CEWE Automates Production Workflows With Zebra Technologies' Fixed Industrial Scanning Solution

German photographic processing manufacturer uses fixed industrial scanning and Aurora™ software to read up to 22,000 barcode scans hourly, delivering around 60,000 customer orders daily

Zebra Technologies Corporation, an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge, today announced that manufacturer CEWE has achieved automated, high-speed, reliable, and accurate scanning of up to 22,000 barcodes per hour with Zebra’s fixed industrial scanning and Aurora software solution, optimising its operational efficiencies to deliver about 60,000 customer orders per day.

CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA is a photographic processing manufacturer headquartered in Oldenburg, Germany with several production sites across the country as well as in five other European cities including Warwick, England. The company sells a broad range of high-quality customisable photo products so when customers want to create personalised mementos, they upload their photos and CEWE prints and delivers their unique photo books.

Due to software protection requirements and the custom-made nature of these items, creating accurate photo books is critical for good customer service. CEWE needed an automated, accurate, verification scanning solution to read barcodes during photo book machine production at its plant at Germering, near Munich, Germany.

CEWE turned to its long-term Zebra specialist partner, CSG Computersysteme GmbH for a solution that would deliver the required outcomes. CSG recommended Zebra’s FS40 fixed industrial scanner and Aurora software solution for its performance, reliability, and flexibility. During deployment, Zebra’s Aurora software made it easy to configure and install the scanner’s autonomous smart camera as it has all the intelligence needed on-board.

“CSG recommended Zebra for this project as we had a very specific need for a best-in-class, high-speed fixed industrial scanner and application for our photo book machine,” said Daniel Pergelt, Head of Operational IT, CEWE. “This application is all about reading reliability and speed. The FS40 has proved its capability to deliver 100% accurate first-time, every-time data capture, even at the high speeds of our production line.”

At CEWE’s Germering plant, 11,000 sheets run through the high-gloss photo book machine every hour, and there are two barcodes marking the start and end of each page. Zebra’s FS40 fixed industrial scanner sends the captured barcode data via serial interface to CEWE’s system as an extra check, helping ensure the right pages are being organised into the correct photo book. Now, up to 22,000 barcode scans are carried out hourly, delivering approximately 60,000 customer orders daily.

“Zebra and its partners are focused on providing fixed industrial scanning solutions to give customers a competitive edge and support their growth,” said Rudolf Schambeck, Senior Channel Manager, Machine Vision and Imaging Specialist, Zebra Technologies. “These solutions are unlocking new productivity, efficiency, and accuracy gains for manufacturers across a range of sectors including automotive, pharmaceutical, food and beverage.”

This project’s success and positive feedback means CEWE can deploy the solution at other production sites in the future.

Key Takeaways

• German photographic processing manufacturer CEWE has automated its production processes using Zebra’s FS40 fixed industrial scanner and Aurora software solution, delivering performance, reliability, and flexibility.
• The solution achieves up to 22,000 barcode scans hourly and delivers around 60,000 customer orders daily.
• For more information about CEWE’s use case by reading the case study.