Connect Moves Your ERP System Toward Supply Chain Efficiency Improvements

Connect
Enterprise Hardware Integration

Connect is the ClearOrbit foundation technology platform that provides manufacturers the unique ability to integrate the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system directly to industrial devices to drive significant supply chain efficiency improvements. Connect provides enterprise hardware integration for a broad range of industrial devices, including RFID, RF scanners, barcode printers, scales, conveyors and carousels. View the list of ClearOrbit Certified Devices.

These key devices can be tied directly to the ERP and business applications such as Supply Chain/Manufacturing Resource Planning, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Connect enables devices to communicate directly to the enterprise data model, effectively extending the reach of the enterprise system using the same single instance of data the organization has strived to establish and maintain over the years. By leveraging the enterprise system without a "bolt-on" or middleware approach, information latency and complex integration problems are avoided.

Connect supports a variety of device types that are integral to receiving, inventory, manufacturing and shipping efficiency. Connect leverages leading industry standards including J2EE, XML, HTML, PL/SQL, Java, WAP, WML and Telnet VT/ANSI. Connect provides the infrastructure and adapters necessary for ClearOrbit applications to automate, view and proactively manage supply chain execution.

Real-time accurate information, otherwise invisible to the enterprise, is now readily available using Connect. Connect provides the foundation for extending supply chain execution, deploying collaborative applications and future RFID capabilities. It is the common infrastructure upon which all ClearOrbit products operate.

Benefits
Advantages that companies using Connect 5.0 experience include:

Increased transaction volumes
Increased asset utilization
Increased inventory accuracy
Shared inventory visibility with customers/suppliers
Increased productivity and reduced human error in data entry
Shorter decision-making cycle times
Greater control of supply chain activities internal and external to the organization

Connect 5.0 features a web-based management console for ease of configuration and real-time device control. The console provides highly configurable options and supports a variety of device types that are integral to receiving, inventory, manufacturing and shipping efficiency. Through Connect, devices can communicate directly to the enterprise data model, providing immediate, accurate information enabling the real-time enterprise. Unlike most alternative solutions, Connect provides certified ERP connectivity without proprietary third party databases that significantly increase integration requirements and the total cost of ownership.

Connect also includes a powerful print server with proven scalability and performance that provides real-time control over all printers and network hardware. Users can install the print server on single or multi-tier systems, and dynamically balance the load across servers. For example, one ClearOrbit client is printing 1000 to 1500 labels per minute across their network, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The console handles both local and Internet-based printers, supporting compliance labeling programs among trading partners using ClearOrbit's X.PC for Suppliers.

More than 250 companies are using Connect in conjunction with ClearOrbit's extended supply chain execution products to optimize their supply chain processes, with tens of thousands of mobile users at thousands of locations around the world. By providing this last mile functionality to meet customer requirements that are unique to their vertical industry or operating environment, ClearOrbit customers are able to leverage and implement standard ERP solution modules without changing the core code nor having to seek "best of breed" competitive solutions.

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