From order picking to personal healthcare assistance and support for after-sales service work: computer technology worn on the body or the head is becoming increasingly important in a wide range of sectors. One of the global leaders in the provision of these wearable computing solutions is Bremen software company Ubimax, founded in 2014.
Retrieving goods from a warehouse and assembling them into a shipment – what logistics calls ‘order picking’ – is often a very monotonous and error-prone task. Armed with a list of items and a hand scanner, and always pressed for time, pickers have to find the right shelf in the warehouse and then put together the various customer orders correctly. That is why the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, based in Zug in Switzerland, one of the drinks manufacturer’s leading bottling plants, began to take a new approach last year. “In order to drastically reduce misdeliveries, the company’s 400 pickers are now working with our software solution xPick and achieving a quality rate of 99.99 per cent – that’s virtually perfect,” reports Dr Hendrik Witt, the CEO of Ubimax. “The employees are assisted in their work by smart glasses with a transparent display, which utilise graphics to direct them straight to the storage area they require and then use the built-in camera to scan the barcode as well.” Another benefit is that both hands remain free throughout, so that items can be picked up quickly and easily to add them to the picker’s goods pallet.
Fully integrated solution platform: Ubimax Frontline
Ubimax first introduced its xPick picking solution in 2014, and has updated it several times since then. Now the tool has been included into the integrated Ubimax Frontline platform, which also contains the xMake assembly assistant and quality assurance, the xInspect service and maintenance tool, and the xAssist remote support solution, which is much in demand in the coronavirus era. “This is the world’s first fully-integrated solution platform that covers the entire value chain, and our aim is to revolutionise the day-to-day work of non-desk-based employees – much like Microsoft Office did for office workers,” explains Hendrik Witt. “Ubimax Frontline doesn’t just increase employees’ productivity, it also helps to make their actual work more satisfying.”
A steadily expanding product range, a 400-strong customer base, and a team currently consisting of some 100 specialists located around the world – in Bremen, southern Germany, the US and Mexico – are all testament to Ubimax’s impressive growth. In October 2019, the firm acquired ESSERT Digital, one of Europe’s leading companies for augmented-reality-based remote after-sales service solutions, located in Ubstadt-Weiher in Baden-Württemberg. Ubimax has included the AS 2.0 remote support solution in its Frontline platform, providing it with another remote service tool in addition to xAssist.
