NSF-Funded Student Design Projects:
Inventory Control System
(Team: Kurt Breault II, Fanie Ann Joseph, Anuj Saxena, Jason Stombaugh)
(Advisor: Dr. Robert Erlandson)

Designers: Kurt Breault II, Fanie Ann Joseph, Anuj Saxena, Jason Stombaugh, and Vijay Gummadi
Client Coordinator: Chris Mason
Arenac Opportunities, Inc.
Supervising Professor: Robert Erlandson, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202

INTRODUCTION

Arenac Opportunities, Inc. provides vocational training for mentally and physically challenged individuals aged 26 years and up. One of the tasks subcontracted to Arenac Opportunities involved counting and packaging small items. Most of the Arenac students, however, are unable to count reliably, so staff had to complete the task for them. The Arenac Inventory Control System (AICS) allows students previously unable to do the task at all to work reliably and with increased independence. To facilitate this independence, AICS provides the following functions:

* Automates the counting procedure for shipment packaging
* Credits the number of pieces produced to the corresponding employee
* Calculates the number of hours worked by each employee
* Maintains a database of the employees’ names and their identification numbers
* Maintains a database of the various products produced by the company

SUMMARY OF IMPACT

The most significant impact of this project is that it created a job for workers with disabilities that was completely unavailable to them before. Besides eliminating the cognitive barriers that made the job inaccessible, AICS builds quality assurance into the task by “error proofing” the process. The workers are guided through the process by a series of prompts, which instruct the workers as to what their next step is. This error-proofing is only one component in designing a fully accessible process. AICS demonstrates that designing a process to be accessible not only increases the population of workers capable of doing that job, but it also makes the job less error-prone.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

The AICS package includes a Micron MicroTag reader and an Ohaus Portable Electronic Scale, which connect via two communication ports to a PC. The inventory control software was developed in Visual Basic 5.0 and interfaces both the scanner and the scale to the computer. The software also maintains the databases necessary for automating the counting and packaging processes.

Before starting the assigned task, AICS directs the staff member configuring the system to set a certain number of the parts being counted on the scale.  The software will then determine the weight of each part so that, when staff enters a target shipment count, the software will be able to determine if that goal has been reached by monitoring the amount of weight on the scale. After entering the information about the task, staff must “clock in” each worker as shown in figure 1. “Clocking in” involves selecting an employee’s name, the name of the task, and the start time. After being “clocked in,” each worker is assigned a work bin. Each work bin is identified by a Micron MicroTag UltraThin tag that contains a unique identification number. When the worker scans the tag on his/her bin across the MicroTag reader, the system recognizes the bin as being assigned to that particular worker, displays the worker’s name and assignment on the screen, and prepares to log that worker’s production.

When the worker’s bin is successfully identified, auditory prompts guide him/her through the rest of the weighing process. If the weight detected on the scale is greater or less than the weight of the target shipment count, a voice prompt will instruct the worker to remove/add parts from the bin. When the target shipment count is reached, a voice prompt informs the employee that their goal has been reached and to place the pieces from the bin into the shipment box. The database is updated when the target count is reached, logging the worker’s progress, then the program waits for someone to scan another work bin.

Throughout the process, the AICS screen will display the current shipment count and the staff-defined target shipment count for the job. This allows staff and workers to be constantly aware of the progress being made. At the end of the day, each employee must be “clocked out” at the same screen used for the “clock in” procedure. The software will then calculate the number of hours worked by each employee and record the results in the database. Information about each employee’s progress can be viewed using the AICS summary tool, which displays each employee’s name, ID number, job title, and the total number of pieces counted (figure 2).

AICS is a highly customized application and allows staff to keep detailed information on each of the workers. To run optimally, the system requires a Pentium-grade CPU with Windows 95, 98, or NT, a color monitor, an Ohaus Scale, and a Micron MicroTag reader and tags. The cost of the MicroTag reader and Ohaus Scale is $1050.

[View more sample screens of the Inventory Control System]