Case Studies

COPsync Delivers Data Collection and Information Sharing Solution Using the Brother MW-260 MPrintTM Mobile Printer for Citations, Warning Notifications, and More

Business Problem

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 pointed out a weakness in the federal law enforcement community to effectively share information between agencies on suspected terrorist activities. Recognizing the risks that this posed, the U.S. Government mandated a more comprehensive use of information sharing as it related to national emergencies and homeland security. Subsequently, the federal guidelines1 were set forth for realtime information sharing between law enforcement agencies and emergency response personnel at the federal, state, and local levels.

Compliance with these guidelines, however, would bring significant challenges with regards to current laws, privacy protection, technology standards, and nation-wide deployment. New systems would be required to build out the infrastructure and implement the applications locally. 

Business Solution

COPsync, Inc., a software technology provider to law enforcement and emergency service professionals based in Canyon Lake, Texas, recognized the need to offer their clients a solution to comply with the Government’s information sharing mandates. Founders Russell Chaney and Shane Rapp, with a combined 30+ years of law enforcement experience between them, saw firsthand the ramifications associated with the inability of law enforcement agencies to share information and intelligence to prevent and solve crimes. This, along with their software development skills, gives them the unique insight needed to develop user-friendly platforms to help improve the day-to-day performance of their fellow law enforcement officers.

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Digitising Documents Provides Helping Hand for Medics

A new electronic health record system delivered by Ricoh is giving doctors at German hospital group KHWE quicker access to essential medical information to help them provide better outcomes for their patients. Meanwhile, the digitisation of the company’s administrative documents is significantly improving the efficiency of the organisation itself.

Paper-free Prescription

Katholische Hospitalvereinigung Weser-Egge (KHWE), a German healthcare company that operates four hospitals, five retirement homes and two schools, was keen to modernise its internal systems by digitising every one of its patient records.

This will allow medical staff instant access to the relevant information they need to make decisions about treatment and so directly benefits patients. Naturally, respecting the confidentiality of this patient data is essential so the information must be held securely. At the same time, KHWE wanted to digitise its own paper-based administration systems – such as personnel archives, contract management and invoicing – therefore improving the organisation’s overall workflows was also a key objective.

Modernising Document Management

To meet KHWE’s needs Ricoh created a bespoke system covering both patient records and administrative processes which could be integrated into the company’s existing IT infrastructure. 

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3D Systems and Ekso Bionics Help Man and Machine Walk as One

3D printing, with its amazing versatility, has the ability to create the perfect junction, to create harmony. 3D Systems explores ways to apply these connections for the betterment of society and the greater well-being of its citizens. Such is the motivation behind 3D Systems’ recent exploratory partnership with Ekso Bionics, as the two come together to fully integrate paraplegics with an amazing machine that helps them stand tall. 

Upon first glance, the Ekso™ bionic suit may appear as the stuff of science fiction: a rigid exoskeleton shaded with human form and the metallic sheen of a robot. Yet this remarkable creation, the work of Ekso Bionics, is quite real, and it’s changing the lives of individuals with any degree of lower extremity weakness. Ekso allows those who cannot walk alone to walk again.

So many of us take standing and walking for granted, yet for those who cannot rise out of a wheel chair, those abilities mean everything. “The first time that I donned Ekso, I strapped the device on and I stood up. That was a defining moment,” says Amanda Boxtel in a video by Ekso Bionics.

Over 20 years ago Amanda suffered a devastating spinal cord injury on a snowy Colorado ski slope. Since then she’s been in a wheel chair until Ekso Bionics made her a test pilot for its exoskeletal suit.

P-touch® Commercial Labeling Solution Helps Major Telecom Company’s Customers Stay Connected

Business Problem

One of the country’s leading providers of voice and data communications had long recognized the benefits of proper labeling and has practiced some form of labeling for many years. According to a senior field service engineer with the company, “we used a typical handheld labeler and typed in information we felt relevant to the application, but often forgot to include something (like the service number to call) or there was inconsistency in the format, making some labels difficult to read.” They tried preprinting their labels, but this presented problems with custom data, and there were so many different applications that it became impractical to preprint so many kinds of labels – not to mention the impossible task to manage the inventory for hundreds of installers all over the country. Handwritten labels solve some of these problems, but they are time consuming as each field service technician struggles to print legibly.

Labeling is a thumbprint of professionalism and the company was determined to find a labeling solution that meets their requirements.

Business Solution

The company made organization changes, including a new corporate logo which provided an opportune time to identify and standardize on a better labeling solution for the company. Since this group had positive experience using P-touch® electronic labeling machines in the past, they approached Brother to help them find an ideal solution. The field service technicians specialize on installing WANs (wide area networks) onsite for commercial accounts like retail stores and restaurants, and required a portable labeling solution that will work in any of these installation environments. They needed a solution flexible enough to label a 56K line, all the way up to a DS3 (T3) which contains 28 T1 lines; and needed to label all equipment these lines are connected to: panels, modems, routers, switches, network cables and power cords. They needed to control the look of the labels to be consistent for any company installation, but required flexibility to add new designs for future customers with special requirements. Finally, they needed the labeler to print the new corporate logo on the label as a mark of professionalism. 

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Millit5’s Digital Garage Brings a Passion for Cars Into Play with 3D Scanning and Class-A Surfacing

Kim Gruber is one of those fortunate people who have managed to build a passion for cars into a successful career in Detroit’s automotive styling and engineering world. His weekdays are spent on 3D scanning contracts and 5-axis milling work with major automotive companies. But his weekends are filled with unique antique cars and trucks: scanning and Class-A surfacing for archive, parts restoration, CFD analysis or maybe just for fun.

After more than 20 years in the automotive industry since graduating from Louisiana State University, Kim, with his company Millit5 based in Milford, Michigan, simply loves cars and loves showing gearheads the advanced technology he uses for classic car restorations. Millit5’s services include 3-D scanning, inspection, 3D printing, ICEM automotive Class-A surfacing, CFD flow analysis, 5-axis milling, and training. The Millit5 Digital Garage approach uses only the best tools and quickest software. Kim’s toolbox includes Geomagic Studio® and Geomagic® Design X™ from 3D Systems, ICEM Surf and ICEM DDN, Creaform MAXscan, and scanning and photogrammetry from Creaform on every automotive project.

Reverse engineering, 3D scanning, 3D printing and milling are technologies that make perfect car restorations possible. Every Sunday during the summer, Millit5’s Digital Garage also puts up a booth at local car shows to help people understand more about the technology. Each winner at these car shows gets 3D scan and 3D print of his winning car, compliments of Kim and Millit5. 

One day in 2013, while visiting friends, Kim was discussing his recent Saleen S7 super car Digital Garage project. After scanning the super car inside and out, he used the scan data to generate a Class-A surface and 3D printed it as a 20-inch super car model. Next, he generated CFD flow analysis for both the interior and exterior of the car, and then created a 5-axis, 40% scale model for acoustic analysis wind tunnel testing. 

EFI Fiery EXP6000 and Xerox DocuColor 6060 Open New Markets for a Conventional Printer

Company Profile

Hilltop Press, a division of National Graphics Inc., is a high quality, commercial printer in Indianapolis with $19.3 million in annual sales. It provides services ranging from prepress through bindery and fulfillment from a new 115,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the Indianapolis airport. Hilltop serves large accounts in the retail and corporate communities and in the puzzles and games industry, producing elegant annual reports and corporate communications along with striking point-of-purchase graphics. In January of 2004, the company – a long-time conventional press operation – launched Hilltop Express, a new digital and small press division.

Challenge

Provide conventional press customers with digital solutions that solve corporate headaches. Expand customer service options and open new income streams through digital capabilities like variable data printing (VDP). Maintain Hilltop’s quality reputation.

Solution

Hilltop Express chose an EFI Fiery® EXP6000 color server and Xerox® DocuColor® 6060 Digital Color Press.

Results

Hilltop gained easy access to industry-leading Fiery functionality, breakthrough power and speed and unmatched color quality. It gained the flexibility to provide corporate clients with digital solutions to challenging print problems and it opened new income streams by providing expanded service options, including powerful variable data printing (VDP).

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3D Systems’ ProJet® 660 the Ultimate Solution for Hankook Tire Concept Design

Founded in 1941, Korea’s Hankook Tire is currently both the seventh-largest tire manufacturer in the world and one of the fastest growing. Now selling in 185 countries worldwide, the company has developed a reputation for high-quality tires at reasonable prices. But the tire industry comes with intense competition, and Hankook takes design and development of new products seriously. As part of their commitment to provide top-notch tires, Hankook looks for the best ways to enable rapid development and testing of innovative tire designs while keeping those in-progress designs secret.

With this in mind, the company invested in a 3D Systems ProJet® 660, a 3D printer that uses ColorJet technology (CJP) to create perfect full-color models that can be assessed for form and function. 

Myungjoong Lee , CAD professional in Hankook Tire’s design department, prints a tire design in the ProJet 660 before he leaves at the end of the day, and the final model will be waiting for him when he gets to work next morning. With the size of the models being created, it takes about seven to eight hours to build a finished mockup model overnight.

“3D printing has became part of my routine,” says Lee. “It is very attractive technology that allows us to print whatever idea we have in mind and produce it in full color.”

Lee has found that 3D printing on the ProJet 660 has reduced the communication errors between the design and engineering departments. There can sometimes be friction between the two departments during the decision-making process. Now, with detailed, realistic 3D prints on hand—to touch, review and observe—communication and decision-making in this process has noticeably improved. Meeting times for this part of the process have also improved: they are about 70% shorter than before. 

Passing with Flying Colors- Xerox Adds Cost-Effective Color to the Classroom, Saving a School District 20% in Print Costs

The Challenge

In a time of severe financial hardship, a North Carolina School district’s large fleet of black and white HP® desktop printers was only adding to the problem. Printers were scattered everywhere and the district couldn’t determine how much these devices were really costing them. Many were broken or running heavy volumes, had little or no toner and had very poor print quality. Still, teachers desperately needed to print and found creative ways to keep the devices running.

Some purchased supplies for their own printers. Others brought in old HP inkjet printers from home, which put added ressure on the IT department to fix them. All of this created a situation that was out of control in terms of cost management and accountability. That’s when the district’s IT director turned to Xerox for help. 

The Solution

Using the Xerox methodology of assess, design, implement and manage, the Xerox team went to work, first doing a complete volume, cost and quality assessment of the district’s print fleet. The 60-day assessment gave Xerox a true picture of the print volumes being run on the district’s 55 copiers, 40 network printers and 440 classroom HP desktop printers. Xerox discovered that the district’s monthly cost to manage and maintain all of these devices was extremely high. Xerox then proposed a strategy to consolidate the standalone black and white devices with Xerox® MFPs, which would give the teachers the ability to print in color and the incentive to move away from the classroom printers. To help reduce the cost of printing in color, Xerox® ColorQube technology was used with its three-tier pricing. This gave the teachers the ability to add color and highlight text on their lesson plans for less than the cost of printing on their classroom HP printers. Pcounter software was also added to the mix, giving teachers the freedom to print from any MFP on campus, while allowing the district to centrally manage its costs down to the individual user and device.

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Revolutionizing Facial Reconstruction Using 3D Printing and 3D Haptic Design

Maxillofacial reconstructive surgery reportedly began as far back as the American Civil War, (1861 – 1865) where doctors began treating facial fractures in soldiers. In the 150 years since, it has come a long way. But even as recently as a few years ago, successfully reconstructing a damaged face or head was notoriously difficult, with surgeons often having to be highly reactive to unforeseen complications during surgery.

The Centre for Applied Reconstructive Technologies in Surgery (CARTIS), an innovative partnership between surgeons and design engineering experts in Wales, is leading the way in revolutionizing this kind of surgery by researching and developing new ways, technology and processes to prepare for successful surgery. This unique combination of skills and talents has successfully developed new approaches and solutions that are changing the way facial reconstructions are carried out.

“This is groundbreaking work,” said Adrian Sugar, Consultant Cleft and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Morriston Hospital. “The combination of being able to use the patient’s own data from CT scans, being able to ‘feel’ bone fragments in the virtual world, model implants, and manufacture custom-designed devices and implants is changing the way we approach surgery and is significantly reducing surgery times.” It is also allowing us to introduce a degree of pre-surgical planning and more accurate outcomes for the patient which was previously not achievable.

HP MPS Brings Cost-Efficiency, Visibility To Print Environment

Cost reductions, feature-rich devices, more project time for technology staff—Perkinelmer points to HP managed Print services (mPs) as the solution that transformed an inefficient, resource-intensive print environment into a streamlined system that paves the way for future electronic workflow initiatives.

“HP mPs has completely changed the landscape. We’ve drastically reduced the number of devices, gained multifunction efficiencies and freed staff time,” says andrew Lancaster, manager of It support and client technology at Perkinelmer. “What’s more, the solution brings visibility to usage patterns and costs that never were visible before.”

COMBATING DEVICE PROLIFERATION, HIGH MAINTENANCE OVERHEAD

Perkinelmer, Inc. designs, manufactures and delivers advanced technology solutions that address global health and safety concerns, including maternal and fetal health, clean water and air, and safe food and toys. the company reported revenue of approximately $1.8 billion in 2009, and employs some 8,800 workers serving customers in more than 150 countries.

A few years ago, as the person newly in charge of the print environment, Lancaster noted a high device-to-employee ratio in some u.s. Perkinelmer offices and a proliferation of models from various vendors. His staff was spending an inordinate amount of time babysitting printers.

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