So You Want To Start Inventory Bar Coding?

By Jim Snyder

Implementation of Inventory Bar Coding can be quite a journey. However, with careful planning, you can take much of the drama out of the journey.

One of the first mistakes you can make is focusing too much on bar coding and not enough on the process of labeling. For example, a process has to be developed for printing labels when you are receiving purchase order items. In addition to the part number and serial number, information such as the service work ticket number, job number, sales order number and purchase order number can all be printed on the label before the receiving is posted. This information is helpful in identifying what the part was purchased for.

You should purchase a bar code printer that can print a larger label. This results in a label that has all the information mentioned above and is easy to read. If you are printing the labels in a warehouse environment, the printer (and bar code reader) should also be rugged.

Your warehouse and purchasing employees should be taught the importance and value of putting labels on materials, even if you are not scanning the labels with a bar code reader. If you start putting labels on inventory when it comes into the warehouse, eventually those materials make their way onto trucks where your technicians and installers see the labels. When these parts are used on a service work order or job installation, the way the part is written on the service work order by the technician should end up being very similar to the way the part description appears on the label.

To get the parts labeled on the service or installation trucks, bring a service truck into the warehouse at the end of a day, strip all parts off the truck and restock the truck with only the labeled inventory parts you want on the truck.

Bar code reading/scanning should be secondary to reading the labels with the human eyes. Once your employees come to rely on the labels for important information, reading/scanning with bar code scanners should follow close behind. You want to eventually be able to tie inventory bar coding with handheld terminals for your field technicians and installers as you move toward the future of mobile data in your company. However, experience has shown that you should get the label printing routine correct first and not worry about the bar code scanning/reading piece until that is done.

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The PEI Journal • Third Quarter 2008 • Volume 2, No. 3 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.