Bar Codes and Scanners in the Stores

Here at Variohm, we are always looking into new ways of thinking and working to help our customers and our employees.

We have recently implemented a new procedure in our stores department, using barcodes and scanners for serial numbers, this was based on requests from some of our customers but we are hoping to use it across the board as it has been successful so far.

The system itself comprises of a scanner and a barcode printer, the serial numbers are transferred from the scanner to the computer via Bluetooth.

Listening to our Customers

Earlier in the year, two of our customers; Orbit Merret and Red Forge requested that the serial numbers on the products that they receive from us be encoded into a bar code. We looked into the feasibility of this idea to help our customers and have decided to adopt a new bar code system. This means that when products undergo their inward inspection on being received, a bar code will be added containing the serial number.

The new barcode and scanner system has been linked to our despatch software, so that when goods are being despatched, the barcodes are scanned and the serial number is logged in our system and on customer paper work, saving time and minimising errors.

The new bar codes can be scanned by our customers when they receive the goods which will save them time and ensure there is traceability throughout and reduce the risk of transcription errors.   

Saving time for our Employees

Previously we were writing these serial numbers on by hand when receiving goods and copying them on to the customer packing note when despatching goods. This was time consuming for our warehouse employees and left lots of room for error, especially when some of the products we receive are delivered in batches of 100, each with a unique serial number.

We would keep hard copies of the serial numbers in our filing system but they wouldn’t be stored on our computer system, this meant that lots of time was wasted if there was a serial number discrepancy as we would be rooting through the files.   

Alan Gilbert our Warehouse Manager has been in charge of installing and implementing the new scanner and barcode system, he sought advice from both Red Forge and Orbit Merret when selecting and installing the new system, he says “We have certainly noticed the difference and time saving when despatching large orders.”

We are looking forward to using our new barcode and scanner system with all of the products we distribute as it is already saving us time and we are adhering to our customer requests.