A storage bin that phones home when it needs to be refilled has been developed by a company in Sussex.

The software for the e-bins was devised by Brighton-based Waer Systems for Hurst Green Plastics, a firm that specialises in parts management systems.

The "thinking" bins automatically send out a signal that is processed by Waer's BinLinx software system which alerts the company using the parts and tells the supplier to send more.

Waer is one of the highly successful technology companies based at the Innovation Centre at Sussex University.

It also has a base at Burgess Hill and an operation in the United States.

The system is used by manufacturers who have to stock hundreds of parts from a range of suppliers.

The system means they need never run out of any parts and the production of anything, from aircraft to computers, need never be stopped for the sake of a screw.

The storeman no longer has to physically check each parts bin at each location to see if it requires re-stocking.

In organisations like the Airbus UK wing assembly plants at Broughton, north Wales, and Filton, Bristol, this could involve 24,500 bins in 14 different locations.

In future, software will do the job and the bin itself will automatically signal a replenishment order when stock get low. The system can either print out or email the order.

Waer and Hurst Green demonstrated the system at the Paris Air Show last month.

It has already won wide acclaim for the success of its installation at the Airbus UK assembly plant and was a winner of the chairman's bronze award for innovation in 1999.

Managing director Will Scott said: "Supply chains involving multiple suppliers of large volumes of small components are notoriously difficult and expensive to manage but Waer can deliver a new level of efficiency."

The e-bin is made of two standard dispensers, one on top of the other.

Each bin has its own bag of parts.

The lower bin is the one in use and the upper one is the reserve.

A sliding floor is pulled out when the in-use bag is empty and the reserve bag falls into the lower bin.

This movement activates the signal and out goes the message for more parts to be delivered.