Salvage Yards Gain Productivity Benefit with GRiD’s Exclusive Pen and Display Computer
FREMONT, Calif. — March 11, 1991 — Salvage yards are seldom thought of as innovative users of high technology.
But an advanced computer from GRiD Systems Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tandy Corp., is rapidly changing the image.
This exclusive, new computer, a handheld pen-and-display computer called GRiDPAD, is becoming a big hit at salvage yards where it is being used primarily to inventory and price salvageable car and truck parts.
The salvage companies are buying the computers from Hollander Inc. of Minneapolis, a GRiD value-added reseller (VAR). Hollander developed a software package for salvage yards that runs on the MS-DOS compatible GRiDPAD, a 4.5 pound computer that uses an electronic pen instead of a keyboard to enter data. It is the only pen-based computer shipping in North America and Europe.
David Fink, vice president of Benwood Auto Parts salvage yard in Baldwinsville, N.Y., calls GRiDPAD ''a great error reducer and time saver. This has become a high-tech business and we have to have advanced computer technologies to survive.
''The days of the junkyard dog are gone. In the old days you bought a car cheap and threw it in a field. A customer would want something and you'd say, 'Yeah, go get it.' ''
In the 1970s the industry put parts into warehouses and in the 1980s began installing computerized inventory control.
Peter Largen, Hollander vice president for operations, said his company has been computerizing the salvage industry nationwide for inventory control over the last several years by marketing its inventory control software for multi-user desktop PC's. Hollander turned to GRiDPAD as a way to have walking or standing workers inventory parts on vehicles as they are hauled into the yard.
''The industry was interested in portable methods of inventory management and GRiDPAD fit the need better than standard handheld data collectors,'' said Largen.
He said that salvage yard owners have been very impressed with the GRiDPAD and its potential. Following a recent, initial Hollander promotion for the product, 70 salvage yard owners ordered GRiDPAD's with Hollander software.
''And they ordered sight unseen and sent us the checks,'' he said.
Largen believes that salvage yards constitute a huge potential market for GRiDPAD. There are about 12,000 salvage yards in the United States and Canada, and already 750 of them are using Hollander software. His company expects to expand sales soon when it adds new features to the software.
Employees at Benwood and other salvage yards nationwide now simply touch GRiDPAD's screen with an attached pen to check off parts and enter them into inventory. No keyboard is needed. And the battery-powered GRiDPAD operates for up to eight hours before the battery needs recharging.
''It's super,'' said Fink, noting that GRiDPAD works like paper but communicates and edits like a computer. The battery-powered unit can easily be carried around a salvage yard from car to car. Benwood processes some 750 cars a year.
He explained that ''an '85 Dodge Charger comes in, for example, and you check off which parts are good as you walk around the car.''
His workers formerly used long paper sheets to list parts and their condition and price. Their writing sometimes was hard to read and errors were made. The data also had to be later keyed into a terminal at the office, a time consuming process that sometimes didn't let potential customers know that a needed part was in stock.
Fink said that the GRiDPAD computer also can tell workers how many similar parts already are in the warehouse and which ones need to be taken off the vehicle. They can use the GRiDPAD to make identification tags for the parts that will be warehoused and then load the collected data into Benwood's central computer system from the PC-compatible GRiDPAD.
Fink said GRiDPAD also will be used in the field by car buyers to determine if Benwood needs certain vehicles for parts, or has a plentiful supply, and how much to pay for them.
Largen added that Hollander's promotion of the GRiDPAD at a trade show had a major secondary benefit: ''Having GRiDPAD in our booth created tremendous interest and added to our reputation as the market leader. GRiDPAD is helping us sell our software.''
Stan Schiller, GRiD's senior director and head of GRiD's VAR program, said: ''This salvage yard application shows some of the huge market potential for GRiDPAD. This is only one relatively small market. There are hundreds of others like it where VAR's can make significant sales with GRiDPAD.
''GRiDPAD, a truely unique computer, will have a tremendous impact on markets surved by VAR's because it is designed for people who can't use computers now because they're on their feet all day. These potential users include public safety inspectors, nurses, transportation workers, utility crews and market researchers.''
GRiD manufactures and markets laptop, pen and display and desktop computers, electronic mail and networking systems. GRiD, which has a worldwide direct sales and support organization, demonstrates products at more than 50 GRiD Systems Centers and sells products through application-specific value added resellers.
GRiD is located at 47211 Lakeview Blvd., Fremont, Calif. 94538. GRiD's VAR program is headquartered at 1950 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 2019, Dallas, Texas 75207, 800/321-GRiD. GRiD also has offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Sweden, France, Belgium and Denmark.
GRiD is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tandy Corp., Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy is a leading manufacturer and distributor of consumer electronics and computers. A New York Stock Exchange company, Tandy has sales in excess of $4 billion annually. GRiDPAD is a registered trademark of GRiD Systems Corp.
CONTACT:
GRiD Systems Corp., Fremont
Bob Goligoski, 415/656-4700