ATLANTA-Pepsi-Cola Allied Bottlers Inc. has selected Norand Corp., Racotek Inc. and RAM Mobile Data USA L.P. to establish a wireless data communications solution for its sales people in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
The Fast Access solution will support route sales and bulk delivery to better manage beverage stocking and delivery orders, Norand said.
The company said the three mobile data providers established Fast Access as an integrated marketing effort that combines their technology, marketing and sales departments and targets beverage and snack companies for situations where sales people visit customer sites in advance of deliveries to determine the exact amount of products to be shipped for next day delivery.
“Our sales people report a savings of one to two hours per day because they don’t have to wait at a phone to call in the orders. Sales people using wireless now have 25 percent more time to merchandise products at their customers’ stores,” said Ron Cole, distribution analyst for Pepsi-Cola.
Norand said it provides the handheld computers for the Fast Access solution while Racotek provides wireless networking software to manage message delivery and provide high-level agent services to application software at the warehouse and within the portable computers and data transport. RAM Mobile Data contributes its nationwide wireless data communications network to ensure sales orders are delivered from the field to the warehouse in real time.
