Question to Help my Business. NB.

[Alistairr]

Very sorry about this non-boaty post.

But i know this place is a wealth of information, and people work in a vast amount of different industries.

So i was wondering if anyone on here knows much about Barcoding systems and there Software. The type of thing you see in shop.

I want look into setting up a Barcode system for my Warehouse, Scan all goods coming in and going out.
At the moment our Stock Control is all written by hand, each and every individual item, And usually by myself. And every year at this time(End of our Financial Year) I need to do a pysical manual Stocktaking.
Correct me if i'm wrong but if i had a barcoding system in place, I would just need to scan each item and it would be logged in the software automatically, Yes??
It would save time having to write down each item, quantity,Order no. Make, Model no., Description, Fabric no., Wood finish, Size, Individual cost, Extended cost, Retail Price and any other info i need. Surely zapping each item would be so much quicker??

I know the initial input is very time consuming, but sure once thats done it must be a lot better.

So basically i'm hoping that some one this forum specializes in this sort of equipment and can give me some advice.

Cheers

Alistair.

I know there are to many NB poats at the moment, but at the moment business has overtaken pleasure, and its a pain in the Arse!!!!

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[jimi]

Roughly how many stock movements do you have a year, and how many items in stock at any one time?

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[jfm]

Not my expertise so little to say but (a) those new radio frequency tags might be better than barcodes and (b) you might still have to do physical inventory count but of course it will be made easier by the codes/tags (c) you need to get your suppliers involved dont you, so they can ship product to you with tags/codes already attached, I mean why bark yourself if you've got a dog?

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[danielbroad]

I work in the IT department for a logistics company, dealing with the interfaces between external companies systems and our own.

What you're describing is a Warehouse Management System, which are available in many flavours. At the expensive end they will interface with wireless handheld terminals to help staff pick orders, move stock around the warehouse, accept goods inwards and do stock checks - in our experience the implementation of such a system is not for the faint hearted. I hear Argos even have one warehouse run by robots which are instructed around by the system....

Daniel.



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[Mariner]

We use (and can supply ;-)) Wasp Barcoding Products.
Lots of information on their website at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.waspbarcode.co.uk>http://www.waspbarcode.co.uk</A>.
Gary

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[Alistairr]

Stock movements per week, Don't know exactly, but must be around 500 in and out. And Stock in the warehouse must be about 4000 items or so.

See we only take a pysical stock take once a year, I feel we need to keep an eye on it better, and possible take it 2 to 3 times a year.

We are only a small one outlet family business.

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[martynwhiteley]

This is the only thing you need to know about Barcodes, Alistair...










...IT'S YOUR ROUND /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[Alistairr]

Daniel, Thats sounds pretty much what i need, but maybe to professional for our use.

jfm, I've not heard about the new Radio Frequency Tags,
Some of our Suppliers use Barcodes, but not all. If its has a barcode, then it would be good to just scan it in, then put it away on the racking, Or if no Barcode, have a printer make one and stick it on to the item before moving it away.

Is this possible, and do you know any more about the Radio Frequency Tags?


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[Alistairr]

Gary, that looks exactly what i'm looking for, and its seems to be a lot cheaper than i thought it would be.
Can you recommend which system it is i would need from what i've said above?

I'm not sure, but is it the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.waspbarcode.co.uk/asset_management/mobile_asset_combo_wpa206.asp#>Mobile Asset WPA206 Combo Pack</A> That would probably work well in our business??

Many thanks for everyones help.

Alistair.


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[mainshiptom]

we have been using barcodes on magazines for about 12 years now !

Works a treat !

All our transctions are edi and no confusion between products and prices !

Tom

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[Mariner]

The SPT1800 which is a bit cheaper is also suitable or even one of the Inventory packages would suit. Really depends on the features you want and the time you want to put in developing the system. Once it is set up its quite easy.

Gary

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[TrueBlue]

At last - a small enterprise looking to modernise

Methinks RfID's may be a tad to expensive for your size of business. The technology is still in its infancy and seems more suited to Tesco than you.

Barcodes are much more "universal", remember that you'll have to generate a label for every stock item that comes in without one, and that's not a problem.

Whatever you do take some time to evaluate the process from beginning to end, suppliers of equipment need to connect to your existing stock control (?) system / accounting system, and you may need more PCs to make the whole scheme sensible (i.e. to produce any benefits).

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[gonfishing]

Many years ago I used to sell EPOS equipment to clubs, shops, etc. So I can see no reason why you cannot contact your nearest cash register / till repair man who will have the necessary technical know how and be able to supply everything you need. I used to work for Key systems who I think are now a National company.
Should be a lot cheaper now as at the time when I was involved it was cutting edge stuff!!!!



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[Cymraeg]

Bar codes are just a machine readable representation of a number. Bar code readers are available (try PC World even) to connect to a PC which will 'translate' the bar code into a number and enter it into the software. This number will then tally with your stock system (for the scale you mention I would look at TAS Books, SAGE etc. for PC based accounting packages). Some laser printers come with a bar code font built in, nearly all can have them added as a soft font. Be careful here, though, as there are a couple of slightly different bar coding standards. So, if you already have a PC in the warehouse (and it doesn't need to be the latest warp factor 10 job) then the software, a scanner and a printer's all you need. Hope this helps.

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[Lozzer]

Alistairr

These can be expensive solutions to buy but as some people have said already there are some cheap ones available.

Warning!!! Do your research well, get companies in to demonstrate to you their products, ask them the tough questions, make them give you a ROI to show what value they will deliver to your business. AND cheapest is not always best, there could be something missing from there solution

On a downside you will still have to do a physical stock control for the auditors that is life I am afraid. But if you have a stock location program at least you will have an idea of where to look for stock.

Implementation might be painful for 6 months but it will be worth it in the end, you might even get more time to go boating oh and by the way you might be able to do better forecasting for purchasing ie buy when you need rather than all up front. Not sure of your business so this could be incorrect sorry if it is.

One person mentioned Argos, there solution I can assure you was very expensive, I work for the hardware manufacturer who provided the server technology....
Good luck with it..

One final thing, get a bloody good support contract, hold the suppliers feet to the fire on implementation and then relax.....

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[TrueBlue]

It's not the equipment that's the problem; if you want to save time and effort you should really use the EAN (European Article Number), so that goods coming in define themselves; that need software to access the EAN database, then you need a stock location facility, so you not only have "what is it" but "where is it", then you need a facility to print out stock take sheets etc, etc.

None of this is rocket science, but packages to do all of this may come at a price and are probably deficient in one area or another. Hence do your research carefully. If you dfon't have at least the facilities outlined above, you may not be achieveing anything worthwhile.

I distrust packages because they are not really flexible and have functional holes in them. However, at your business level there isn't much choice.

I've written several stock systems in my time but the only hardware system that I will use is not fashionable any more, so I end up crying in the wilderness.

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[halcyon]

The wife found this thread funny, when she left the computor firm in 85 to come down Cornwall they had a bar system then.
They were selling it to breweries, they had what was a computor in a briefcase and a bar code reader, scan the stock, enter quantity, generate order, funny how times do not change.
At that point in time (1985), she could send a message to a person in the States, and it came out at there terminal only. If a customer had a system problem, she down loaded there files via the modem to her machine, sorted out the problem and uploaded it back via modem. They were also working on self programming units, you told them what you wanted in plain English, and the computor wrote it's self a programme.
Funny how solw the world actually moves at.


Brian

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