Bluetooth pen delivers speed, effectiveness to courier FedEx

Global courier company FedEx Express is testing an innovative wireless solution in Asia that uses Bluetooth and digital pen technology, significantly shortening the time taken for its couriers to deliver packages to customers' doors. FedEx has been exploiting wireless technology since before most of its customers had even heard of mobile phones or PDAs. Key to the company's success has been its use of network technology - particularly wireless - that enables FedEx to keep customers informed about a package's whereabouts and employees up to date on information they need to speed package pick-up and delivery. 'The focus on instantaneous communication and customer access drove us to be a very large wireless user as far back as the late 1970s and early 1980s,' said Linda Brigance, chief information officer for FedEx Express Asia. She said the company spends about US$1.3 billion a year on improving its IT capabilities. The new wireless solution uses a Bluetooth-equipped digital pen made by Stockholm-based company Anoto and a Pocket PC-based wireless handheld. This combination helps FedEx's couriers and customers replace a simple but time-consuming task - manual form-filling and data duplication. The information is now uploaded to the network in real time, wirelessly. Using Bluetooth technology, the Anoto pen and PowerPad are paired to a mobile phone that allows data to be transmitted via a mobile data network such as GPRS. 'While a large number of our customers here in Asia and throughout the world use our electronic tools to do business with FedEx, there are still a substantial number of customers who prefer or are required to fill in air waybills or other paperwork by hand,' said Ms Brigance. She said that while handwriting recognition technology had been available for a long time, such as Graffiti used in Palm-based devices and Jot in Pocket PCs, it required users to write in a way the software would recognise. The Anoto digital pen, of which FedEx has placed an initial order of 4,000 units, is shaped like an ordinary pen and transforms handwritten information into digital data with great accuracy. Ms Brigance said: 'In all the times I have used it, it has never failed. It is extremely accurate. It takes over 200 digital snapshots per second and hence is able to replicate ink with great accuracy.' The Anoto pen reads the marks the ink makes on special paper that allows the computer to position the markings in a large grid. When the writer tells the pen to send the information, the pen - using either a Bluetooth wireless connection or a direct connection - sends the information to another device such as a mobile phone or a computer. The information from the pen can be put into a number of applications, such as an e-mail, a fax or a message for a mobile phone. 'I am really very excited about the pen. It is very intuitive and is able to take handwritten notes and transform that information digitally in such an unobtrusive way that the user would not need to change the way he writes,' said Ms Brigance. The Anoto pen helps FedEx save time as data captured by the pen is transmitted in real time via GPRS to FedEx processing hubs without having to be manually duplicated by FedEx staff. The result is a streamlined information flow, considerably less paper waste and heightened efficiency and speed for both FedEx staff and customers. The second part of the wireless solution involves the FedEx PowerPad, a PC-based handheld with Bluetooth technology and an embedded 2D scanner. FedEx couriers will be able to scan information off packages and capture signatures using the PowerPad. The captured data will be loaded immediately onto the FedEx network via a cellular data network such as GPRS or CDMA, so couriers can confirm signature proof of delivery. 'Couriers will no longer need to return to their vans to upload package information or refer to manuals for additional shipping and service information,' said Ms Brigance. The PowerPad, she said, will slowly replace a proprietary handheld device FedEx has been using since 1980. 'We have been using our Enhanced SuperTracker handheld scanning device and on-finger ring bar-code scanners for package information, but the technology is outdated; it does not have a 2D scanner and does not support wireless'. She said the company was testing the Anoto pen and PowerPad wireless solution with select customers and will deploy it across Asia in June. The new information delivery system will replace all SuperTracker devices, taking between two to three years to deploy globally. WRITE ON FedEx is spending about US$1.3 billion a year on improving its IT capabilities The new wireless solution uses a Bluetooth-equipped digital pen and a wireless pocket PC Latest equipment will take two to three years to deploy globally