Here’s something I learned about myself yesterday: I am a barcode geek, and I don’t care who knows it.
I had to laugh at myself for getting perhaps a little overly excited when I received a call from a warehouse/distributor who really needs to implement a simple, automated data collection system for monthly and quarterly inventory counts. It’s been almost two years since I first met with them, and they are still doing physical counts on paper and a person has to type information into a PC. Many of the SKU’s are very similar, and it takes a significant amount of time for a human to read and distinguish between the numbers. Management tells me they know there are errors and omissions, but they do not know the extent of the problem. They have no idea what’s in stock most of the time, no idea if anyone’s stealing from them. Worst, they have to shut down the business for a week each quarter just to count inventory!
As their barcode scanning and inventory management consultant, I get to design and install an extremely basic count system and train their staff. So why should I be all excited? The solution is not a huge warehouse management system with recurring revenue that will make Team BRS and our descendants wealthy beyond our dreams for generations. But, this is a very simple yet powerful tool that will easily track inventory from the time it arrives at receiving to the time it’s shipped out. A warehouse employee will scan his/her ID badge, the item’s barcode label and the shelf/rack location label, all of which they will print inhouse on a thermal printer. A wireless handheld device will capture, store and transmit the data to the database, in real time or batched, automatically, without any typing (nor errors). Best of all, they will NOT have to shut down 20 days per year to do an inaccurate, meaningless count. I really (really really) hope they will share in my excitement! If I do my job properly, they will soon begin to wonder what they waited for, and be afraid to go back and add up the savings they could have had over the years.
On the other hand – if they decide to put it off another year, I may need to shut my office door and have a good cry.
Then I’ll pick myself up, dust myself off, and smile – thankful that there are so many other warehouses and manufacturing plants in really bad shape, who could use a good barcode geek around. If you are one of them, rest assured your local barcode man is standing by and won’t mind giving away some free advice – he’s a geek and will actually enjoy your free consultation. The success is in the journey!
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Tags: barcode, inventory, inventory count, label, mobile computer, scan, scanner, track, warehouse, wireless
