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Barcoding De-Mystified

Barcoding; save time and money for your business

How much do you know about barcodes from the perspective of a 3PL business, that is, using RF (Radio Frequency) scanning to receive stock as it arrives at the warehouse?

In this day and age, we are all very familiar with seeing barcodes on items.  I want to talk about their use and why they are so important.

We had a client once who sent us tiny plastic tubs of product paste which they sold in single units and also in a pack of six.  Each little tub had its own barcode printed onto the side.  Six of them were shrink-wrapped together, often with all their barcodes.  Two of the packs of six  were put inside a non-barcoded shipper carton.  It was uncanny just how often the barcode was not showing through the shrink-wrap when it came time to scan a six-pack for an order.  We had to destroy the shrink-wrapping to get at the tub to turn it around so we could get a line of sight to the barcode and then enter the quantity of 6 for the order.  Slowed us down so much!

Usually, the product or its retail packaging has the barcode printed onto it.  Putting your products inside a sealed shipper box when shipping your products to your 3PL partner,  can mean that scan-receiving is quite slow.  The 3PL staff members need to open the shipper boxes to retrieve your barcoded products to scan-receive them, taking precious time.  RF scanning requires a clear ‘line of sight’ between the scanner and the product (as opposed to RFID scanning, but more on that later).

Let’s assume that your shipper carton holds twelve of your barcoded products. The solution to the slow scenario above is to create an additional barcode that represents twelve of your stock items.   Printing this additional barcode onto the outside of your shipper carton means that when the shipper cartons arrive at the warehouse, the RF scanner shows a quantity of twelve every time the shipper carton’s barcode is scanned.

Even if you use unbranded, unprinted shipper cartons, if you liaise with your 3PL partner you can still save yourself a lot of time and money.  They can print the quantity barcodes.  When the cartons arrive they affix them.  This saves the need to open the shipper cartons.  It means an incoming pallet can go straight up onto the racks, and above all, it saves time.

So how do you get started in saving time? Glad you asked the question. Here’s a brief overview of how the system works.

The GS1 system

The GS1 system is a set of standards for the unique identification of all trade items, services, logistic units, consignments, assets, documents, relationships, parties and locations at every point in the supply chain.

It is very simple in theory and practice.

Depending on your annual turnover, you can get one barcode number or thousands.  You pay a yearly licence fee for your barcode numbers at the start of July each year. The fee depends on your turnover and the number of barcodes you’ve licenced.

There’s much more to the GS1 system than just barcodes. At its heart is an interlinked system of rock-solid standards to help you streamline your supply chain. These standards enable you to improve your business processes internally, through greater accuracy, cost efficiencies and readiness to market.

Did you know?

The beep of the GS1 barcode is heard over 6 billion times a day around the world.

Here is a link to GS1’s website explainer – I have also included some valuable information from GS1’s website.

There are many different GS1 ID keys.

There are different GS1 ID Keys to suit different uses. You can use GS1 ID Keys to identify anything from a product or place to a consignment note, pallet or crate.

Barcode Technology

Most businesses are familiar with the barcode inventory system as a means of managing and tracking stock inventory. In retail sales, the use of barcode also allows for swift checkout.  The bottom line is that these days, major retailers won’t accept your products if they are not barcoded.

Barcodes require the use of an optical barcode reader or scanner. The scanner decodes the barcode’s black bars, which generally represent a series of numbers. The decoded information is sent to a computer, which interprets the numbers. This information typically contains data regarding the manufacturer, the product, and, when applicable, the price.

To scan a barcode, it must be oriented properly and the scanner must have an unobstructed view of it. This is referred to as the line of sight. Without a clear line of sight, the scanner may be unable to read the barcode. This is one of the primary differences between a barcode inventory system and RFID, as the latter does not require a line of sight.

RFID Technology

Radio frequency identification or RFID technology reads information by using radio frequencies as opposed to an optical laser. RFID inventory management systems require tags and an RFID reader.

Each RFID tag contains a microchip that holds information about the item to which it is associated. The most widely used and inexpensive tags, passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) tags, typically will only contain a basic identification number; other RFID tags are capable of holding up to 8 KB of data, anything from price to colour, manufacturing date, shipping date, expiration date, maintenance history, and more. Each tag includes a radio antenna that allows it to receive signals from a reader.

In a passive RFID system, the reader, which also has its own antenna, sends out radio signals that activate tags that come within range. Readers receive the signals that are bounced back from the tag and are able to capture the unique identification information about the item or asset. In some cases, the reader is also able to write or encode information directly onto the tags. Software on the reader is then able to pass information about the item information to an organization’s back-end systems.

Lastly some information on the meanings of common terms:

  • GS1 – this is the name of the not for profit organisation that develops and maintains global standards for business communication.
  • GTIN – Global Trade Item Number. This can refer to the EAN, UPC or other standard codes.
  • EAN – European Article Number (a barcode standard, 12 or 13 digit product identification code). This is the usual standard barcode used in Australia and the rest of the world, except for USA and Canada.
  • UPC – UPC barcodes are 12 digit barcodes and are used exclusively in the United States and Canada. You can convert from UPC to EAN, but not the other way around.