward.
It’s important that those those technology pathways are clean and and don’t involve a lot of manual input.
Right.
And I imagine that with Proglove solutions you also have APIs that other systems can interact with it.
It seemed like that.
So I I see you shaking your head there.
No, I, I couldn’t agree more.
You know in our experience when we look at integrations the GRID we integrate across product systems that are already in place.
We of course integrate with legacy ER PS.
And then a third big area of integration for us is warehouse data.
And I would say that that’s typically where data is often the most non digitized, if for lack of a better word.
And we we we struggled with that in, in on behalf of our customers because often times many companies work with more than one warehouse and some of them are still fragmented in terms of the use of technology.
How Does Wearable Technology Help?
So I can just imagine that if we had this data, it starts to impact so many things upstream.
And if, if I could if if if our customers start to have technology like Proglove, some of the immediate impacts I can imagine it would have to create data that our customers consume is one just better fulfillment and allocation in real time.
Because one big challenge we see is that the inventory receipt is not updated in real time and and sometimes the receipt is updated at different syncs and frequencies across different warehouses.
And it this can create a real challenge to fulfillment because you don’t know what the actual quantity received is in real time and it’s not fast enough but but also being able to sell faster because once you have the ability to track this this faster you have better sell through and and it also has an impact like we discussed on OpEx.
But I would imagine cost to goods sold to a lot of our companies, their, their formulas are different.
But if you’re also allocating the labour cost in terms of fulfillment to your cost to goods sold, this has a big impact too.
So I can immediately imagine, not just a cultural impact that you mentioned in terms of employee morale and ergonomics, but a financial impact not just to the ROI you could drive from the warehouse data, but how it could impact ROI if you were able to assemble and assimilate this information upstream in terms of the ability to, for better reconciliation faster fulfillment and to market reduction in OpEx and COGS.
So.
So it’s exciting and and I, I, I definitely you know would love to see how we can we could socialize the benefits of this towards the towards better financial outcome for our customers which, which I think is a good segue to you know my next question.
I know you, you and I spoke about some questions that we could would be valuable for our audience and forgive me for going off script because I I’m geeking out on on some of this.
I noticed on your website that you did talk about adoption for wearable technology compared to the industry, and listen systems are always cultural changes.
But I imagine wearable technology in the warehouse is one level of a higher cultural change to educate people through.
I don’t remember the exact number, but I think it was somewhere in the twenties, plus or minus of total you know sort of environments that actually take this up.
Resistance to Technology Adoption and Cultural Change
What do you think it is, the resistance and and what how do you think about practitioners like us being able to solve or increasing the adoption of warehouse technology or wearable technology?
I I think it’s it’s important to understand that, that change is scary and I don’t think it’s it’s necessary, necessarily a smooth transition because you’re asking someone to that that’s been doing something for a period of time.
They get used to it and and it becomes almost comfortable.
And then you’re asking them to, even though, even though it is more efficient, you’re asking them to change.
And you know when when people are are are working, it’s not exactly their that they’re not having fun, right.
So they they’ve, they’ve made their their work into a certain process and they’ve made it into a a process that works for them.
So then when you’re asking them to, like I mentioned before about about scanning, as they reach, they’re so used to picking up a scan gun, scanning, putting a scan gun down, picking it, manipulating what you picked up, making sure the right quantity is there and then scanning it, scanning the order again or scanning to the next order.
They’re so used to that, but while they’re doing it, it’s almost become robotic and they’re not thinking anymore And now you’re asking to think again, right.
So I know that this kind of boils it down to a very, you know, basic level.
But I think that even though it it after time, the use of wearable technology and the use of technological advancement, I think you know, will benefit them and make their job more efficient and make it safer and more comfortable.
At first it’s, it’s really scary because I think there’s also a bit of a stigma that exists that technology will eventually replace human workers.
Even though it’s completely untrue and it’s been proven you know multiple times over and over again there is that stigma attached that any technology coming in is the next step into their job being replaced.
So I think that that’s the that’s that reticence that exists on the front line at least from the.
So, but for the sake of management, I think when you invest in technology and and every technology is not free, there’s an invest, there’s an upfront cash outlay or or investment that requires you to you know put your put yourself on the line so to speak that you’ve stepped up and made this decision it’s going to help the company.
So if it doesn’t help the company, your name has been attached to that, that venture.
So I think that there’s that natural, or there’s a there is an inherent aspect of of risk involved that that does come along with change.
I think that’s so from whether there’s a frontline worker, management, middle management.
I think that, you know, it’s it’s important to understand that change is scary and and it does involve some kind of risk.
Absolutely and, and you know we we for sure see that in any kind of system implementation.
You’re right about that.
And I like what you said about it’s, we hear it, but it’s so true, right?
It people process technology.
It’s you almost have to have the right people championing and driving through some change, and you have to almost stagger it up to make sure that it gets rid of people’s biases and worries about implementing this this change as well.
Yeah employee buy in is is absolutely vital.
Like I know it seems like it’s the, the it should be the last step.
It’s actually one of the first steps you when you when you do a successful implementation of anything.
One of the first steps you need to ensure is that the people who are actually like performing these tasks are accepting of it and that they’ll, they’ll put forth their best effort because they’ve been, they’ve been listened to and they’ve been heard and that their their input has contributed to the process that you’re putting in place.
Yeah.
So the one question I actually don’t know the answer to, though you and I have spoken a few times.
So I’m curious to hear your answer to this.
When I think about Progloves wearable technology, I think Warehouses 3PLS right away.
Are there any other facilities, if that’s the right word to use beyond the warehouse 3PL
operation where the the scanners could be used?
In terms of as I think about more applications for this, the factory floor, assembly floor, have you seen these implementations also produce good results?
I think it’s so there’s there’s two kind of categories to industries that that embrace wearable technology.
There’s up there’s the the obvious and non obvious you know let’s put them put them in two groups.
The obvious industries that the main consideration you know is is efficiency.
But even beyond that it’s industries where there is that encounter regulated recalls or they’re under regulation, food manufacturing, automotive, medical manufacturing.
These are industries where efficiency and accuracy are table stakes because, because the the chance for mass recalls etcetera.
So there must haves the wearable technology.
What it does is it provides a level of efficiency and accurate data intake that, that just you know it’s that risk mitigation strategy where if you have a manufacturing line and then at one step in the process you have like the ticket like a car for example.
Yeah.
If you in one step of the process, you have a faulty, you know, a crack in the engine block, you need to know what cars were built with that, that, that in that same lot with the crack engine block, right?
It’s, it’s absolutely vital.
So ’cause if you don’t have that answer, then that you could be costing yourself hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of dollars and having to recall every single car, right?
So it’s very important just to that the wearable technology allows you to manufacture, but also, you know, taking information and data as you manufacture, you’re scanning each piece.
And that’s actually ironically where Proglove came from is that, you know, Proglove was started by two actually it’s by 4 interns that were at BMW and they looked over at the people that were manufacturing.
They thought well why are they scanning?
Why are they picking up and dropping the the scan gun four times in, in each station.
And then they thought to themselves, well, how can we make this more more efficient and more accurate.
So they thought about putting the the scanner in the back of the hand and that’s where Pro Glove started.
So anytime you have that kind of, what we like I said where efficiency and accuracy are our table stakes they it has to happen.
They they, it’s it’s non negotiable that it’s very important to have that wearable technology providing that feedback in real time, in real time data.
Wearable Technology Efficiency, Accuracy, and Employee Safety
At the same time you know wearables it’s very important to understand that wearables provide not just efficiency but also the ergonomic value and employee retention.
I think every industry wants to keep their employees safe but they also want to keep their employees period.
Right.
So you know think of this, you line up your 50 most productive workers.
Now imagine three of them went off on long term disability because of repetitive strain injuries, like that would be not crippling, but it would definitely be a detriment to your, your productivity.
It’s it’s it’s already incredibly difficult in a lot of you know industries to find workers.
So now you’re being asked to fill these three more spots that you could have been prevented with the use of wearable technology that keeps their employees safe.
So you knowing that thinking about you know like going back to the category of non obvious industries, we should be investing in wearable technology like not just for efficiency but for safety.
I can think of maybe oil and gas processing, chemical distribution, any any large equipment manufacturer where you get the where you if you’re receiving a product into the building and and they’re you know, 100 pounds, you don’t want to be lifting at 100 pounds with a scan gun holed with your finger.
Also anything with a high number of SKUS, you know, I can think of books, so shout out to Book Depot, which is my favorite customers, hardware distribution because of nuts and bolts etcetera, fashion retail because they, imagine being able to fold clothing with the scanner in your hand, right.
Wide Range of Applications Beyond Warehouses
And so we’re working with a couple of fast retail manufacturers now where they can fold, they can manipulate, they can pack a box, they can, they can seal the box, they can scan you know shipping label all of the scanner in the back of their hand.
So I think that that once you look at that there’s the obvious but then it’s a non obvious and and sometimes there’s a bit of a almost a Venn diagram aspect where you have you know 3PLS etcetera that have large items.
Typically that’s not really something that you haven’t you think of a wearable technology that would help out but in this case it does help out greatly.
So you know obviously our bread and butter distribution, 3PLS manufacturing, warehousing, but then there’s those, those we actually started working with a a marketing company then and the interesting part about that is that they, they wanted to know how long it took them to finish a project because then that allowed them to quote jobs more accurately.
So which is a very interesting case for a wearable.
So their, their employees as they’re working at that computer, they have their, their wearable in the back of their hand and then when they’re done working on a particular project they scan barcode and that scans them out of that project and they scan the barcode again for a different project, right.
So that it’s just allowing them to find a more kind of drill down as what their true costs are and then they can quote jobs more more accurately which then increases their, their, their, their profit and their margin.
So yeah, it’s just thinking that yeah, there’s definitely obvious and non obvious categories.
Yeah, no, that’s that’s great.
And even without you answering it, I thought when one of the reasons we’re excited about this partnership is we’re pretty agnostic across industries.
The applications are so wide, but we see the same for Proglove.
It’s the impact can be so amazing once it’s, once it is implemented.
So which brings me to a few other questions again which in my enthusiasm is, is a little off script, it’s the the what we call in Tam or the addressable market.
It’s so huge for you guys, but if you look at the other side of it variable is also I think the we’re just scratching the surface and and pretty soon this is going to just be table stakes for everybody at the physical location.
So how do you think about the Proglove solution vis A vis competition and the space and and you know what, what sets you folks apart?
You know as as we think about you know potentially going to market together, how would or anyone listening why, why these solutions versus some of the other wearable technologies out there?
First off I’ll say that the the other technologies out there are are fantastic.
There’s nothing you know I’m the last person that’s going to sit here and slag anybody for, for having a great wearable product.
Wearables Competitive Advantage and Customer-Centric Approach
I think with Proglove what really sets us apart is the fact that we are the leaders we we were the first to come out with it you know from wearable wearable scan barcode scanner technology and we’ve done it so so well over a certain amount of time that there’s a reason our, our, our customers don’t leave us and go somewhere else, even though they might think they have reasons to investigate that that that option. We, we have our customers extremely loyal our, our rate of retention is, is impeccable and the biggest thing is that we’ve been doing this for so long like since those plus four founders that I mentioned that that the BMW since they started we we don’t we see people leaving our our our customers leaving our our book book of business for any reason.
It’s just it’s a quality product.
We do it properly.
We’ve done the, we’ve done the research, we’ve done the investigations and even though our you know our list of options is isn’t quite as extensive as other other companies we’ve taken,
We’ve taken our time and we’ve made sure that we make that list of products really, really well.
We’ve investigated we’ve, we’ve iterated for instance our, our hand straps which is our new our new glove and it’s it’s adjustable adjustable glove.
We’re in our fifth iteration it only came out a year and a half ago.
So I think it’s important to understand that when you when you do something correctly you’re, you’re, it’s a quality product but you’re open to change.
And from Proglove’s standpoint one of the reasons that we are open to change is that we’ve open that that bi-directional feedback with our customers as well and saying listen, you know we we want that feedback.
So if a customer comes to us and and says you know it’d be great if we could help prevent employee theft you know or, or involuntary theft.
But they would they end up taking the barcode scanner home with them or back to the locker and they think, well I’m off shift, I’ll, I’ll bring it back tomorrow.
So we’ve we’ve come up with ways to almost like geofence you know when you certain amount away from the the host device that the scanner’s paired to then that’s when the scanner can you know light up and make sounds and vibrate and kind of go crazy.
So that was actually feedback that we got from a customer.
The customer said this it’d be great if we had this and we thought yeah that’s a good idea, let’s do this.
So we, we did the iteration, we came up with, we came up with that, that feature and now that customer is ecstatic because they no longer have employees taking the scanners to lockers and leaving them in there overnight.
It just drains.
You know, it takes the percept, takes the scanner out of circulation, but then increases the chance that, you know, we don’t know, you don’t know where that scanner is.
No, that’s great.
I think you know you you touched on a lot of things that are just important for customer growth, for company growth which is really customer success and listening to what the customer has to say and and building that in you know outside looking in you.
It’s also fascinating that you guys have this hardware layer and the software layer so you’re you’re integrated and that gives you more control of the experience.
Do you, do you at all allow other hardwares to integrate with your with your software?
I imagine it’s, it’s a complete package.
Or do you allow?
Are you agnostic to sometimes the hardware being used?
Well, we’re always agnostic to what we’re paired to.
So the scanners themselves, they they are you know quote unquote unintelligent.
But once they’re paired to a device whether it be Android device, whether it be, we have a unit called the gateway which is a usb dongle that you can plug into fixed computer that allows for the configuration piece to be in that host.
So in essence our scanner once it’s scanned to that that host device, a completely diagnostic any Android device, it could be Samsung, could be Zebra, could be anything really.
The Honeywell, oh that’s totally fine for us and because we have the, the gateway that we can plug into a fixed computer that opens up the world of Windows, Linux, right.
So then any, any, any host device like the place of the mobile device of Android or a Windows fixed, fixed computer we can pair to.
Once we pair to it, the the scanner takes the configuration of the host and the, the one of the the valuable parts of that is that you know when you scan into it the scanner takes the configuration.
But then if I, if I’m called over to a different part of the warehouse and I scan you know the host device over there it can be a different configuration.
The example I give is let’s say in in logistics I’m, I’m told to it’s configured to scan and then automatic enter.
Whereas on the forklift truck it’s configured to scan and then automatic tab.
I don’t need to configure the scanner.
The scanner just knows because it picks up that if it picks up it, it’s it’s kind of its duties, its configuration from the host device.
So I think in, in today’s day and age where manufacturing is fluid and distribution centers are are constantly moving and then there’s a drive for efficiency, it’s important to understand that there is no typical, you know, from a Proglove standpoint, there is no receiving scanner or there’s no forklift scanner.
It’s the same scanner, it just takes different configurations from different host devices.
Yeah, no, this was, this was super.
I can’t, I cannot believe we’ve actually passed the first 30 minutes because I was totally engrossed in very, very informative, Ryan.
So we’ll just segue into some of the questions that have come in and I’m just sorting through them and let me organize them here as we look at the last 15 minutes.
So you know the audiences companies of sizes all the way from we’ve, we’ve got sign ups from companies that are scale ups all the way to bigger companies.
So I think one question that’s come in is how do you think about implementing warehouse wearable technology for a, for a company that’s growing at about 20 million in size?
So I guess you know I’ll just without knowing too much of the context that’s an interesting question right.
How do you think about implementations for say folks that are starting off or not as big as say a billion dollar company?
Because I know you guys have, you have the massive customers but I know you also have companies that are scaling.
So what are some best practices to somebody that wants to get into touch get, get in touch with Proglove, but it’s but it’s not a mammoth company just yet.
Yeah.
I don’t think it’d be a mammoth company.
I think honestly I think one of the things that we focus on is we provide solutions for everyone and one of the things I encourage is to, to our customers is that you know dream the ideal situation and no solution is perfect, but we’ll get you pretty close, and for a stand.
So using your example, if if someone has a revenue of you know 10/15/20 million in revenue, there’s no reason why they can’t use one of our, our more entry level devices just to have the ability to even even occasionally scan using a wearable.
The example I give is maybe receiving.
So if somebody in a company receives 100 packages a day and that’s it, that’s OK.
But the biggest thing is that sometimes those packages are are massive, they’re hard to handle, they’re, they’re awkward to carry.
So having a wearable allows you to carry those things.
Implementing Wearable Technology for Growing Companies
So the, the good part about our devices is that we don’t, we don’t measure in in battery life per se, we measure number of scans.
So you know our our entry level device is called the Leo.
The Leo does 4000 scans on a one hour charge.
So if someone takes you know 2 hours a day and and receives inventory of 100 boxes, they don’t have to go to automatically charge that Leo scanner.
They just put it aside and then when they go to they go.
When they go to receive again the next day it’s ready to go for them, you know and that’s an entry level cost.
It doesn’t.
It’s not going to break the bank.
But it’s important to keep your people safe, especially someone in a, you know, the thing about about a smaller company that does 15 to 20 million is that every employee is, is vital to the process, right.
If all of a sudden, you know, your, your receiving person throws out their back because they’re, they’re awkwardly carrying a big box because they have their scanner with two fingers in one hand and they’re, and they’re trying to, you know, carry the box the other hand, all of a sudden their back goes out.
That person’s out of circulation, right.
So you need to figure out a way now all of a sudden what you’re already you’re already running pretty lean and now you’re asked, you know people to even contribute more to cover for that person.
So wearable technology is the biggest thing is the health and safety aspect is, is, is as big if not more important in some cases than an efficiency standpoint because people, people are gold these days.
It’s hard to find people so you don’t want them to go off and and be out of circulation for a certain amount of time.
So it doesn’t really matter if it’s 10/15/20, you know, a billion, you know, 50 billion companies like Proglove can work with anybody.
Yeah.
And I think that’s so key in terms of just making this a universal standard is democratizing access for all sizes.
Implementation and ROI
So just a follow up question from the same person is how long does it take to implement?
And then I’ll add to that which is how do you think about post implementation, how long somebody should look at before being able to measure the ROI?
Are there any quantifiers you provide to help customers with that?
Great question.
Yeah, when it comes to the gateway that I mentioned before, the USB dongle that attaches to the fixed computer that could be plug and play because essentially all you’re doing is you’re taking the scanner that you use right now and putting it back your hand.
So that’s not a problem.
Once you’ve paired to that gateway, you get to go and everything you scan goes into that same field on the computer that you you were doing before.
When the case of an Android, we’re using our you know our SDK to to pair the Android device.
Then yes that takes a bit of integration and you need to make sure the configurations are are solid.
But we offer a self configuration standpoint anyway so you can then you can tweak the configurations as you need to so it can be implementation, can be anything from you know 4 to 5 minutes, all the way up to you know a few days or if you’re looking for we we hope, we have a scanner called the mark display.
The mark display essentially has you know information on the back of the scanner.
There’s a screen on the back of the scanner that requires you know the the ability to pull the information from somewhere whether WMS, ERP and put it on the back of the hand.
So then then you need you know what’s called telnet client to provide that bridge between the source and the the scan in the back of the hand.
So that could take a while from the standpoint of ROI.
We’ve had customers that come to us and said in four weeks they get to they have their money back, right.
And sometimes it takes longer.
But because I go back to that people process technology.
If you’ve done a good job in getting buy in ahead of time for your people and your process is documented.
The technology is kind of just pouring cement over those processes and it’s a little bit easier.
So you’ll see ROI quicker.
Whereas if you haven’t done a good job of getting buy in and you haven’t done a good job of listening to your people and you haven’t done a good job of documenting process, then it’s going to have that the initial period of friction and almost like that abrasion.
It doesn’t really doesn’t really allow for a smooth transition or a smooth ROI.
So it could take a while but that’s it, it doesn’t, it doesn’t take long.
I think the the biggest thing is even from a standpoint of eliminating the pickup and put down of a scanner like just eliminating that you’re you’re set, you’ll see the ROI pretty quick.
Yeah, that’s that’s that’s amazing.
I didn’t realize you guys could be up and running sometimes in as quickly as a few minutes to under a few days, which is which is incredible for anybody that’s trying to implement this.
So let’s do this question.
If we have time, we’ll do one more.
But I think this may be a good one to wrap up with is where is the future of variables?
Well, how do you see that for supply chains as you think forward for the next 5-10 years?
Yeah.
So I’ll pass that to you high level, but yeah, yeah, go ahead.
I think high level, it’s the the the role is endless.
We can really do anything, not just us, but like the wearable technology industry can do anything ’cause once you start integrating with your things like like smart glasses and you start, you know, having those integrations with other aspects where like you know, for instance, we just recently had the Apple Watch and the Samsung Watch that we can now integrate with.
So now you have the information from the smart, you know, Samsung Watch and the Apple Watch that are now integrated with this Proglove.
So as Proglove scans, information gets fed onto the watch, which then is already in tune with a source of information, WMS, ERP, TMS, whatever it is.
So I think, you know, that’s the, that’s the basic level from a standpoint of what the what the kind of step beyond that is.
You can talk about like digital twins, you can talk about warehouse optimizations.
You can talk about like the the aspect of AI and machine learning.
There’s so many things that you can integrate with and kind of, you know, Infuse with the use of wearable technology that I I can’t see a cap, I can’t see like a a ceiling to it.
Yeah.
Future of Wearables in Supply Chains
And 100% for me, I feel like sometimes it’s if I were to look at the future, the first wish list for us since we think about our customer base is if we can instead of in integrating with the warehouses that are not equipped with wearable.
We’d love to see that over the next five years that we’re integrating with physical facilities whether it’s warehouses, 3PLS, factories that are all equipped with the with the warehouse technology.
And I think once you start democratizing access and making it universal for different facilities, all types of employees, all sizes of customers in different industries, then the ceiling is limitless because then you can all, you could start to build a whole ton of applications.
On top of that, do you see some industries being more just being more enthusiastic and having a higher appetite for this versus others?
I I think you know like I mentioned before any, any industry that has the, the requirements to you know prepare for recalls I think is absolutely massive.
I think that any kind of when it comes to transportation and logistics, there’s such a big, you know, as an example, there’s such a big focus on final mile, right.
Middle mile’s not so like you know there’s there’s advancements in middle mile but that’s kind of it.
It’ll come in time but you know initial mile and and, and final mile that’s where the real technological advancements and that’s where you’re the point of difference right now is so thin that if you can increase your, your margin by you through use of wearables you can avoid the idea of of having to pick up a scan gun or not scanning right.
You know that that when it comes to final mile that that that customer traceability piece is important too.
So any any 3PL, any distribution center, any courier, any expedite like all these these industries are just tapping into what they can do right.
And then that the next level is having like that that customer traceability or even that internal traceability that that that unlike the granularity that everyone in business eventually will require.
It won’t just be an optimization to have granularity, it’ll be table stakes.
It’ll be you have to have this level of clarity and this level of of openness with all the information, all the data.
So I think it’s it’s going to be exciting to see what happens with all these industries in next 3-4 years.
Yeah, no, for sure the the potential is it’s exciting and and we’re absolutely thrilled to be in conversation and partnership with you and and Proglove and see how we can drive value together for our customers.
The, the last few things we could launch into another question, but I want to be respectful of everybody’s time that has joined.
I don’t know that we’ll have time for one more question.
I think we’ll leave this with if anybody wants to reach out to you, Ryan.
Obviously if they come through us and it’s our audience, we know where to find you, but.
If you could just, you know, drop some contact details before we end the call so it’s on the recording so folks know how to reach you, right?
100% they can reach out on LinkedIn, that’s fine.
Like my the the last name Wickham is not is not common, so there’s not too many of us.
I don’t think there’s any just beyond me but or proglove.com we have a, and form they can they can fill out.
But if you reach out to me and even if it’s not say something I can help with because of territory or anything like that or speciality, then I will.
I will absolutely.
I promise that I will get that information to to the right person in, in real time.
Yeah, and if you can recite your e-mail for us as well, please.
100% yeah, so it’s my name dot Wickham so ryan.wickham@proglove.com.
OK, excellent.
Well, well, Ryan, thank you so much for this time.
I know I gained a lot more information than I had.
This was very exciting to listen to and you know I said this a few times, but I’m really looking forward to seeing your technology being adopted is a is a is a much wider standard than it already is and also you’re in Canada.
So in terms of we, we love that region.
I think there’s just a lot of goodness and innovation going on there.
So specifically with Canada, we’re we’re just excited about what we could do together.
No, I’m excited.
Thanks for having me and and like I I’m here to help.
Yeah, for sure.
Thank you so much.
I’ll stop the recording now.
