Businesses rely on barcode inventory systems to organize and manage everything from inventory to incoming shipments. While barcode systems are great, not all are created equal.
A bad system or one that is poorly set up can leave your business in a sticky situation both figuratively and literally. Without a good system in place, you will quickly find yourself confused and disorganized.
Fortunately, there are plenty of things that you can do to set up a barcode inventory system that works great. If you are looking to get your business in order, read on for some useful tips.
Selecting the Right Barcode Equipment
To select the right barcode equipment for your business, you need to first understand your business’s inventory system. Once you have the right equipment, you need to create barcodes for your products. You can either purchase pre-made barcodes or create your own.
Once you have your barcodes, convert them from aspx to pdf and print them out, then affix them to your products. Also, you need to train your employees on how to use the barcode scanner.
Defining Your Inventory Needs
To start a barcode inventory system, you will first need to determine what your inventory needs are. This can be done by doing a physical count of your inventory or by using sales data to determine what needs to be inventoried. Once you have determined what needs to be inventoried, you will need to purchase a barcode scanner and barcode labels.
Then you need to create a barcode for each item in your inventory and attach the label to the item. You will need to scan each item into your inventory management.
Research Barcode Software
When you have a comprehensive database of your current stock on hand, the next step is to select a software program from which to generate barcodes for your items. The following is a list of popular barcoding software systems.
- Finale Inventory
- Fishbowl
- QuickBooks
- Clear Spider
- Square
Implementing Your Barcode System
To put a barcode inventory management system into action, you will need to acquire and set up barcode scanners and printers, as well as put into action a barcode labeling system and barcode software. In addition to this, you will need to provide your personnel with training on how to make use of the system.
Define SKUs and Variants
SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) are just code numbers that identify different products. Variants are slightly different versions of the same product. Once you have defined your SKUs and variants, you need to create barcodes for each one.
You can either do this yourself or hire a company to do it for you. Once the barcodes are created, you need to print them out and affix them to each product.
Keep Track of Barcode Inventory System
Barcode inventory systems keep track of stock easily and efficiently. By scanning items as they come in and out of the store, you can get an accurate picture of what needs to be ordered and what is selling. To get started, you will need to select equipment, define inventory needs, research, implement your system and define SKUs and variants.
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