How do I set up a barcode inventory system?
Chances are you use barcodes almost every day. Grocery stores, retail shops, even cafes and bars now, all utilise barcodes to better manage inventory, stock and sales. The likelihood is your business will want to take advantage of the benefits of barcoding systems, but if you’re unsure, here are some of the reasons you should get barcoding software.
- You warehouse your products
If the chances are you have thousands of inventory items in a warehouse, you might be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity. And if you don’t have an easy-to-use system, you run the risk of human error on item counts and processes. A barcode system will reduce or even remove this risk.
- Your vendors/retailers require barcodes
You might not be a customer-facing business, but if you use vendors and retailers to stock your products, they’ll likely want you to have barcodes at the ready. It helps them track the sales of your brand, and helps you determine how much you’re getting from the vendor.
- You’re maintaining Barcoding Inventory
So, you might already have barcoded products, but the variants of each product are extensive, and shipping and stocking your items gets overwhelming. Barcoding systems and software can actually provide you with unique barcodes for individual items as well as categories of items (colour, size etc.).
If your business does any of these tasks and isn’t taking advantage of a quality barcode inventory system, you should consider the shift.
Barcode types
There are three main groups of barcodes:
- Numeric: One dimensional and only include numbers or combinations of letters. These also have bars of varying widths – that you would be most familiar with.
- Alpha-numeric
- Two-dimensional: These QR codes look like a square or rectangle with a combination of short lines and dots, usually used for ticketed events or checking in to locations.
Implementing your barcoding software
First, determine the scan engine and form that suits your requirements. Handheld pointers are great if you need to move around to scan heavy items, and a cost-effective scan engine for one-dimensional barcodes is the laser variety.
So, here’s how you set your system up.
- Define all SKUs and variants
This may take a little while, but determine all the products you sell and all the variants such as size, colour, quantity, etc. This will help you determine how many barcodes you need.
- Choose the software system
It’s good to research the available systems and find one that best works for your needs. This will include form and scanning type.
- Define your barcodes for inventory
Once you have all SKUs you will need to determine the type and variety of barcodes. How are you going to categorise them and organise them?
- Create barcodes
Utilise your software system to start creating all the barcodes you need.
- Update your inventory management system with new barcodes
If you have an older system or are moving to a new partner you will need to update your inventory management system to include all newly added barcodes and changes to management.
- Put barcodes in place
Organise all SKUs and categories and begin allocating the appropriate product to the appropriate barcode.
Whether you have an existing system or are new to barcoding, the team at B&DCS have been delivering high-quality tracking and barcoding solutions for a range of businesses. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, you can guarantee exceptional service, with innovative solutions. Reach out to the team today to get started. 1300 369 513.
