HEKA Dental

November 10, 2022

Process optimization has eliminated wasted time and picking errors at Heka Dental

The production company Heka Dental designs and produces dental units, which are sold in Denmark and in most of the world. With the ambition to create competitive advantages, Heka Dental has entered a collaboration with the IT company Delfi Technologies to digitize the warehouse and optimize important work processes.

For many years, Heka Dental, founded in 1965, has produced dental units and supplied parts to dentists all over the world. Most of the units are sold abroad and consist of many different options. The company wanted to optimize workflows in the production and in the warehouse with a new, modern system that could also streamline time-consuming work processes.

Heka Dental has therefore implemented a new digital scanner solution consisting of Android handheld terminals (model: Delfi PM85) and customized software from Delfi Technologies. The new solution is fully integrated into the company’s ERP system and keeps track of all production stages as well as the company’s inventory. The inventory alone consists of up to 9,000 different small parts that are used in the production of the high-tech dental units.

"Delfi Technologies has converted our processes and current flows into digital solutions."

Gitte Nielsen, Production Manager, Heka Dental

Digitization creates competitive advantages

The collaboration with Delfi Technologies has helped Heka Dental digitize the company, where the new digital scanner solution has streamlined a wide range of important work processes with everything from scanning goods to the use of barcodes and label printing. Among other things, this has given the company the following advantages:

Better overview and planning
Elimination of wasted time
Substantial reduction in picking errors
Easier goods receipt
Faster item posting

– We have chosen to digitize our warehouse and processes to optimize and at the same time create competitive advantages for Heka Dental. Here, the new scanner solution helps us manage our production and stock, explains Gitte Nielsen, Production Manager at Heka Dental and continues:

– Delfi Technologies has converted our processes and current flows into digital solutions.

A more efficient receipt of goods

With the previous system, the company was missing a better overview of the goods receipt, so that wasted time could be eliminated, and goods received faster. The new solution has a goods receipt module in an app on the handheld terminals that Delfi Technologies has developed.

Warehouse workers can quickly use the handheld terminal to look up an item to find its exact location(s). In this way, it is easier to place new items in the correct locations.

– We can work far more efficiently in receiving goods, as we can quickly scan and register newly arrived goods as soon as they arrive at the gate. It has become easier to assign a location to goods in the warehouse, says Jimmi Thorup Andersen, who is IT Implementation Manager in the warehouse at Heka Dental.

On the handheld terminals, Heka Dental has an overview of all purchase orders and the solution also helps manage the planning of sales orders, which are now directly on the handheld terminals in a prioritized order, where urgent orders are always placed at the top.

Barcodes and labels create a precise overview

Staff members can also use the handheld terminals to print a label with associated barcode and product name. This barcode label is then affixed to the boxes to create a quick and precise overview.

Heka Dental uses BarTender label software to create barcodes and print labels with the exact information such as item numbers, serial numbers, etc.

If a staff member, by mistake, picks too many or the wrong goods, the handheld terminal will tell you that an error has occurred during picking. When an item is ready to be dispatched from the warehouse, the length, width and height are recorded via scanning of the associated barcode, and a shipping label is automatically printed so that it is ready for collection.

– We have been modernized with a solution that has made our daily life, structure and overview much better in both production and in the warehouse, says Jimmi Thorup Andersen.

The staff now also has gathered different communication channels in the handheld terminals. The personal work emails are associated with each handheld terminal, so staff must no longer check the computer for important emails. In addition, the staff members can now also handle telephone calls via the handheld terminal, and thereby the handheld terminal also replaces the previous mobile phones that were used.

About Heka Dental

Heka Dental A/S has since 1965 supplied units to dentists all over the world and is today the market-leading supplier of units to Scandinavia. The company is family-owned, and all production, development and administration take place in Denmark. Heka Dental adapts quality and design to the individual requirements of their customers. To ensure that the individual dentist receives the best possible guidance and information, delivery, installation and servicing are handled by an extensive and well-trained network of partners.