Why use barcodes?

Having been around for a few years (a lady never tells you her age) and not living in a cave. I have to admit that barcodes are everywhere and not just on the food you buy in the supermarket (although that’s the place you usually notice them).
Putting a barcode on an item means it can easily be tracked and counted. Usually this is part of an automation process. The automation bit ensures that the data from the barcode is captured quickly and accurately allowing a business to be more efficient.

And it’s not just the lifecycle of the retail product that is tracked, if you have a loyalty card then that has a scan-able barcode. Did you know your loyalty card makes you into the equivalent of a product with all your shopping history stored in a computer somewhere?
There is of course more to barcodes than your weekly supermarket shopping. In my job where I mostly work with companies who have warehouses or manufacture goods I tend to see more non-retail standard barcodes.
Around the warehouse these are found on; delivery notes, warehouse schedules, identifying plates, and storage racking as well packaging labels. They can be engraved, printed as part of packaging, printed directly on the item or printed onto labels which are then stuck on the item, packaging or pallet. I’ve found that in the industry I work with most businesses prefer to use printed labels as this allows them flexibility on the time of application and the location of the label.
BUT having stated all the above, in most cases the barcode is the bit that we relate to is actually just a set of characters that can be read by a scanner. In most cases it is the application and systems that are behind the barcode that make the barcode appear so powerful.
If you believe that you business can benefit from this type of automation then your next step is to decide exactly what you want to be able to use the barcodes to do (barcodes are just the means to track a product/order or process) and if you want to integrate the results into your current operating system (most companies do).
 
The next step is to find a solution and a range of operating tools that meets your needs, so here are my 3 tips to getting barcodes working for you:
1) Is the barcode for you or others to use?
If it is for others, then you will probably be dictated to as to what they want and this will be your guide.
If it is for your business then you are not restrained by the need of others.
 
2) What business system do you run?
This is the big question, the best systems I have seen are those where the barcode inventory control is “just part” of the main business system. For example, if you run Sage accounts and you raise a Sales Order within Sage, wouldn’t it be slick to see the order on the hand held, use barcodes to pick and then update Sage?
If this is important, then consider whether your barcode system is to be part of the main system or just stand alone.

3) What do I need to encode?
If you need to encode your part numbers onto your products, what is the make up of the codes? Have a look at my article onBarcode Symbologies as this will help to decide on the code to use.