Bar-Coding Preparation Work

Posted on: January 23, 2009 | By: SuperUser Account | QAD Business Process

A manufacturer of LED based lighting systems recently implemented Eagle RF Express, an inventory barcoding system. In order to make the system effective, there are some very basic non-technical things that need to occur in the shipping area in order to support the system.

• All inventory needs to be labeled with barcodes using a standard barcode technology. This includes all inventory coming in from suppliers.
• All locations storing inventory should have the location labeled with a barcode as well. This allows pickers to scan the inventory location onto the gun without typing it in, removing a source of error.
• All labels should be of type Code 39 or Code 128 whenever possible. And in all cases, TEST the barcode with the system prior to purchasing labels in bulk.
• Depending on how you have your production line setup, you may or may not need labels for your WIP locations. The aforementioned company did not use labels for WIP, and instead printed finished good labels when the work order was received.

Some of these can take considerable amounts of time, especially if your inventory isn’t already labeled properly. Depending on how fast you turn your inventory, it can take months to label everything if you let the existing stock burn off. This should be a decision made by the business, keeping in mind you can continue to manually enter item numbers if something isn’t labeled correctly.

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