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  • The Singapore Mint Deploys Palm OS® Platform Technology.

    Mobile Order Processing Solution by Singapore-based Sunderland Technologies speeds sales, cuts costs.

    The Singapore Mint, responsible for minting the nation's circulation coins, local coins and foreign commemorative coins, has deployed an innovative paperless order-taking system running on the Palm OS" platform to better manage customer demand at The Singapore Mint Collectibles Fair, held earlier this year. The company used Palm' m100 handheld computers, each running a Mobile Order Processing solution by Singapore-based Sunderland Technologies.

  • "We view our use of handheld computing technology from Palm and Sunderland Technologies as a success. We achieved our objectives - improved customer satisfaction and more effective inventory management."

    Ms. Stacey Lam
    Assistant General Manager, Marketing
    The Singapore Mint

    The Challenge
    The Singapore Mint decided to replace its paper-based sales and inventory management processes with a solution that would enable more effective management at the Fair.

    "Previous processes were very manual," said Stacey Lam, Assistant General Manager, Marketing, of The Singapore Mint. "We'd noted inconsistencies in inventory and order-taking, including duplication of stocks, lost orders and missing inventory.

    "With heavy retail demand expected at this year's Collectibles Fair, we sought more effective point-of-sale and inventory management," she said.

    The Solution
    Sunderland Technologies, a company that develops enterprise solutions on the Palm OS platform, customised the Mobile Order Processing solution. In customising the interface, Sunderland enabled order-taking for different types of coins and differentiation between members and non-members of The Singapore Mint.

    In addition, the interface was customised such that the sale items are pre-coded with the product description, making order-taking simple for the sales staff.

    According to Jeremy Lee, CEO of Sunderland Technologies, preserving ease-of-use was a key goal: "The combination of our intuitive Mobile Order Processing solution and Palm's easy-to-use handhelds meant that only one training session was required," he explained.

    The solution suited cramped retailing spaces, improved workflow speed, and most importantly, reduced operation costs.

    The Outcome
    The result for The Singapore Mint was better inventory management, improved sales performance and higher standards of service.

    "Sales staff each carried a Palm handheld, and were able to take orders on-the-spot," explained Ms. Lam.

    Once entered into the handheld, order details were 'beamed' to an on-site database server via one of six Clarinet Systems" infrared points located around the fair. Orders passed almost immediately to an inventory store, where they were collated and dispatched to the cashier counter for payment and collection by the customer.

    "We view our use of handheld computing technology from Palm and Sunderland Technologies as a success," stated Ms. Lam. "We achieved our objectives - improved customer satisfaction and more effective inventory management."

    "With the ease-of-use of Palm handhelds and Sunderland's innovative solution, we look toward extending its functionality at future retail events," concluded Ms. Lam.

    "Palm OS platform technology, such as Sunderland Technologies' Mobile Order Processing solution, is changing the way in which companies manage back-office processes, and providing powerful tools for enhancing front-office customer relationship management," said Frankie Liow, marketing manager, South Asia, Palm, Inc.

    "The innovative solutions being offered by our developer community are helping companies to generate new revenue streams and manage the cost of doing business," concluded Mr. Liow.

    About The Singapore Mint
    The Singapore Mint was established in 1968 to cater initially for Singapore's circulation coins requirement. It is a business unit of SembCorp Industries Ltd, which is a member of the Singapore Technologies Group.

    For over three decades, The Singapore Mint has made great progress and achieved many technical breakthroughs in the art of coin minting.

    Not only has The Singapore Mint made excellent impressions on coins and minted collectibles for the Singapore government, but it also has provided integrated services from designing to minting to marketing of coins for a diverse and eminent corporate clientele base in Singapore and more than a dozen countries worldwide.

    Today, The Singapore Mint is proud to be among the selected few in the world to incorporate several first-in-the-world, state-of-the art technologies into our products.

    About Sunderland Technologies
    Sunderland Technologies Pte Ltd, an associate company of Singapore mainboard listed Eastgate Technology Ltd, is a leading developer in wireless products and mobile enterprise applications/solutions for the mobile and handheld markets. Sunderland's portfolio of products include Palm' handheld clip-on devices, Smart Card applications, Bluetooth-enabled accessories and peripherals and customised wireless enterprise solutions designed and developed on the Palm OS". With its mission of making wireless computing a reality, Sunderland also offers value-added R&D services through the company's subsidiary Sunderland Technologies Labs. Other services include network infrastructure & management, global product distribution & licensing as well as a Helpdesk facility for product and IT support.

    For more information, visit: http://www.sunland-group.com.