Challenge
Upgrade aging hardware and its operating system while keeping the FDA validation process manageable.
Solution
Zebra TC21 mobile computers running Android, with MCL as the rapid development tool.
Story
A medical device manufacturer had a number of mobile devices running Windows CE. Support for Windows CE had expired, and the manufacturer wanted to move to technology that would also simplify picking parts to resupply its cell-based production lines. During picking it is imperative that the correct parts are picked and placed in the right locations line-side, and every lot number has to be collected and stored. EMP had designed and built the original solution years earlier on legacy Symbol MT2000 mobile computers running Windows CE. It worked well, but technology kept improving, and FDA requirements make every change difficult and expensive.
The customer turned to its long-time technology partner, EMP, for a path forward. EMP’s product knowledge produced a quick answer: upgrade the MT2000 to the Zebra TC21 running Android. The difference in screen size is massive, and the TC21 brings a faster processor, more memory, and a better barcode scanner. The customer now has a modern device on a modern operating system that will last for years, which matters when every change means re-validating the operation for the FDA.
The icing on the cake is that EMP used MCL, a rapid development environment, for both the old application and the new one on Android. That made the rewrite far less complex, and the low programming cost at least partially offsets the cost of re-validating the process. The EMP team is trained on both the hardware and the software needed to implement solutions quickly and effectively.
Contact us today to see how we can help modernize your mobile computing.
