Use of bar coding technology has grown dramatically over the last several years … and for good reason. Once a luxury available only to large companies with equally large IT budgets, widespread adoption of bar code technology has lead to lowered costs and a wider range of choices and features available to small and medium-sized businesses. Let’s explore why bar code technology is so important.
Essentially bar coding provides a fast, accurate, and automated way of collecting data and
transferring that information to your Sage 100 ERP system. Even the most tight-fisted
operations manager can appreciate the benefits of eliminating manual keystrokes, reducing
labor costs, and eliminating errors. In fact while a bar code scanner can collect and record data faster than a speeding bullet, the error rate is only about 1 in 3 million. This level of accuracy can have far reaching affects. Consider the example of a customer that receives an over shipment, under shipment, or just the wrong order due to a data entry error. You’re now in a position where you incur additional shipping costs for the returned items as well as labor costs to process the return and re-process the correct order. Not to mention the “soft” cost of a potentially unhappy customer. By all accounts, companies that have implemented bar code technology have significantly reduced or completely eliminated these situations.
Perhaps nowhere else is bar code technology more beneficial than in the warehouse where personnel are picking inventory, shipping and receiving goods, conducting physical counts, and many other activities that require frequent data collection and subsequent manual data entry into the Sage 100 ERP system.
But the speed, accuracy, and other benefits of bar coding are not limited to the warehouse. Manufacturers can implement bar coding on the shop floor where work-in-progress, materials, and labor are tracked by scanning a routing sheet with bar codes on them. If you process payroll in-house, you can eliminate manual entry of payroll data by capturing time and attendance using bar codes on employee badges. Finally, bar coding your fixed assets can lead to better tracking and more accurate physical asset inventories which can lower your property taxes.
In addition to some of the “hard” savings discussed above, the “soft” benefits of bar coding can help improve employee morale by automating boring jobs like repetitive data entry, improve customer service with up-to-date information on product availability, and significantly improve efficiency.
There are a variety of bar code solutions, from very simple to highly sophisticated, that meet the needs of a wide range of operations. From the basic bar code reader attached to a computer that reads one item at a time to a deluxe warehouse management system with wireless handheld devices and 2-way communication with your accounting system, you get to choose how much automation and accuracy provides the right fit for your business.
Contact us to learn more about the integrated bar coding solutions that we implement for small and mid-sized companies.
Today, business functions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Human Resource Management (HRM) all rely heavily on having the right information at our fingertips. And of course every business revolves around its financial information—and all the inherent implications it represents. So, managing that information successfully and profitably couldn’t be more important.
At Walpole, our Software Specialists are here to help you manage this information with customized software solutions.
MAS 90, MAS200, MAS500, ACCPAC, FAS, ABRA, SAGE CRM