Handheld computers aren't just for storing phone numbers anymore. After years of proving their worth as communication and planning tools, large companies are moving the devices into new areas.

Even with IT budgets stagnant and little investment in hardware during the last year, handheld computers have flown off the shelves. And buyers are doing more than keeping digital calendars. A recent survey by comScore Media Metrix says more than 10 million Americans regularly check E-mail or surf the Web via handheld devices. An InStat/ MDR report shows shipments of wireless LAN equipment rising 15% in the last quarter alone, from 3.37 million units to 3.89 million, and predicts that shipments for 2002 will be up 75% from 2001, to 16.9 million units from 9.6 million.

Companies using handheld computers as expensive day planners need to catch up. Smart IT managers around the country are finding innovative ways to use these devices to improve their businesses.

Extra Lettuce, Hold The Palm
Sometimes, a handheld computer can mean the difference between a piping-hot lunch and a cold, clammy mess -- or between wasted labor and efficient business processes.

Every Burger King Corp. restaurant has up to 24 cabinets that hold ingredients for the chain's various meals. These cabinets are interchangeable, so if a new burger promotion starts or the popularity of fish sandwiches skyrockets, store managers can adjust what's held in each one.

But the cabinets aren't just slots in a wall to hold food. Each one is programmable, and it knows what kind of food is in it, when the food was inserted, and how long it stays fresh. That way, for example, the oldest usable tray of cooked burger patties will display a green light, meaning that employees should use those before they get cold, while newer trays shine yellow, for "Wait." And if too much time passes, the old cabinets will shine a red light, indicating that the meat is too stale.

Managers would program these cabinets using a row of eight buttons and following complicated instructions from a manual. "It was a very involved ordeal," taking up to 15 minutes to program a single cabinet, says John Reckert, VP of strategic operations at Burger King.

It was clear the process needed changing. Through his own experience as a Palm user, Reckert knew how useful the devices could be, so his team set out to find a way to use them to program the cabinets. Last year, they turned to Integrated Control Corp., which developed a simple application to run on the low-end Palm m100.

Now, Burger King managers need only look at a graphic of the cabinets on their Palms and write down a few letters of data to indicate what's in each slot. The handheld is in sync with the cabinet via a serial cable, and the job is finished in 15 seconds. The benefits are numerous, Reckert says. Burger King has cut way down on programming errors, improving the restaurants' food quality. And when the chain has a new promotion, district managers can easily reprogram cabinets in all of the stores they oversee.

Burger King has installed the Palm-programmed cabinets in all 500 company-owned restaurants, and Reckert is overseeing the transition for all 8,000 of its franchise restaurants. The company wouldn't disclose how much this cost.