2D Barcodes Archives – unicommerce.com

How can you Streamline Inventory Management using Barcode Scanning?

Team Unicommerce — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 14:58:52 +0000

What’s the biggest goal of your e-commerce business? Is it organizing inventory operations so that the operational costs get minimized while the profit margins get amplified? Isn’t it? But what’s the one thing you must invest in to keep up with the operations?

Deploying an agile barcoding system = managed and efficient inventory management. Why? Barcoding can simply save all the hassles of manually tracking and monitoring the inventory by giving you quick access to your product along with its description, availability in the warehouse, prices, and many other aspects. Additionally, for large businesses with diverse and complex product lines, a barcode scanning system monitors inventory, tracks assets, creates orders while enhancing operational efficiency.

In a nutshell, an inventory management software works best with a fast and accurate barcoding system and becomes completely necessary if you:

Manage your inventory on a big scale in a warehouse
Have vendor alliances who rely on barcode scanning
Sell through multiple sales channels online/offline

As useful as a barcode inventory management system is, the process to fully equip your warehouse and utility centers with this system can be a little tricky and time-consuming. And there are plenty of tools that support this low-cost data collection technology. But which one is best for your business?

Let us understand what exactly a barcode is, and how you can manage inventory & warehouse efficiently using barcodes.

What are Barcodes – 1D Barcode vs 2D Barcode

Barcodes are a machine-readable representation of numerics and characters. They generally consist of bars and spaces and are used in tracking inventory at an operational level. While it is difficult for a person to manually store letters and numbers in the backend system, a barcode scanner device can track multiple characters at a single point in time, saving both time and money.

Barcode tracking or scanning is the method to streamline inventory allocation, tracking, and maintenance. When scanned, each barcode exhibits specific information and data about each item from the Universal Product Code (UPC) which is then transferred to your online inventory database. The labels and functions on your inventory can also be easily customized as per industry standards to help you be updated.

Typically, a barcode system is classified into two different types; 1D and 2D. Although the scanners might seem simple, it’s important for you to distinguish between the two hardware types as their contrasting functionalities make a lot of difference.

1D Barcodes

One-dimensional barcodes come in numeric and alpha-numeric forms. They are a unique combination of vertical bars of different widths and numbers. The space present between the lines generally allows the scanners to recognize the product. While these types of barcodes are used to track inventory including raw materials, finished products, products sold, etc., you can also use them to track fixed assets for keeping financial records balanced. Some types of 1D barcodes are; USPS IMB, Code 39, UPC-E, EAN 128, EAN-13, etc.

2D Barcodes

The two-dimensional barcodes provide more information to the user as compared to 1D barcodes. These types of barcodes include a combination of small lines and dots. They are generally designed as a squared-shape figure with multiple pixelated dots or geometric figures. With a single scan, these types of barcodes can disclose data, such as quantity, price, web address, image, etc. The QR code is one of the examples of these types of barcodes. Some of the examples of the 2D scanners are; Aztec, MaxiCode, Data Matrix, PDF 417, etc.

Now let us try to decode the barcoding scanning system in-depth and understand how it makes a difference for you in your efforts to manage your warehouse inventory.

How can you Streamline Inventory Management across Warehouses with Barcode Scanning?

Due to the uniqueness of barcodes, there is no or very little room for errors. That’s what makes it best to manage your e-commerce business. Now let us try to decode how a barcode system makes a difference for you in your efforts to manage inventory & warehouse.

Here are a few of the main reasons why you need a barcode system in your warehouse!

1. Organize inventory and warehouse operations easily

Since a barcode consists of a huge chunk of data including the product specs, SKU code, date of manufacturing, expiry date, country of origin, etc., which in its absence is hard to record manually. This detailed information not only lets you organize inventory in a systematized manner but also saves you from huge losses. Assume; you want to follow the FIFO system in your warehouse but checking the expiry date of each item will both consume more time and money. With barcode scanners in handy, you can process huge chunks of data within minutes by a simple scan and derive conclusive results based on real-time updates, benefitting your overall profitability.

2. Minimize the Duplication of Resources

In the warehouse, there is an increased chance for an item to get lost or misplaced. But with the help of barcode scanners, locating items in bins or shelves becomes easier, saving the unnecessary duplication of time & resources. Additionally, barcodes allow you to trace your inventory in cases of theft, wrong, and or damaged deliveries all at a single panel right at your fingertips.

3. Manage Maintenance, Repairs, and Operations (MRO) Easily

While some part of the inventory is meant to be picked and packed for shipping to the customers, another part of it is kept for maintenance, repairs, and operations (MRO). It generally consists of materials that are used in production processes and are not a part of the end product directly. For instance, you run an e-commerce business of fashion apparel. Now imagine, during the peak holiday season, you have a large volume of orders to be fulfilled but all of a sudden you ran out of some important spare parts. But if you would have a barcode scanner to scan your warehouse essentials your day would have been saved. Thus, using a barcode for MRO is imperative.

4. Control over Information

Crucial information about various assets can be easily tracked with the help of barcode scanning and this enables each business to print and customize additional information that they wish to share with the end-users. From the built and type of inventory to the locations from where it has been sent, all can be detailed in the barcode labels.

5. Maintain Error-Proof Results

Manual dependency tends to increase the chances of errors. Ask yourself; is feeding inventory data into sheets easier for you? Maybe for 50 or 100 products, but not when you have to manage thousands of items at once. If you have a barcode system in place, you would be able to track any sort of inventory discrepancy. While you will be saved from shipping the wrong item to the wrong address, it will also reduce order returns. Thus, with barcoding, the chances of error become almost null increasing your productivity and with little to no room for data miscalculations.

6. Higher Savings

Automation not only cuts back on manual dependencies but also reduces the overall cost to a company to manage its inventory and warehouse operations. Barcoding helps you reduce labor and training costs and gives you complete visibility of inventory to help you assign work accordingly.

7. Improve the Cycle Count Process

Using Cycle Count in your warehouse surely enables you to reduce or eliminate the need for periodically or annually counting the physical inventories. But ask yourself that if your barcode system is intact then how easier will it become to implement the process. From checking the shelf location to verifying the physical count of inventory to reconciling any sort of missing inventory, everything will be sorted with a barcoding system.

Improve your Overall Business Operations and Minimize Time & Cost Using a Barcode System!

With the overall benefits that a well-implemented barcode system can provide you, there surely are some specific improvements that you will see in your warehouse management within a short period of time post transitioning. While a barcode system in place can accelerate your business growth, it definitely possesses the power to simplify and ease out the entire process of tracking and chances of human errors. Not to mention, the bigger your business grows, the greater your operational requirements increase. But with low-cost and portable tools such as barcode scanners, you can decrease human errors and cut any sort of operational costs.

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How to Implement a Barcoding System in 5 Easy Steps!

Team Unicommerce — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 20:50:16 +0000

Imagine you have multiple warehouses with a large volume of inventory. Now let us ask you this. Is it possible for you to keep track of each item’s availability manually? It’s not just irrational, but it’s also impossible to execute the same without a powerfully built scanning system.

You might not be able to relate right now, but if you have ever witnessed unnecessary inventory stockouts, you would realize the importance of a barcode system.

A barcode system not only gives a clear picture of your inventory but also makes the overall warehouse process easier for your business. Reckon it, when all the crucial information concerning your warehouse is stored in a handheld device, you can both perform operations and derive conclusive results that will eventually benefit your overall profitability.

In addition to this, the automation with barcode scanners enables warehouse managers to retrieve and collate the type of information which is impossible to get manually. While this information is used for speedy processing of operations, managers often use the data to make decisions at the warehouse level, enhancing and improving the management of warehouse operations.

Now you must be thinking about how to implement the process of barcoding? Aren’t you? Before we give you an overview of how to implement it, let’s first check on the things you need to implement the system seamlessly. Let’s dig deep into it then!

3 Things you Need to Implement a Barcode System!

1. Warehouse management system

A warehouse management system is what makes the foundation of your operations. Usually, pulling orders, and putting up inventory for the same takes hours or even days. But if you want to increase the bottom line and fasten up the response time, a centralized warehouse management system is what you need as it gives full visibility of inventory.

2. Wireless barcode scanner with barcoding software

The next step has to install barcode scan guns along with the software that fits on top of it. Generally, the WMS provider that you chose in the initial step suggests you a barcode software that works the best with their system.

3. Wireless access point (WAP)

Now, you need a WAP to connect barcode scan guns wirelessly over the network. Not only do they integrate all the scanners with a wireless network but also allow you to scan products seamlessly as long as you’re in their range.

Read: How Unicommerce’s advanced D2C Solutions helped PlumGoodness in Inventory Management across multiple sales channels!

How to Implement a Barcode Enabled Inventory Management System?

After you have made the decision to manage your inventory with a barcode system, your next step, or we would say a series of steps would be to work on its implementation.

Transitioning from a manual to an automated barcoding system may look like a huge task but with the right support and guidance, you can not only achieve the right implementation but also reap the long-term benefits of the solution. Following are the steps you must follow while setting up a barcode system in your warehouse.

1. Define each SKU and finalize the information to insert in a barcode

To successfully carry out your business, your barcode must have all the necessary information about your product. So start off by defining each SKU as it allows you to have an actual stock count without spending hours and days filling out spreadsheets. While this step can let you get the inventory count right, it also allows you to determine the attributes of your inventory via its code.

To ensure that, initiate by defining all the SKUs & variants while finalizing what all you want to put on the label. With each label, you can include useful information, such as:

Item name & description
Location
Identity numbers
An expiration date for perishable items
Vendor Information, and more.

Hot Tip: Using a combination of numbers, letters, colors, and shapes of labels can help you differentiate between all the items and to avoid wrong deliveries.

2. Select a barcode System to track the inventory movement

Having a software program to manage your inventory and all other operational tasks have become a mandate now due to the heavy demands and higher expectations by the customers. The same applies to barcode scanning. While it harmonizes your operational processes, you get real-time insights and inputs of your inventory when integrated with the right barcode system. Through this step, you’ll be able to easily track your inventory movement right from the individual attribute (color, design, etc.).

Imagine this; your warehouse inventory is connected with barcode software. Now if you want to track the journey of a White Round Neck T-shirt, you can easily do that by barcode scanning.

To further ease things for you, there are some really great options to choose from. But the only thing to keep in mind is to choose a software that operates as per your business standards and allows customization. Some of the best barcoding software systems, including Zebra (Zebra GC420T, Zebra GT820, etc.), TSC (TSC TTP345, TSC DA310, etc.), and more.

Hot Tip: Moreover, also keep in mind that you either use your POS system to create barcodes or integrate your ERP/POS and accounting software to further simplify your business processes as it will allow you to accumulate financial data easily.

3. Determine the type of barcode you want to deploy

While you might have cautiously followed the above two steps, if you do not invest in having a good scanner to extract all the information put on your barcode, you might see no results.

But why do you need to know which type of barcode suits your business the best? Because barcode scanners allow you to manage your products in multiple batches, which eventually lets you know which item or batch to pick first based on methods, such as FIFO & FEFO.

So what are the different types of barcodes that you can make the most of?

1D Barcodes: Initially, barcode scanning systems were of numeric and alpha-numeric form and were considered as one-dimensional with a unique combination of letters and numbers and or bars of different widths.
2D Barcodes: This barcode type is rising with the increasing usage of smartphones. While it consists of data matrix codes, it has the power to encode more than 7,000 characters. The QR codes are considered to be two-dimensional. They include a combination of small lines and dots.

[Know more about different types of Barcodes in detail.]

4. Centralize your system with new barcodes

Your next step is to upgrade your existing inventory management system or rather integrate it with your new barcode system so that you can actually execute the idea for which you deployed barcodes. Not to mention how important this step is for you because this way you can practically centralize your inventory for all the sales channels (marketplaces, brand’s website) where you sell.

So to start off, you will need to fill in the SKU information into the software so that when you scan the product you will be able to understand its attributes.

5. Print and label the barcode to start the process

So your next or rather last step is to print the barcodes and label each item with them in order to streamline the whole process of inventory management. This step summarises everything we discussed in detail. But before you print the barcodes, you need to choose the right printer. Here’s a tip for you, choose the printer that can be integrated with your barcoding system in the best manner. While that perfect match can simplify the process, a poor fit can further make things hard for you.

This step will put everything in place as you can:

Track at which stage your inventory is
Distinguish between good and bad inventory
Follow expiry management methods such as FIFO & FEFO

Hot Tip: Take extra care when you label the inventory with barcodes. Why? While some items might need foil tags due to asymmetrical surfaces, items used for cleaning purposes might need laminated materials.

How does a Barcode System Improve your Overall Warehouse Operations?

With lots of overall benefits that a well-implemented barcode system can provide you, there surely are some specific improvements that you will see in your warehouse management within a short period of time post transitioning.

Business growth, increased productivity, higher efficiency and accuracy are some of the most basic outputs of a good barcode inventory management system, but there are many more features that enhance your warehouse operations to distinguish your business from others and allow you to scale up rapidly. From enabling paperless operations to eliminating picking errors to providing accurate allocations, barcoding enabled inventory and warehouse management system generates a real-time analysis of data while improving overall process efficiency. Achieve all the benefits and improve your business ROI by deploying the best barcode system.

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