| Case Study: On-line Personalization of Remote Controls. |
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| A manufacturer of replacement TV remote controls is using a Technifor laser marking system to produce thousands of differently configured units in a range of batch sizes. This remarkable flexibility has helped make Wallis Universal a lean, profitable manufacturing company and arguably the world leader in its field. Mass Production in Batches of One! Headquartered in Meximieux, France, CM Investments - trading as Wallis Universal - has created a retailing phenomenon for its ‘universal’ replacement TV remote controls. The company has developed a way of combining the powerful sales and marketing reach of the Internet with the flexibility of on-demand manufacturing. Customers anywhere in the world can place their orders on the Wallis website, and whether it’s a request for 1 or 1000-off, the cost to Wallis to produce each unit is the same. Philippe Wallis, son of company founder Charles, explains: “Our secret is modular manufacturing,” he states. “We estimate there are around 300,000 different devices on the market that require remote controls - TVs, VCRs, DVDs, etc – and we can make any of the controls from just a handful of different blank units designed by my father and made to our specification in the Far-East.” Part Marking To mark the different units, Wallis Universal employs a Technifor TD410 compact laser marking system incorporated into a small, self-contained manufacturing cell, operated by one person and engineered by Wallis - Philippe is a software engineer - with the assistance of technicians from Technifor SAS in Miribel. Wallis has developed a suite of proprietary software, Remote Research, Remote Draw, Remote Expolorer and Remote Maker that provides a fully integrated, distributed environment for the entire marketing and fulfilment process from product presentation, universally available powerfull searching capabilities, to distributed order handling and fully automated on-demand production with embedded programm loading, engraving and personalisation of the product. Remote maker has been specifically engineered to take full advantage of the Technifor technology in order to maximize production flexibility, efficiency and more importantly engraving quality. The marking process is initiated by printing a list of orders placed overnight on the company’s website. When the bar codes on these orders are scanned, a picture of the requested unit appears on a screen next to the marking station. It doesn’t matter if the order is for 50 of the same products - the operator sees 50 of the images on the screen - or 50 different remotes. The appropriate blank is inserted into the system where it is marked by the Technifor laser with the appropriate symbols, shapes and serial number. The Technifor TD410 is an air-cooled unit with a low maintenance fibre-coupled diode. An adjustable head with 360° orientation allows for greater application flexibility and versatility. The laser module and head measures just 770mm x 140mm x 236mm high, making for easy production line integration or use as a simple dedicated marking system. Easy job programming is facilitated by user-friendly marking T700W Windows® software, allowing users to mark text, barcodes, Data Matrix™ codes and logos. Traceability data, such as date, time, serialisation and shift codes can all be interfaced with external databases. Technifor products differ from general engravers in many ways, the principal ones being: speed; a 5mm focus area and the ability to mark non-flat surfaces. “Despite the uneven contours of the remote control unit, the laser marking takes just seconds,” declares Philippe. Once complete, the remote is removed from the system and dropped into a blister pack together with a copy of the invoice. A label is also printed as the unit is being marked. “This particular cell can produce 400 remotes a day. We also have other cells designed for higher output, but they all work on the same principal, allowing us to create and despatch as few as one single remote control to one person.” Founded in 1962, the family-owned Wallis business originally manufactured styli for audio hi-fi systems. When CDs replaced vinyl, the company switched to producing remote controls – like its original product, one that often needs to be replaced. “When you think about the vast number of remote controls in the world, it’s easy to see that there is a good market for replacements. Because the OEM’s charge such high prices for a replacement, there’s a demand for a ‘universal’ remote control that fulfills all the functions of the original at a fractio of the cost,” says Philippe. “The change from making styli to remote controls occurred over a couple of years, and it allowed us to ship to the same 10,000-strong client list, which predominantly consists of retail outlets around the world.” Wallis Universal has a database of around two-thirds of all the different remote controls in existence worldwide. When a request is made for one not listed on the company database, an original is sourced so that Wallis can learn to replicate its features and functions. Astonishingly, the company finds an average of 50 new remotes a week. “The manufacturers do not want us to copy, so they constantly change,” says Philippe. “It’s a real challenge to keep up.” Among the company’s prestigious clients are Carrefour in France and Radio Shack in the US, but the company also exploits many lucrative niche markets, such as hospitals, for example, which often have remotes with only channel up/channel down buttons, or extra-large buttons. Similarly, hotels tend to buy very advanced, complex TVs, with remotes containing over a hundred keys. “From seven different kinds of blanks, we can manufacture any remote control on the market, simply by reprogramming them on-the-fly and marking them,” says Philippe. “This can be done from a sample database – you can install a production line anywhere, and it can all be managed over the Internet.” The company currently has three production lines in France, two in Italy and one in Germany and there are plans for lines in Spain and England. “We maintain a minimum stock of blanks, basing our predictions for tomorrow’s production on yesterday’s demand. An order is placed and the finished remote control is dispatched the next day.” Yet, despite this rapid turnaround, Wallis prides itself on quality – its return rate is just 0.03% – including errors in orders. “It’s just a matter of using the right technology and being organised,” says Philippe.
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