On this episode I was joined by Ilhan Kolko of ProGlove. Ilhan is the Chief Product Office and President of North America at ProGlove. I had the pleasure of catching up with him after playing around with my own demo MARK Display. We discussed the device, how ProGlove has found such success and what’s in store for the future. You can also read my thoughts on the ProGlove MARK Display below.

Key Takeaways

• ProGlove is focused on helping workers take advantage of Industry 4.0 and utilize these technologies to empower them and make their lives easier. Their main product is the ProGlove scanner which comes in a few different variations and allows workers to be totally hands free when it comes to scanning barcodes. The device itself is mounted into a hand sleeve that conforms to your hand and allows you to move freely. With this technology you can truly be hands free because there is no need to consistently reference a device or use a hand to pull a trigger on a scanner. The trigger itself is build right in the sleeve and is done by squeezing  your thumb against your index finger. The product has developed in such a great way due to the focus on this being their core product and consistently striving for perfection.
• Initially the ProGlove was conceived by a group of engineers who wanted to eliminate efficiencies for workers who have to scan to complete their jobs. They took a human focused approach and really pushed that forward into developing the ProGlove device which completely improves the human experience of scanning. The overall numbers are targeting to help reduce scanning times of 4 to 6 seconds which multiplied over several thousand scans a day is a huge savings. However, the time outside of the scan time is really the big savings that I see. If you look at the relationship a worker has with their device like a RF gun style scanner there is a constant need to touch that device. Not only are they touching it and using it to scan but there are moments when they forget what location they should be at or they get distracted and now have to pick the device back up to reference. With the MARK Display version of ProGlove everything they need is right there on their hand so they are eliminating all that other time that is consumed referencing the device as well as scanning.
• On the back end their is also a robust software platform that can help you understand analytics that the device is generating. Ilhan explains all of the different ways that this can be utilized. It is able to understand movements and even proximity to other workers. This data can then be translated into a BI system and utilized to understand performance of scanning as well as other metrics. Additionally, the proximity alerts are helpful in understanding where you may have congestion or where you may have issues regarding social distancing. Not only will it alert management but it can also give a special alert to the worker right on the device itself.

Listen to the episode below and then watch the video to see my experience with the ProGlove MARK Display.

My ProGlove Experience

I was lucky enough for ProGlove to send me a demo unit of the ProGlove MARK Display with a Samsung Android phone. I had previously had ProGlove on the show and also got to see the ProGlove devices on one of my Procensis visits but was excited to get a chance to really play with it.

On hand the setup is incredibly light and feels more like a second skin than wearing a device at all. I have worn wrist devices before and this is far more comfortable. The sleeve wraps around your hand and is easy to adjust to get to the comfort level that you need. From a weight perspective it is not much heavier than wearing a watch so it becomes pretty unnoticeable after wearing it for some time. The other comfort factor is the trigger placement. It is placed right between the thumb and index finger as is very comfortable to squeeze for it to work.

From a setup perspective, I was ready to go out of the box. I opened the ProGlove app on the Samsung device and clicked one button which brought a barcode for me to scan to pair the device. It was incredibly simple and just like that I was ready to do my “work” with the device. From there it was just following a series of tasks that were setup in the demo but from that experience I could tell how easy it would be to get a worker setup and going in a high volume picking role.

The other feature that really stood out to me was the ability of the scanner to also take photos. This can be done by requesting to do so in the app or if a series of actions occur it can automatically prompt the user to take a photo. This feature can be utilized for QA processes where defects are being recorded or it can even be used to increase barcode integrity by triggering a user to take a photo of the barcode when it fails to scan multiple times.

Overall I would highly recommend the ProGlove MARK Display for any application where scanning is needed. It is incredibly easy to use and will help to increase efficiencies immediately. The reduction in time from not having to touch or reference a handheld device will give you a huge cost savings and boost the productivity of your workers. It will also help to retain employees by giving them the best tools to do their job successfully and further eliminate tech frustrations.

Tell me your ProGlove experience in the comments below!

For more information on ProGlove head to their site here.

To connect with Ilhan find him on LinkedIn here.