“We had significant issues with batteries ever since we switched to the new M/A-COM P7100 radios. The batteries just lasted a few hours,” stated Sgt. Gabe Trevino of the San Antonio Police Department.

The San Antonio Fire Department was also experiencing problems with their radio runtimes. At a recent brush fire, responders went through several radios before finding one that had a working battery.

The inability of the battery to power the radio for a full shift was creating significant issues for San Antonio’s first responders. Traditional chemistry batteries and chargers were unavailable in the marketplace to meet the extreme demands of the users. 

In response to San Antonio’s request for a solution, Global Technology Systems Inc.  developed a full suite of batteries and chargers to meet San Antonio’s requirements for full shift operation of their critical communication devices. These products were extensively tested and were relied upon when San Antonio was host to the NCAA^® Final Four^® in April 2008 at the Alamodome. They are currently being rolled out to all personnel with P7100 radios.

“With Honeywell^® Batteries, we now have a product that has solved our longevity issue dealing with batteries. Since deploying Honeywell^® Batteries on the streets the complaints about radios not lasting have stopped,” said Sgt. Trevino.

Battery

The Honeywell^® Batteries HMA2104-LIP represents the first-ever delivery of innovative lithium polymer batteries and chargers in a public safety application. The HMA2104-LIP relies upon new state-of-the-art Neocell^® Lithium Polymer cells to provide a minimum of 3600 mAh capacity. The result is a battery that provides San Antonio’s users with 20+ hours of run time, insuring that their radio is properly powered through their entire shift. Additionally, the batteries are built to meet Intrinsically Safe standards insuring that when used with an Intrinsically Safe radio, the device is safe to use in environments where flammable gases or vapors may be present.

Chargers

The various usage profiles of San Antonio’s First Responders required a number of charging options. Each is designed to support not only the Honeywell^® Batteries Lithium Polymer battery, but also any older batteries that might remain in the field. Global Technology Systems Inc. currently offers a Modular Multi-Chemistry Charger, a Four Bay Battery Only Charger, and an in-vehicle DC Charger.

A large retailer of Stationery and gifts has over 8,000 employees spread throughout the US armed with Intermec InfoLink devices. These employees work from their homes, and their job is to travel from store to store checking inventory levels for products.

We worked closely with the customer to cost effectively manage the logistics of getting 8,000 plus batteries into the hands of 8,000 plus employees spread throughout the US. In addition to offering the customer a higher capacity battery at a significant cost savings, we undertook all the logistics and shipped the batteries directly to their employees’ homes. Using a mix of UPS and US Postal Service we were able to very cost effectively manage the shipping costs while alleviating them of the aggravation of individually packing and shipping thousands of parcels. Additionally, by including complete instructions on how to replace the battery and properly recycle the old battery, we dramatically reduced the number of calls placed to our customer’s Help Desk.

One of the world’s largest logistics companies transports more than 15 million packages a day. In order to insure that each of those packages is delivered on time to the correct location, they rely on an incredibly sophisticated package tracking system, the last step of which is often the package being scanned at your door by a driver with a proprietary Motorola^® device.

As the only customer for this Motorola^® device, our customer was in a situation where they were dependent on Motorola^® to insure a timely supply of replacement batteries. After being forced to wait over 24 weeks for replacement batteries, the customer determined that they needed a second source to insure they have a timely supply of batteries as well as to prevent their devices from becoming obsolete if Motorola^® decided to discontinue the battery.

The portable printer that a leading package delivery company used in several of their hubs had reached end of life. The OEM notified the customer that they would no longer support their devices and that their only option was to purchase new devices. With their peak season approaching the company knew they would not have time for a roll-out of new equipment and needed some battery solution to keep their business running productively during “peak”. Their batteries were running less than an hour before they needed to be recharged. They had less than 60 days to come up with a solution. Our engineering team evaluated the battery trying to figure out the quickest way to a solution.

Making a new battery wasn’t an option because they needed something ASAP. Our engineers figured out a way to “rebuild” the customer’s existing batteries. We coordinated with them to have them ship us thousands of old, close to useless, batteries which we completely rebuilt using higher quality components than the OEM originally used. We were able to rebuild these batteries in less than 30 days solving our customer’s crisis and allowing them to plan their new equipment purchases based on their own time table and not the equipment manufacturers.

Everything on this online retailer’s website can be found in large distribution centers around the country, some larger than 1 million square feet. Their larger facilities have 600 workers using Symbol mobile computers each shift (most run 24 hours) to pick, pack and ship thousands of orders a day. Unfortunately the Symbol batteries were only getting users around 3-4 hours of run time before they needed to be recharged. The time it took for employees to swap out the battery and return to their work station was estimated by our customer to take as long as 40 minutes. This obvious loss of productivity was not only because of the size of some of the facilities, but for some it was an opportunity to get a soda, have a cigarette, talk to a friend, etc. Not only did this decrease productivity it also impacted morale. Additionally, employees, who receive additional compensation based upon the number of scans they perform during a shift, viewed the time wasted swapping batteries as taking money out of their pockets and were frustrated with management for not finding a solution.

The short term solution was to use Honeywell^® Batteries which got them their full shift capability. Also, after conducting a site survey, we determined that based on their user profile they would be better suited using a Li Ion battery as opposed to the NiCd batteries they were using. Over time they upgraded their devices and are now getting 12 hours of run time from their Honeywell^® Batteries Li Ion batteries.