Enhancing your Workforce With Wearable Mobile Computers
As businesses strive for greater efficiency and accuracy in every warehouse application, wearable mobile computers are becoming a more popular option to further empower any workforce. Workers armed with  wireless, hands-free mobile computers can achieve new levels of error-proof productivity, operational efficiency and accuracy.
Like any other mobile device, wearable mobile computers provide the same computing and wireless connectivity while freeing up the users hands for other tasks. This allows you to scan and collect data while still being able to use both hands for picking parts or products resulting in less interruptions to the task at hand.
Common Accessories for your iPad POS System
One of the most common appeals of an iPad based POS system is the reduced cost and space involved. Keeping focused on functional necessity ultimately makes for a more streamlined and efficient tool for your business. That said, there are some accessories that are still essential to ensure you have the most functional POS system to meet your daily business needs.
Barcode Verification: Protect Important Partnerships
We have all heard a legion of tales about the importance of barcode verification. Many of the stories follow a similar path: verify and prevent problems—end of story. But in the real world that is not always the end of the story—it often is more interesting than that. Here is one such scenario:
XYZ Labels LLC (not the actual company name) did business with a healthcare device manufacturer for many years. The barcoded labels were used on a packaging line. The label printer enjoyed a reputation as a quality shop and had a rude awakening with a batch of bad barcodes which they replaced at great expense. The seeds of loss, financial, reputational and self confidence, sprouted a new crop of self-examination and diligence around quality assurance, and the plant manager led the charge by buying verifiers for each press and training each press operator how to use them.
Quiet Logistics Improves Data Collection with BarcodesInc and Honeywell’s SL22 iPod Scanner Case
Quiet Logistics, an eCommerce fulfillment provider of choice for leading brands and e-tailers, was looking for a solution to improve the efficiency of data collection in their warehouse by utilizing a cost effective mobile device like the Apple iPod. One of the main obstacles they faced was finding a way to add accurate barcode scanning to the iPods while also protecting them from everyday handling and use.
BarcodesInc provided a solution utilizing the Honeywell Captuvo SL22 ipod barcode scanner case to help Quiet Logistics attain the same level of performance and reliability they provide their own customers without the costs involved with dedicated rugged mobile computers.
For assistance finding the right data collection solution for your business, contact us at Barcodes Inc.
Auto-Star Partners With Motion Computing To Offer Mobile POS Solution
In today’s competitive retail market, keeping up with industry trends is imperative and retailers who adopt early are able to meet their customer’s growing expectations. Auto-Star Compusystems Inc., an innovative developer of point of sale software, and Motion Computing, a leading global provider of mobile technology, are pleased to announce the certification of the Star-Plus POS and the Motion CL910 and F5te Tablet PC. Together, the solution offers retailers the latest in mobile point of sale technology.
Durable and lightweight, the CL 910 and F5te tablets can be equipped with a barcode scanner and magnetic stripe reader, allowing retailers to easily scan products, check inventory and update pricing information on the go. In addition, retailers are able to process transactions and capture customer data from anywhere on the selling floor, providing them with a dynamic line busting tool. This significantly decreases wait times for customers, enhancing their buying experience, while also reducing the stresses placed on traditional cash lines.
Barcode Warehouse Management Software
Barcode warehouse management software is used to control the movement and storage of products or goods within a warehouse and process the associated transactions including, but not limited to, shipping, receiving, put away and picking through the use of barcode automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology.
Warehouse management systems manage the following core functions:
- Receiving – The ability to properly handle a shipment when it arrives. This process can be individualized to each warehouse or product type. In some cases, goods are not received into a facility, but rather cross-docked, which is a logistics procedure where products from a supplier or manufacturing plant are distributed directly to a customer or retail chain with marginal to no handling or storage time. Cross docking takes place in a distribution docking terminal; usually consisting of trucks and dock doors on two (inbound and outbound) sides with minimal storage space. The name ‘cross docking’ explains the process of receiving products through an inbound dock and then transferring them across the dock to the outbound transportation dock.
- Put Away – Put-away is normally thought of as the process of moving received inventory from the dock, kitting area, or production department to a storage bin. The put-away process is also used to relocate inventory within the warehouse and to replenish dedicated storage bins with inventory from a reserve storage bin. Any time inventory is being placed in a storage bin it is being put away. System directed put-away is when the WMS chooses the destination storage bin rather than the operator.
- Inventory – Inventory Technology refers to the supervision of supply, storage and accessibility of items in order to ensure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply. It also helps companies keep lost sales to a minimum by having enough stock on hand to meet demand. The inventory can be real-time or in the form of a cycle count, which is an audit procedure designed to verify the inventory accuracy for a small subset of inventory in a specific location on a specific day, thus providing an ongoing measure of inventory accuracy.
- Picking – Picking consists of taking and collecting articles in a specified quantity before shipment to satisfy a customer’s order. The following are different types of picking:
- Piece Picking (or Pick to Part) – Order pickets move to collect the products necessary for one order.
- Zone Picking – Each order picker is assigned to one specific zone and will only realize order picking within this zone.
- Wave Picking – Order picker moves to collect the products necessary for several orders.
- Sorting Systems Method – No movement of the order picker, as the products are brought to picker by an automatic system.
- Pick to Box Method – No movement of the order picker, as the picking area is organized so that there are a number of picking stations connected by a conveyor. The order picker fills the box with the products from his station and the box moves to the other picking stations until he customer order is complete.
- Packing – Packing occurs after the picking process and entails prepping a product or good for shipment by re-packaging, affixing with a shipping label, including an invoice and staging in preparation for shipment. Additionally, for certain goods or customers, there may be the requirement for kit building.
- Shipping – Shipping entails the delivery of the right product or good to the right customer or location using the right method of shipment, all while minimizing the cost. If a customer is doing their own delivery, incorporating proof of delivery allows for more accurate information and quicker confirmation to the customer. Furthermore, our software has the ability to integrate shipment tracking for customers.
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How 2D Barcode Scanning Can Benefit your Business
Scanning Basics: From Laser to Imager
Whether you’re aware of it or not, barcodes are one of the most influential technologies of the 20th century. The simple black and white bars you find on every product have helped usher in a level of efficiency that has allowed for large scale tracking around the globe. Many businesses would not be possible to run without the humble barcode. Keeping track of anything accurately is almost unimaginable without barcodes.
Historically, laser-based scanners were used to read barcodes. These laser scanners are still found in many applications today. While there have been advances in the speed and accuracy of laser scanners, the technology is still essentially the same it was when it was first developed in the ‘70s.
Today however, there are two technologies used in readers for barcode scanning: lasers and imagers. Imagers offer several improvements over the traditional laser while also providing important new capabilities, such as being able to read 2D barcodes. Imagers may have been used only in special cases in the past, but today, the advantages they provide over lasers can help improve almost any scanning application.
Barcode Inventory Management Software
Barcode inventory management software is used to supervise the supply, storage and accessibility of items in order to ensure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply through the use of barcode automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology.
Inventory systems consist of the following core components:
- Inventory Software – Software is the backbone of any system and will determine what features and options are available. When choosing inventory software you want to consider reporting detail and whether or not the software supports batch or real-time updates, as well as whether it needs to be integrated with an ERP system. Lastly, you want to determine whether a premise or cloud-based software is more ideal for your business.
- Mobile Computer – Inventory goods are located in different “bins†throughout a business. A mobile device allows you to have all the information you need to make decisions on when, where and how much to re-order.
- Barcode Printer – Inventory come in all shapes, sizes and quantities. Barcode printers are designed to print labels to meet every business size and print volume.
- Consumables – All inventory goods need a unique identifier on them to be properly tracked. Barcodes are the easiest and most cost effective option, while being capable of meeting environmental and regulatory requirements.
When evaluating barcode inventory management software, it is best to consider a cloud-based inventory management solution. Some of the benefits of cloud-based software include reduced capital expenditures, painless and cost-free software updates, lowered IT costs (i.e. no need to house multiple servers) and improved accessibility to the data through the Internet.
If you’re looking for a cloud-based barcode inventory management software that can fulfill all of your inventory requirements, look no further than BarcodesInc’s topShelf. TopShelf is an inventory, warehouse management, route accounting, asset tracking and online ordering application that caters to small up to enterprise-sized businesses. Our barcode inventory management software has the ability to integrate with ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, etc.), Accounting systems (Sage, Quickbooks, etc.), CRM systems (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.) and eCommerce Systems (Channel Advisor, Shopify, Amazon).
To request a demo of topShelf or request more information on our barcode inventory management software, contact us at Barcodes Inc.
Aldelo Touch Supports Star Micronics’s Mobile Products
Aldelo Touch, a full-featured POS solution designed for Apple’s iPad and iPad Mini has been updated with support for Star Micronics SM-S220i Bluetooth mobile printer, SM-T300i Bluetooth mobile printer, TSP143LAN Ethernet desktop printer and DK-AirCash peripheral for secure wireless cash drawer control.
Aldelo provides the next generation in restaurant point of sale technology designed exclusively for mobility, flexibility and simplicity. Incorporating the latest technologies with user-friendly interface designs, unbelievable flexibility and accessible cloud office, Aldelo Touch provides full restaurant capabilities without compromise.
What is Apple MFi Certification and Why is it Important?
Apple’s MFi Program (“Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad”) is a licensing program for developers of hardware and software peripherals that work with Apple’s iPod, iPad, iPad mini and iPhone, the so-called iDevices. The name is a shortened version of the original long-form Made For iPod. Companies joining the MFi program are required to pass certain requirements and certification tests. Once approved by Apple, they are able to display certain MFi-related logos on their product packaging.
Using a MFi certified receipt printer ensures full compatibility with Apple devices and an easier set-up with more features in any mobile application.
