Copper Mountain is a premier ski resort based in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. With more than 2,500 acres of ski terrain and 14,000 skiers entering the ski lifts each day, Copper Mountain relies heavily on quick and efficient scanning operations.
When tasked with finding a mobile device to use in their lift lines, they wanted only the best. They worked with Honeywell partner SK&T to look at various solutions for not only their lift lines, but their retail and rental locations as well. Ultimately, they selected a solution from Honeywell.
“The Honeywell solution was above all competitors in each of the aspects we were benchmarking,” said Michael Hurwitch, IT Director, Copper Mountain.
Copper Mountain deployed the Honeywell CN70a for its lift operations, scanning skier lift tickets as they enter the chair lift.
“We see about 14,000 skiers a day, and each skier enters the lift an average of 8-10 times,” said Hurwitch. “That equals 140,000 scans each day. Chairs come every six seconds and we need to ensure they are full. That is why selecting the fastest scanning solution possible was of the upmost importance.”
Todd Palmer, IT systems administrator at Copper Mountain, said the CN70a outperformed competitive test products by far, and to date they’ve seen impressive results.
“For our lift access operations, the CN70a was much lighter than previous scanners, and with each operator doing about 10,000 scans in one day, weight does have a factor,” Palmer said.
Battery life also played a huge factor in their technology upgrade.
“With our previous solution, when our battery life got down to 30% or less, the handhelds would start to drop off of our wireless network. As a result, we couldn’t complete pass verification, and were at risk for losing revenue. Because of this, we had to change our batteries twice a day if not more,” said Palmer.“Now our batteries last all day without needing to be changed.”
Palmer also noted the ruggedness of the CN70a is perfectly suited for their extreme weather conditions.
“The devices have held up extremely well in our climate,” said Palmer. “At 10,000 feet in elevation and temperatures ranging anywhere from 45 degrees Fahrenheit to -45 degrees Fahrenheit, they work efficiently every single day.”
Copper Mountain is also using the Honeywell SG20 USB wired scanners in their retail and rental locations.
“The SG20 scanners can operate at nearly any angle and can even read damaged barcodes,” said Palmer. “We are also using the CN70a for retail inventory in the off season. The imagers are impressive –we’re able to process much faster scans, with scan times 2-3x faster than previous devices.”
Overall, Copper Mountain is extremely pleased with their choice to go with Honeywell.
“To us, the Honeywell devices are clearly better than comparable devices,” said Hurwitch. “By using this solution, we’ve been able to vastly improve our overall customer experience by getting them back on the slopes faster, which is always our ultimate goal.”
