Chatsworth Adopts The 'ULTRA 6039' For Sophisticated Supply Chain Applications

Chatsworth Settlement Trustees the trading arm of Chatsworth House and Estate, has adopted the Paxar Monarch® Pathfinder® Ultra® Platinum 6039™ (“Ultra 6039”) one-piece data terminal and printer solution for its advanced supply chain and stock take applications.

Chatsworth farm shop

Chatsworth is one of Britain’s best loved historic houses and estates attracting thousands of visitors every year. Everything you can buy at Chatsworth reflects the exceptional quality of the house, collection and estate. The estate’s four gift shops sell everything from books and china to art and furniture, with proceeds from every sale going towards the upkeep of the Chatsworth Estate. The Chatsworth farm shop has become a vital part of the local agricultural community supporting local farmers, market gardeners and small producers. The gift shops and farm shop attract millions of visitors each year, both holiday makers and local residents, and in 2005 had a combined turnover of approximately £8M.

Paxar has been supplying retail solutions to Chatsworth since 1992 when they first used the original Pathfinder® series printers for its product and shelf labelling. Chatsworth has since adopted the third generation Pathfinder® – the Ultra 6039, for use in more sophisticated applications. In addition to scanning, collecting data, printing and applying labels, the Ultra 6039 has Windows CE.NET programming and touch screen technology providing more:

  • Programming flexibility;
  • Connectivity;
  • Security through encryption;
  • Language capabilities and graphics; and
  • Speed - faster processing for increased productivity

Chatsworth farm shopThere are thousands of product lines between Chatsworth’s farm shop and gift shops. With this amount of high-turnover stock, there is a need for an all encompassing handheld solution. The Ultra 6039 is adaptable to Chatsworth’s needs for different applications ranging from labelling warehouse shelves, to half yearly stock takes, to providing daily stock reports and re-stocking functions. The compatibility of the Ultra 6039 with the existing epos software used by Chatsworth has allowed them to tailor its use of the handheld solution for these functions and more, and greatly increased worker productivity, improved data accuracy and minimised human error.

There is also scope for Chatsworth to use the Ultra 6039 for stock deliveries and check off orders in real-time directly to the handheld solution, as opposed to manual methods where the chance of human error is greatly increased. The Ultra 6039 is also RF (radio frequency) ready ensuring a seamless upgrade when Chatsworth makes the transition to the new technology.

Andrew Flemming, Trading Accounts Manager for Chatsworth Settlement Trustees said today: “We have had a very good relationship with Paxar over the years and the Pathfinder series has been invaluable for the farm shop warehouse pricing and stock taking. However, when the time came to replace the existing scanners and the Ultra 6039 was demonstrated, immediately we could see the potential for their use both at the farm shop and the house shops. The use of Windows CE on the 6039 has enabled us to programme different modules linked to our epos system and we have extended their functionality not only for shelf edge and product pricing and stocktaking but also for daily stock replenishment, stock deliveries and stock ageing reports.

“The 6039s are now an essential part of our business and will become even more so with advent of RF in our shops and warehouses.”

Max Tatford, Marketing Manager at Paxar commented: “Paxar has been working with Chatsworth for over ten years now and know the business thoroughly. As the Chatsworth’s operations have expanded, the Ultra 6039 has been the ideal solution for its supply chain needs. We’re delighted that Chatsworth is now taking full advantage of the programming capabilities of the Ultra 6039 for use in many more advanced functions. ”