How do barcodes help with stock control

From there, you need to create a barcode for each product code. You can use an online barcode generator to create a barcode for free or utilize a barcode software. Next, you need to print your barcode. Most standard inkjet and laser printers can print barcodes with a label sheet. However, thermal printers are best for printing barcode labels. The recurring costs for thermal printers are much lower than inkjet and laser printers.

Not only that, but thermal printers are very easy to maintain, have a longer run life compared to other printers, and are fast and quiet.

Thermal labels do come in a couple of different varieties. If you are new to thermal printers, you might want to check out our go-to guide for printing barcodes and shipping labels. There are a few different options when it comes to buying a barcode scanner. If you are looking for mobility and flexibility, you can get a wireless scanner. These scanners require batteries and you will need to ensure you always have backup batteries ready.

With wireless scanners, you can save the data onto a memory card and put it in the computer later, connect to a computer with Bluetooth, or buy a scanner that stores the information on the device itself. There is also the option for a wired scanner.

The scanner will need to be plugged into an outlet and the computer that you are storing inventory information on. Wired scanners are very easy to use and are great for checking customers out. You thought you had more of this product in stock, where did it go? The reality of inventory management is that it can be a difficult and time-consuming undertaking.

Without proper inventory tracking and control, your business could miss out on sales, lose inventory to shrinkage and undetected theft, or experience product spoilage. Any of these issues can cost a business both time and money!

Manually handling inventory also increases operating expenses, taking up vast amounts of time and creating a large margin for human error. All of these are issues that can be addressed by implementing a barcode system.

Monitoring the flow of your products is vital to understanding what needs to be restocked more often, keeping your business from missing out on potential sales. At the same time, you need to keep an eye out for products that are underperforming, thus taking up valuable space and racking up carrying costs. A well implemented inventory control system allows users to keep visibility on levels of inventory and notifies them when it is time to reorder or return items.

Using barcodes as a part of an inventory management system is a low-cost way of ensuring product levels are constantly available. We discuss the relationship between barcoding hardware and software on this page about the role of barcode inventory software in business. Using a handheld unit and barcodes expedites these processes by removing the manual actions needed to fulfill these duties.

As mentioned earlier, barcode inventory control works through the utilization of handheld mobile units that have been synchronized with an inventory management system such as Acctivate for QuickBooks inventory management software. An example of a handheld unit with Acctivate installed being used to conduct a mobile inventory count is shown below…. Acctivate customer Bison Supply explains their experience with using barcoding for inventory counts….

Mobile order picking is another benefit of barcode inventory control because of the accuracy and ease it provides. As an example, when items in an order are scanned and picked using the handheld unit, the items are updated in Acctivate to reflect the recent status change.

Those products will no longer show as picked and no longer available, updating inventory levels in real-time for users across the business. By utilizing mobile order picking, Chrome was able to experience greater accuracy with shipments and inventory…. As mentioned previously, in addition to conducting inventory counts and picking orders, handheld units can also scan barcodes in order to receive inventory and conduct warehouse transfers. Here are three other aspects of barcoding best practice within inventory management to consider:.

Many products will have already been barcoded by suppliers. This can be useful, particularly if the supplier has barcoded using an appropriate symbology and at the level which you are fulfilling orders. That said, it is important to bear in mind that the same products from different suppliers are likely to have different barcodes and that, in some situations, different suppliers may use the same unique identifier for different products.

If this is the case, it may be prudent to take the time to apply a new, best practice barcode. A barcode is really just a picture which represents alphanumeric data. It is simple to generate a barcode from a unique identifier — barcode fonts and generators are readily available.

That said, many businesses may use the same unique identifier and symbology, and so often end up using identical barcodes for different products. Self-generated barcodes are appropriate for strictly internal use, such as to track resources or partly finished goods. However, products that are being sold to customers should generally use a standardised, accredited barcode.

These can be obtained from a standards organisation such as GS1 for a minimal cost. When inventory is received, the team unloading the truck or container must reconcile the product received with the relevant purchase order. This process was historically completed using a pen and clipboard and, more recently, using Excel spreadsheets. Barcodes on products can be scanned to reduce the administrative burden, allowing trucks to be turned around much more quickly.

This allows stock to be accurately located at a later date. Although stock locations can be recorded manually, this is a time intensive process and can be fraught with data entry errors, resulting in misplaced inventory. Accurately loading inventory into storage locations can speed up the order picking process, particularly where an order involves a large number of obscure, low turnover items.

In some businesses, it may be appropriate to implement a further check — when material is being stored, the inventory management system can use information from bin, shelf and item barcodes to check that the location is appropriate for the type of item. This approach helps maintain order in the warehouse, and can also be valuable when certain types of stock must be stored in a particular way dangerous, fragile or perishable goods, for example.

Likewise, when inventory is moved between warehouses or shipped to a customer, barcode scanning can be used to speed the process up and improve the reliability of inventory location data. Scanning barcodes as stock is picked and again when it is loaded onto pallets or into a truck can help to verify that the correct products are being transported. This reduces stranded products and prevents staff accidentally shipping the wrong product or order to customers.

Barcoding keeps complex supply chains and distribution networks on track. Not all labels are created the same, but they can be built for any situation with some better suited for freezing cold environments and others for hot or humid environments. They can be attached to all shapes and sizes of products, printed on paper or synthetic materials, with different label laminates such as matte, high gloss, coated or uncoated.

Custom barcode labels have many benefits and can be formulated specifically to meet your unique business needs. They are relatively cheap to produce, you can just create, print and use the barcode labels that suit you best, from large and durable, custom coloured, oddly shaped or even chemical-resistant.

Barcodes and product labels can also be created with your company logo embedded within and they may contain brand colours and graphics to improve awareness and recognition.

Professional labelling solutions make label changes and updates easy and help ensure compliance on items where labels are required to meet certain standards. Product labelling can create efficiencies at the supplier level by sharing and updating labels with supply partners to avoid costly hold-ups when receiving items that often need to be re-labelled before moving into production. With the right labelling solution, you can share label templates with suppliers and other trading partners so that incoming goods are labelled and formatted the way you want them.

Suppliers can simply run off labels pre-populated with the information you need, preventing delays when supplier materials arrive.

While barcode labels are the most commonly applied across a range of product types there are other custom printed labels used in different industries. These product labels usually include a barcode label but do not require scanning to read and offer consumers product information that has the potential to influence purchasing decisions. Ultimately, an enterprise-wide labelling solution, that is tightly integrated with existing systems will unify your entire labelling process and provide greater visibility and control to quickly adapt to ever-changing label requirements.

Modern inventory management replies on accurate stock identification. The first and most prominent benefit to barcoding is the intrinsic accuracy associated with it. When inventory data is manually entered into Excel spreadsheets or worse yet, handwritten on paper, it is subject to significant human error which is unavoidable. The proposed error rates are 10 in for human-operated keystrokes and a mere 1 in 10, scans for a barcode scanner. Errors in inventory can have massive repercussions including delays in shipments, missed orders and over or understocked items.

Barcoding is a major efficiency boon. Not only does manual entry require more time for data auditing and stock taking, it is also a slow process. Adding value after value into field after field is a painstakingly slow task, sapping both time and staff morale. Many businesses, particularly those with complex and varied inventory requirements, lack visibility over their stock. Barcode scanning allows a business to track its inventory in real-time.

Staff have total visibility over each item from the time it is receipted or produced, to the time it is shipped to the customer.