February 09, 2012

Bar Coding Your Maintenance Inventory

The other day I had a client ask about bar coding their Maintenance Inventory.  He wanted his Inventory numbers to the be same as the vendor and/or manufacturer bar coded numbers already on the boxes. Simply scan them when they are received.  Although that might work for some vendors, I told him it probably wasn’t a good idea.

My reasoning?  Well, think of how much time it would take to maintain the list of maintenance Inventory numbers matched up with a list of bar coded vendor numbers  For example, Widget100 may have 4 different numbers from 4 different vendors. Not only that, the vendor numbers change like the wind.  Some vendors combine multiple orders into a single bar coded box.  Another problem: the numbering schemes between vendors would greatly differ, and any hope of figuring out his own Inventory numbering scheme  would quickly dissolve into a pointless crusade.

So, I suggested to print his bar code labels as while he received the items, if his CMMS/ERP provides that feature.  When finished, he can stock the parts and have the labels ready to go.  Not sure if that was the best solution, but it seemed to work for him.