If you&#;re a manufacturer reaching the stage where pointing your finger at your inventory and counting it is losing its reliability, it might be time to consider beefing up your inventory management rules.
The company is the world’s best Advanced Barcode Scanner supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
Introducing inventory management with barcode scanning &#; the quickest and most reliable way of monitoring your inventory movements.
Without barcodes, you&#;re at risk of miscalculating your stock and going into negative inventory or losing track of the expiration date of your items, which can have serious consequences for your business.
That&#;s why, in this article, we&#;re going to explore barcode management, how it can improve your business and what needs to be done for implementation.
Barcodes are a method of visually representing data in a machine-readable form to quickly identify items and track inventory.
However, inventory management with barcode scanning isn&#;t just for tracking products, it also allows you to implement them:
Traditionally, a barcode came in the form of a square or rectangular print containing a series of vertical and parallel black lines and white spaces of different widths. Once scanned, they translate and relay information to the user.
Barcodes come in two different forms:
But what exactly is the difference between the popular choices of these two types of barcodes?
There are many different barcode types, different in visual as well as what kind of information they store and what their main use cases are.
A 1D barcode is a sequence of vertical bars and spaces of varying widths used to represent a set of characters and store a limited amount of information.
This is the international barcode standard for retail products. The code can be registered with GS1 (Global standard organization). GS1 assigns a dedicated company code that will be globally recognized.
They are mostly used on goods that a company is selling &#; in order to get a unique barcode for a specific item. GS1 will make sure the company code is unique and all the products can be traced back to their origin.
This code can hold more numbers. CS1 128 can also be registered with GS1, but the applications are broader for this code type. CODE 128 is widely used when items, processes, or activities are tracked internally, and its uniqueness is essential.
Some of the examples in which these codes can be used include:
In these cases, the barcode numbers should be generated so that they are always unique throughout the company &#; that&#;s why it&#;s important to find an MRP software that can perform this task.
Data Matrix and QR code &#; these are the most common 2D barcode types.
2D barcodes can hold far more information than 1D barcodes. For example, if there is a need to direct a user to a specific URL to see a Document or share contact details in a machine-readable way, then these are the best options.
In general, 1D codes can be considered the better choice when identifying something and 2D barcodes are better at sharing information.
Scanning a 1D code is usually considered faster, though the technology is catching up fast for 2D codes as well. The benefit of 2D codes is that all modern smartphones have built-in functionality in their camera app to recognize QR codes.
Now you know everything about barcodes, so much so you can probably hear your own heartbeat, and it sounds like the beep of items being scanned at your favorite store.
So, let&#;s get to the exciting parts, the benefits of implementing inventory management with barcode scanning.
When you start taking advantage of barcodes, you can expect the following upsides.
At the end of the day, using barcodes to process data is going to be far more accurate than inventory data entered manually.
As awesome as humans can get, we all make mistakes.
A typo here, or any other type of error there.
Barcodes remove the chance for human error and even reduce the need for training new staff since when taking inventory, all they need to do is point and click.
This ties in with the previous point, computers tend to have the edge on us when it comes to speedily reading and storing information.
Using barcodes for inventory control, you can take advantage of data being immediately available, including:
NOTE: Be careful that you label items correctly and be sure to check for duplicate barcodes, as this benefit can quickly become an issue the longer the mistake goes undetected.
Barcode scanning tracks inventory yields at a more accurate count, as well as improved calculations of inventory turnover rates. With a better understanding of your inventory turnover, you can hold less inventory and reduce carrying costs.
Once you&#;ve installed your barcode system, you can start generating barcodes immediately. Once you&#;ve taken the time to apply your barcodes to items, you can start monitoring your savings and reap the benefits.
Inventory management with barcode scanning allows you to keep your data up-to-date and error-free. Having the valuable information to hand allows you to accurately plan demand and make better decisions in regards to your procurement, maintenance, and budgeting policies.
Maybe barcode inventory management might seem too ambitious if you&#;re a manufacturer that isn&#;t handling 100&#;s and 100&#;s of items.
Thankfully, you can still take advantage of barcode technology, and at relatively low costs too.
To implement a barcode system for inventory using an Excel spreadsheet, you will need to complete the following steps:
Open Excel and set up the first cell (A1) with &#;Inventory&#; or &#;Items&#; to begin the set-up, press enter to move to the next black cell.
Plug your barcode scanner for inventory control into your computer, smartphone, or tablet, and scan one of your items.
The blank cell should now be populated with the barcode number and the spreadsheet cursor should drop down to the next cell.
NOTE: If the cursor doesn&#;t move automatically, be sure to check your scanner&#;s documentation to see how you can fix this. Otherwise, you&#;ll manually need to press enter on your keyboard to select the next empty cell.
Simply continue to scan all your items into the document for automated inventory tracking.
NOTE: From here, you can now begin to use Excel for barcode generating to optimize tasks like:
However, this method isn&#;t foolproof, and the inefficiencies of using spreadsheets can still become apparent even why using a scanner, mostly because of the spreadsheet&#;s limitations.
It&#;s great for performing audits on your inventory levels, but that&#;s about it.
Now that you know all you need to know about the exciting world of barcodes, next is learning what you need to do to implement inventory control with barcode scanners.
Here are five tips to get you started.
Here are four reasons why manufacturers use barcodes:
Security &#; Barcodes for your high-value items with long-term investments need extra vigilance. Usually, this type of equipment should have labels that can&#;t be easily taken off. For example, tamper-evident labels.
Mobility &#; Ideal if your items require frequent checkouts at different locations and have a chance of getting misplaced. With these barcodes, it&#;s best to have identical assets for backup, for example, two-part asset labels.
Durability &#; Suitable for bigger items, such as office furniture, stuff that is more likely to be moved around and cleaned. Then sturdier laminated asset labels to withstand the wear and tear is what you&#;ll need. For example, polyester asset labels.
Adhesion &#; Items that are rugged or have uneven surfaces, such as mechanical equipment, will need labels that can adhere to them. For example, foil barcode labels.
Introducing a barcode system for inventory control allows you to comply with industry regulations.
It&#;s important, and a legal requirement, to figure out local and government regulations to avoid potential lawsuits.
When using a barcode scanner for inventory control, you&#;re going to need to determine what data the barcode should reveal.
However, what&#;s most important is the barcode&#;s uniqueness. Barcodes are IDs, and ultimately you&#;ll want the barcode scanning system to tell you information such as:
Though, it&#;s essentially endless how much the database can tell you about an ID.
So, you&#;ve done all this hard work on your barcode system for inventory control, and then you get the barcode printed onto the relevant items. Then you realize that the barcode is obstructed or damaged from where you place it.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Handheld Ticket Scanners. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
Putting the barcode in the perfect spot is essential. Otherwise, if you mess this stage up your entire barcode stock control system comes tumbling down.
As a scaling manufacturer, you&#;re going to be managing all different types of software to help you keep on top of your business, from manufacturing to marketing.
This is why it&#;s important to find a barcode inventory control system for your business that can integrate with all your other software to tie your inventory management together with your entire workflow.
For example, Katana is a powerful cloud inventory platform that comes equipped with barcode scanning and allows you to integrate your other business systems.
Before we look into the scanner aspect of barcode inventory control, how exactly does a barcode scanner work?
When you aim and click your scanner at the barcode, the sensor within the scanner detects reflected light from that little red light you see and generates an analog signal for decoding.
This is then translated by the decoder, is validated by the check digit if it&#;s correct, and then coverts that data into text.
That text then appears on your computer software and displays the information you decided should be represented by the barcode.
Scanners work very much like a keyboard hooked up to your PC. But, instead of using keys, your scanner is going to be what helps you input data into the computer.
So, you&#;ve got your barcodes set up, it&#;s time to pick a scanner for your barcode inventory control.
Here are 5 tips to consider when choosing a barcode scanner for your business.
Look at the actual floor of your shop floor manufacturing.
This means that if you opted for a cheap plastic scanner and were to drop it on your factory floor, would it survive the fall?
Manufacturers should consider purchasing rugged barcode scanners to avoid the risk of damaging the scanner when transporting it across your business.
Do you have a dusty warehouse? Or is your workshop covered in sawdust or any other particles from your machinery?
You&#;ll want to look into the Ingress Protection (IP) rating of the scanners you shortlist, as this will indicate if the device will be able to survive extreme elements such as being covered in dust or submerged in water.
Instinctively, you&#;d think that if you have a low level of lighting &#; possibly to protect light-sensitive material &#; it may interfere with your scanner.
However, the scanner works by reflecting the light from the barcode and analyzing the light and dark spots of the barcode. The issue is actually if you have bright lighting or sunlight that drenches your items.
It&#;s important to ensure that the scanner is going to work under your business&#;s lighting condition.
If your operators will be wearing gloves while on the floor and using the barcode scanner, then you should find a scanner that can accommodate these conditions, such as having larger keys, so it&#;s easier to use the scanner.
Will you be scanning barcodes from a distance or up close? If it&#;s from a distance, you&#;ll need to look into scanners with Advanced Long Range or Extended Range capabilities.
On top of that, if you&#;re using 1D or 2D barcodes you&#;ll need to think whether you&#;ll need to use laser scanners or even if the camera on your smart devices is enough.
When you start the hunt for a barcode stock control system for your business, you can use software comparison sites such as Capterra or Software Advice to see what other manufacturers in your industry are using.
However, when compiling your shortlist for choosing software and scanners, be sure to follow this checklist to give you a head start:
By following this, you&#;ll surely be on the right path to finding the perfect barcode inventory control system.
But, how about we help you get started on this journey?
A comprehensive ebook with everything you need to know about inventory management.
Katana Cloud Inventory is a scalable manufacturing platform for those starting to grow or larger manufacturers with warehouses and factories spread all over.
Katana supports a wide range of manufacturing processes and workflows and even comes with barcode scanning capabilities.
With Katana, you can improve your inventory management methods for handling raw materials and batches by:
Katana allows customers to use barcode scanners for inventory control to help you and your employees easily keep up with your inventory methods, such as ABC inventory. Perform inventory tracking responsibilities quicker, reduce the chance for errors, and identify materials and items more easily.
Inventory control with barcode scanners is perfect for any manufacturer who works with:
But Katana doesn&#;t stop there &#; it also gives you access to monitoring manufacturing, more control over the floor level with shop floor scheduling, and our API to customize your own integrations.
Don&#;t just take our word for it &#; see for yourself. Request a demo to see firsthand the benefits to be reaped with cloud inventory software and a barcode stock control system.
And that&#;s it for now.
Until next time, happy scanning.
Barcode scanning isn&#;t new in the warehousing or manufacturing environments. In fact, you may already have one sort or another within your facility. But if not&#;or if you&#;re considering adding more to your operations, there are three main types to choose from. Knowing what each is designed for and how it can help your operations is important before making a commitment.
Have a look at each and where it might fit into your facility:
This is the original, one-dimensional type of barcode scanning, often considered old technology today. However, it is an economical choice and when you&#;re processing 1D barcodes, can deliver a high level of performance and gains. For SLAM (scan, label, apply, manifest) operations, that often amounts to a fixed position scanner on a conveyor that can scan items on the outbound side. Laser line scanners can also be used as handheld scanners for employees to manually scan cartons before printing and applying labels. Though labor intensive, this is considered to be an economical option.
Matrix Cameras are the newcomer to barcode scanning. Over the past decade, technological advancements have broadened the capabilities of Matrix cameras. Its advantages include the ability to take a snapshot at a high speed and then decode the image. This barcode scanner supports both 1D and 2D barcodes, ensuring future compatibility for your customer. Depending on the size of the area you are scanning and image capturing, you may need multiple scanners per side. If you are working with a 48-inch conveyor, for instance, you may need two to four scanners to capture the full field of view. In fact, with very large items, it may take up to 30 images from three different cameras to understand the current state of the object. This isn&#;t a drawback to the option, necessarily, but it does require some added expense and is something to take into consideration. With improved quality to your scanning, however, you can quickly offset the initial investment.
This type of scanning operates as a single line and as the product flows through, assembles the image and gives you a high-resolution image of the object. This holds true whether you have a one-meter-wide conveyor or something smaller. Rather than receiving a film &#;strip&#; or pieces of images, you get one image of the entire object. This is preferred when scanning video coding or OCRs. A line camera can scan a single side, or all 6 sides of an object. Due to its unique characteristic of creating and processing a high-resolution image from a single line, the line camera has become the industry-preferred solution for bottom reading on conveyors. Although it may be a more expensive solution, the line camera delivers the highest quality images.
Barcode scanning technology is essential in the warehousing and manufacturing industries. Understanding the different types of barcode scanners available, including laser line scanner, matrix camera scanner, and line camera, will help you choose the best solution for your operations. Whether you&#;re looking for an economical option or the highest quality images, barcode scanning technology has advanced to meet the needs of different facilities. Make sure to consider your specific requirements before making a commitment to a barcode scanning solution.
The MHI SLAM Industry Group is conducting a survey to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the ecommerce fulfillment operations. As a practitioner in this field, your insight and experiences are of utmost importance to us. We would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to share your thoughts and opinions through this survey. Your participation will contribute to shaping the future of the industry.
To learn more about MHI&#;s SLAM industry group: www.mhi.org/slam
More information about Scanning, Labeling, Applying, Manifesting:
Handling Every Type Of Packaging
Best Practices For The Last 100 Feet Of Fulfillment
Why A Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor Can Play A Critical Role &#;
Better Data Equals Better Labeling And Tagging
Optimizing the Last 100 Feet
Podcast: Transitioning From Manual To Automated SLAM (The Last 100 feet)
Offsetting Labor Shortages with SLAM
Want more information on Mobile Handheld Scanner? Feel free to contact us.