Ambev
Since it's May, that means it's time to start planning my annual Cinco de Mayo bash at the local Chi Chi's restaurant. Granted, I'm not Mexican, but that's no reason to pass up a chance to get together with friends and get that cerveza flowing.

Speaking of beer brewed south of the border, to visit one of the latest companies to introduce Palm computing into their production line, we need to journey a bit further south than Mexico, to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lying on the Tropic of Capricorn, Sao Paulo city, pictured in Figure A, is Brazil's main industrial and business center, as well as the capital of Sao Paulo state.

FIGURE A

Sao Paulo has a population of over 15 million people.

The industrially developed, culturally diverse state of Sao Paulo is home to Ambev (at http://www.ambev.com.br), the third largest beer manufacturer in the world. Their portfolio includes such brands as Antarctica, Brahma, Caracu, Skol, Carlsberg, and Miller Genuine Draft. An ad for Skol appears in Figure B.

FIGURE B

Ambev is the maker of Skol Cerveja Pilsen. Click picture for a larger image.

Ambev has incorporated Palm handheld technology to simplify the data entry processes in key stages of its beverage production. Ambev makes use of over 300 Palm IIIe handhelds at 100 bottling lines throughout Brazil.

A special application was developed for Ambev by Palm developer, Compusol Informatica (at http://www.compusol.com.br). According to Rodolfo Testa, president of Compusol, "Compusol's objectives were twofold: increase productivity and improve quality."

Compusol chose the Palm IIIe as the most adequate device to meet Ambev's needs because of its common data collection capabilities. "Palm handhelds are tools that offer infinite possibilities and are capable of capturing most any task with amazing mobility and efficiency," commented Testa.

To design the software, Compusol needed to find a way to create an interface with Excel and to define how the operator was going to interact with Ambev's quality system. They actually went ahead and added an extra button to the Palm IIIe to conduct file sharing and data transfer into the system.