How Mobile Computer Power Management Impacts Operators’ Hard and Soft Costs
Bob delivers a package, scanning its bar code to record the delivery—and discovers that his computer has shut down. A low-battery alert had appeared moments earlier, but it provided too little warning. Bob missed it. If the driver and his employer are lucky, no data has been lost. But at best, both customer service and employee productivity have been compromised. Moreover, Bob has been subjected to stress that could lead to errors or reduced job satisfac-
tion. Even if he’d changed his computer’s battery before making this delivery, he would have lost valuable time.Bob’s employer’s purchasing group has become accustomed to the costs of replacing mobile computer batteries after 20 months’ service—a consider-
able expense. If the company could get more useful life from the batteries it purchases, it could significantly reduce costs. Similar problems are common among transportation companies using
industrial mobile computers—and all have negative impacts on employees, operations and the bottom line. Most mobile computers can operate for no more than six hours per charge. Businesses lose countless dollars annually to battery-related hard and soft costs.
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Are High-Capacity Batteries the Answer?
Many companies using mobile computers turn to high-capacity batteries to lengthen per-charge run times. This typically extends sustained operating times to less than eight hours—still less than a work shift. A battery change-out would still be required to keep most mobile computers up and running.
The Solution: Superior Power Management.
Obtaining sufficient battery life to enable a mobile computer to run for a full shift (with a significant safety margin) demands intelligent power management in addition to high-capacity batteries. There are five components to intelligent power management. Their implementation impacts not only run time per charge, but also the useful life of mobile computer batteries and management of the battery replacement process.