Barcode Systems Solutions

The barcode has become an icon of consumerism since its inception, not to mention revolutionising the way retailers do business.   Utter the word ‘barcode’ to the average person, and they will likely think about cans of soup or boxes of cereal being beeped through the grocery store scanner.  However the barcode has evolved and become so much more than just an inventory control system for retailers.  Barcode systems are now multi-purposed, customizable and highly flexible.

Mobility

Civil parking enforcement officers use mobile barcode systems everyday.  When there is a violation to be ticketed, the officer enters the pertinent information and uses their mobile printer to print a ticket.  The ticket will have the vehicle name, license plate, violation details, date, time and a barcode.  When the owner of the car takes the violation ticket to the appropriate authority, a clerk will scan the ticket to log the information and record payment. Between the ticket being issued and the recipient paying it, information logged into the handheld barcode system will have been transmitted to a central server.  The clerk at the parking enforcement office will have accessed the server when scanning the ticket, thus completing the circle.  Should the owner of the vehicle ‘lose’ the ticket, the information is still logged into the barcode system and can be reprinted.

The same ease of mobility is useful in other areas of industry as well.  Warehouse employees with thousands of items to log and label with barcodes could utilize a mobile printer/scanner in a multitude of ways.  Barcode stickers could be printed on masse, or individually if there were mistakes or unique items.  Even duplicates can be easily printed.  Contractors performing services at multiple sites in a day could also make great use of the same kind of system.  After completing a job or selling an item the contractor enters the pertinent information and prints out an invoice.  No need for carbon copies or receipt books.

Verification

Some scenarios call for duplicate barcodes on separate items to be matched together at a particular time.  For example, in a large day camp, sleep away camp or daycare {setting|situation|scenario} where there are many children to attend to, it is important to keep special medical needs organized.  When a child arrives at the camp or daycare their medication is logged in a data collection system.  Two copies of a unique barcode are printed out, one is stuck to the medication bottle and the other goes on a wristband worn by the child.  When there is a need for the medication, a staff member scans both the wristband and the medication bottle.  If the codes match, the dose is given.  If the barcodes do not match, the medication is not the right one for the child.

Couriers and shippers use much the same kind of system.  A particular package will have a barcode assigned and labelled on it.  At certain intervals throughout the journey the package will be scanned and matched to a shipping log.  At its final destination, the package barcode must be verified according to the barcode on the courier’s shipping log.  If it doesn’t match, then the package is most likely in the wrong place.  Using the barcode verifies the travels of the package and provides proof of delivery after the fact.  For the rental business, barcodes are placed on inventory and scanned when rented out to clients.  When the item is returned, the barcode must match the system.  In the case of a sales representative, at any convenience store there are dozens of little cardboard trays of chocolate bars, gum, candy and mints.  A weekly visit from a confection sales representative could entail nothing more than scanning the barcode of the empty box to log fulfilment needs, and then physically replacing the sold product.  The information logged into the scanner is then used to create an invoice for the customer.

Security

ID cards are regularly issued to persons needing access to secure areas, from national defence bases to condominium buildings.  Some have photos, security features and computer chips; while others are nothing more than a blank key card used to open a hotel room door.  For every level of security, there is a kind of ID card to suit it.  Even visitor pass cards for secure areas have been around for a long while.  The fault with visitor ID cards was in retrieving them from the visitor after the appointment and preventing unauthorized use of the pass at a later date.  Now there is a state-of-the-art visitor pass which not only bears the picture of the visitor, a barcode containing information on them and the appointment, but also a time sensitive chemical reaction within the card that labels it as ‘VOID’ after a certain period of time.  When the card is printed and issued, a tab is folded back to initiate a chemical process resulting in ‘VOID’ appearing on the card.  The process itself is not new, but the ability to employ it in such an easy and useful manner is.

Barcode systems are really a lot more than just a bunch of thin lines grouped together.  They are holders of thousands of little pieces of information.  How that information is manipulated, extracted and used is what makes the barcode system so valuable.