5 Benefits of Barcode Scanning for Supply Chain

5 Benefits of Barcode Scanning for Supply Chain

Written by Deepak Bhagat, In Business, Updated On
November 11th, 2022
, 357 Views

A barcode scanner is an electronic instrument used to scan the barcode of a product. The barcode contains all the product information, including price, size, SKU, manufacturing date, expiry date, manufacturer’s name, country of origin, and product quantity.

The barcode makes it easier to keep count of, track, and account for each product in the inventory. Whenever a customer buys a product, the cashier scans that product’s barcode to deduct it from the inventory and includes it in sold items.

The scanner includes a light source that lights up when it detects a barcode and uses a lens to scan it, including all its information. The photoconductor inside the device translates optical into electrical impulses, making it easier for the decoder to send data to the host server.

It helps businesses streamline their supply chain operations and track their inventory levels. It plays a special part in minimizing human errors, eliminating double entries, and making fast deliveries while ensuring timely service.

In highly competitive markets, smart deliveries, efficient warehousing, and inventory levels matter a lot, especially when companies experience a high surge in demand during sales. Barcode scanners make the process faster, seamless, and effortless. Therefore, let us look into some benefits of it.

Top 5 Benefits of Barcode Scanning for Supply Chain

5 Benefits of Barcode Scanning for Supply Chain

  • Improves the Workflow

With automatic tracking of your inventory using a simple barcode scanner or with a  bluetooth barcode scanner, workflows are sure to improve. You can ensure data transmission and see which SKUs are in the inventory, which are in transition, and which are sold. It minimizes downtime and makes the job of workers a lot easier.

With a barcode scanner, they have to scan the barcode at each point from production to inventory to store and when sold. All the product information uploaded on the servers makes tracking easier.

  • Improves Picking Accuracy

When a business deals with thousands of daily orders, human error is impossible to avoid. With a barcode system, you can eliminate errors and make the picking process accurate.

Suppose a customer orders a cashmere sweater in a certain color and size among various colors and sizes. In that case, a barcode scanner can accurately pick the right SKU from piles of inventory. Even though an efficient inventory organization plays a major part in accurate picking, a barcode scanner makes finding a needle in a haystack a lot easier.

It ensures that the right product reaches the customer. Nothing is more unpleasant than a customer complaining about receiving the wrong product and leaving bad reviews online. Save yourself from that trouble and save the cost of exchanging the item for your company and the customer.

  • Enhanced Security

Your inventory is your main and most important company asset. Without it, you would not have a business to run. If you experience cargo theft, damage, or loss, without the barcode and its scanner, it might be impossible to trace, and you would end up losing business.

Just like the barcode technology lets you track your inventory and shipments; it also helps accurately predict the product’s location.

Therefore, integrating your inventory management software with barcode technology ensures the safety and security of your precious cargo. The barcode scanners keep a log of every scan operation by the user with the timestamp and location in transit. It allows complete transparency and visibility to the supply chain and warehouse managers.

You can use the last log information to track the product’s location and trace it from there. So, whatever happens, your inventory items will remain safe as long as it has a barcode on them.

  • Improves Warehouse Efficiency

5 Benefits of Barcode Scanning for Supply Chain

In addition to accurate picking, barcode scanners can help streamline warehouse operations. With thousands of products and their variants, manually managing them can be a daunting task. Moreover, it will lead to shipping delays, errors, and misplacement, slowing business operations.

With a barcode inventory system, you can easily have an eyeball account of all items in the server connected to the barcode scanners that collect barcode information.

Moreover, you can collect and prepare multiple orders simultaneously using barcode scanners. This process is possible with a batch system. The supply chain manager and the workers organize inventories on an order basis as soon as they receive a shipment from production. It works well for pre-orders and customized orders. The old orders get precedence over new orders and get organized and shipped accordingly, minimizing delivery timelines.

Moreover, with the order information stored in the same server as barcode information, the shipping manager can group orders from the same area into one category, leading to efficient transit.

  • Real-Time Visibility

Whenever supply chain workers scan the barcodes of each item, the information instantaneously transmits to the cloud or the hosting server system. The elimination of delays makes it possible to scan batches and different categories of items simultaneously and with minimal downtime.

It is especially convenient for retail and grocery stores that scan thousands of grocery items daily. It speeds up the billing process as each item scanned automatically displays the number of SKUs, price, and quantity. The same system shifts the items recorded in the inventory as sold and converted to revenue. It further does inventory valuation and accounting a much easier process.

Moreover, the salespeople can quickly assess the sales made daily without manual processes. It also allows the inventory manager to assess inventory levels and order quantity for the next day or week.

Conclusion

Barcode scanners offer numerous benefits to businesses. Every product-selling business has to manage its most important asset: inventory. It cannot do that without barcode technology.

It improves the company’s workflow and minimizes downtime between operations and shifts. It improves the picking accuracy of the product to ensure that the customer receives the right item. Moreover, it eliminates the chances of theft or loss with the tracking system.

You can use barcode scanners to improve warehouse efficiency and prepare multiple orders simultaneously. Lastly, it offers real-time visibility to grocery stores and convenience store outlets with the ability to assess sales and inventory levels.

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