Customers from around the U.S. gathered the first week of May 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee, for A+W’s biennial User Conference to connect, network and learn from A+W employees, innovation experts and each other. A+W’s theme this year was “Innovating for Tomorrow.” A+W employees demonstrated how to work to “innovate software solutions that solve our customer’s toughest challenges,” according to Dennis Tiegs, COO, business unit, A+W Clarity.
A+W's innovation
According to the company, innovation initiatives at A+W are focused on the needs of the company's customers, allowing it to shape products, functions/features, supported systems, etc. A+W strives to develop software solutions, such as A+W Smart Companion, A+W iShape and A+W Smart Delivery, which meet its customer’s needs, increase competitive advantage/productivity and generate greater output/value with the same amount of input.
Sebastian Dick, manager of A+W Clarity Innovation, and Steve Mason, director of R&D, allowed attendees to take a dive into A+W’s innovation initiatives, starting with “A+W Smart Companion,” which is scanning software that acts as a mobile information terminal, allowing employees to display locations of order components and contents of racks.
A+W Smart Companion spawned seven new initiatives, each of which aim to enable employees to work more efficiently starting in the front office and ending at delivery. The first of these A+W Smart Companion initiatives rolls out at GlassBuild 2023.
The presentations
A+W customers learned about initiatives around A+W Smart Delivery, A+W iShape, Augmented Reality (AR), etc. Dick gave the audience an interactive look at the future of rack and inventory tracking on the shop floor with artificial reality goggles. His hands-on demonstration was meant to highlight how A+W is looking at the future to address bottlenecks and information gaps on the shop floor.
A+W presentations also focused on issues facing flat glass fabricators, including IT threats and security, customer service, capacity planning, and shipping logistics. One of the company's goals as a software company is to educate customers and prospects as well as provide actionable information that promotes increased education, improves our customer’s optimization, decreases bottlenecks, and lends insight toward an exciting future.
To find out more about A+W’s software solutions, contact Josh Rudd or Chris Kammer.
