Find It! Ship It! Error Free!Inventory taking tracking and correction using inventory bar codes on product items is the first business application that was developed. Reading barcodes at it's simplest is to use a handheld scanner or cordless handgun scanner and this is often sufficient for a small retail or warehouse application. On the other hand larger operations require an inherent-software data collector for medium enterprises, and in the case of a large scale operation a wireless mobile computer may well be necessary. Barcodes provide a fast and easy way to enter data in to a management system accurately. This technique is called automatic data collection. Products can be tracked efficiently and accurately far faster than manual data entry. This process is truly automatic, occurring instantaneously as a transaction or process takes place. This is known as real-time data capture and exchange and,for all practical purposes, is error free. Over the past 20 years, barcoding has become a necessity for the collection and processing of information in a quick and timely manner and has dramatically increased productivity. Encoded barcode data can consist of a part number, serial number, supplier number, quantity, transaction code, or other type of data. Barcode standards have been developed and refined over the years into in to what are known as symbologies. Numerous barcode trade associations, like (ANSI) American National Standards Institute, (HIBC) Health Industry barcode Council and (AIAG) Automotive Industry Action Group, have subsequently been established to regulate the use of barcode symbologies in specific industries. Barcode symbologies come in two basic varieties. They can be either linear or two dimensional in their configuration. A linear barcode symbology consists of a single row of dark lines and white spaces of varying but specified width and height. 2-Dimensional symbology can be configured into a stacked or matrix format. Two dimensional barcodes are rectangular codes which "stack" information to allow more information storage in a smaller amount of space. Inventory management software capabilities can range from tracking item usage in a single location to a fully integrated, real-time material management system in a multi-facility warehousing operation. Typical inventory management systems perform basic inventory control, receiving and shipping functions at an individual item level. These solutions are normally stand-alone applications that perform only these specific functions and offer little or no integration with other systems. Included are tethered or cordless barcode scanners or batch-type portable data collectors for data capture. In the larger warehouse application there will be integration with other management systems that are employed. This will depend on the inherent design features of the overall system and the type of input devices and tracking mechanisms available. At it's simplest control over inventory has to be capable of identifying and tracking the following typical aspects: * Inventory Moves (bin to bin) * Inventory Transfers (site to site) * Define Locations * Physical Inventory * Cycle Count * Single Unit of Measure (UOM) per Part Number Shipping: * Sales Order Entry, Edit, Delete * Picking * Manage Customer Information Receiving * Purchase Order (PO) Entry, Edit, Delete * Manual Putaway * Suggested Putaway * Manage Vendor Information * Identifies inventory on a Part Number/Quantity bases |