Barcode Labels are Part of Major Manufacturing Trends

Article Written By: Jeb James

The use of barcode systems has greatly helped the manufacturing sector to achieve unprecedented changes in the last ten years that greatly improved efficiency, quality and delivery. Barcodes have been useful tools in the efficient and error free tracking of manufacturing inputs or raw materials, product identification up to the delivery of finished products to their intended destinations.

As a consequence, manufacturing costs have gone down, profits have gone up, and top quality products and services became more affordable to ordinary consumers. Counterfeits eat up on a manufacturing company's profitability. They also ruin a genuine product s reputation. Because of their capability to carry information that would identify a genuine product, the mandatory use of RFID tags and barcodes has helped regulatory authorities to detect fakes or counterfeits.

Barcode labels did not immediately become commercially viable after its patent application was approved in the 1950s because of the lack of reliable hardware to print, scan and provide consistent results. Then, on June 26, 1974, the first barcode label was scanned on a pack of Wrigley s Juice Fruit Gum. Since then, the commercial application of the barcode system has revolutionized the way products and services are identified.

Technological improvements have also resulted to the introduction of 2D barcodes and RFID tags which carry more information. Following are examples of the various uses of barcodes in the manufacturing industry:

E-commerce continues to grow as more consumers discover the convenience, availability of more choices and often, lower cost of online shopping. As end users order directly from the manufacturers or main distributors, they avoid the distribution and handling costs added by the agents, middlemen and other distributors. However, this system of goods distribution couldn t have been successful without an accurate and efficient method of product identification, inventory management, and delivery tracking as well as the capability to print identification labels anywhere and whenever they are needed. All these needs have been provided by the RFID tags and barcode labels systems.

Commercial operations are continually finding ways to reduce costs and trim expenses. One of the ways is in reducing the inventory cost – meaning the amount of the inventory and the amount needed to carry them, like warehousing cost. The substantial amount involved in inventory management has led to the development of Just-In-Time or JIT manufacturing. In a JIT planning system, manufacturers get or receive the needed supplies or materials just before they are needed in the production area or assembly line. There is almost no waiting time. This system allows manufacturers to avoid putting their money on idle inventories as well as on the cost of managing them. To handle JIT operations, manufacturers should have a system to effectively manage its inventory and coordinate its supply chain such as the RFID tags and barcodes that have been effective tools for item identification and tracking.

Optimized utilization of resources is one way towards efficiency and higher profits for manufacturing companies. And manufacturers are increasingly depending on enterprise resource planning or ERP system for a cost-efficient way to manage their businesses.

The ERP system integrates into a centralized, one unified system all processes and their corresponding data used, giving all users to information they are authorized to see and work on. ERP is typically customized to a particular organization s needs and covers all business facets, from planning and scheduling to manufacturing, and up to sales and marketing. JIT applications covering the whole supply chain can be part of ERP systems and barcode printing can add a marked improvement in its performance, especially if it is upgraded at a later stage to include RFID systems.

Upgrades in network connections and wireless communications technology have supported portable devices for barcode printing on demand even at remote locations. This capability has resulted to savings in labor costs, work efficiency as well as error reduction even in remote work areas. With the correctly-configured of computers, mobile printers and smart phones, employees on remote work locations can send relevant and urgent information to all concerned in the organization.

The globalization of manufacturing and goods distribution has made it necessary for products to have labels in different languages. Multilingual barcode labels need multilingual printers like the Uni-code enabled printers that are capable of international character printing.

Thermal printing technology, using thermal transfer or direct thermal is the best for high quality and durable barcode labels.

About the Author

http://emobilescan.co. Handheld barcode scanner is convenient since it allows you to carry it wherever you are thus you are not limited to working in a desk.

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