McNeilus Steel, one of the largest steel suppliers in the Midwest, needed to upgrade their warehouse processes to improve order accuracy inventory visibility. More specifically, customers began wanting more accurate proof of pull and ship, documentation that includes the chemical composition of the steel based on test reports from the mill. After searching for the answer, McNeilus discovered Barcoding Inc., a Solutions Integrator with expertise in providing complete automated data collection solutions.

In order to meet McNeilus’ needs, Barcoding Inc. decided on a solution that would integrate barcode technology with pre-existing IT infrastructure and warehouse processes by using the Zebra Z4M and QL320 thermal/thermal transfer printers in conjunction with the right mobile computers and software. After researching the environment, Barcoding Inc. recommended the Motorola MC9090 and MC9090k mobile computers because of their enhanced ergonomics, large screen and streamlined keyboard. In addition, McNeilus’ pre-existing software from Paragon Consulting was modified with the help of Barcoding Inc. in order to accommodate the new tools.

With their new upgraded system, McNeilus workers now receive advance ship notices from suppliers that include mill test certificates for each SKU, and items cannot be received without the document. From there, the data is used to receive the product, which is then marked with a barcode label printed from the Zebra Z4M printer, and then put away in pre-assigned location. Sales staff can also use the data to locate inventory in real time, allowing them to be confident that their items will still be there when it’s time to be picked.

When it comes to items being picked, picks are printed out on pick tickets, which Pickers take to the location and scan the order number, location and picked item. Since many stell products are cumbersome, pickers used to have to move one product out of the way to reach another, but now, rather than searching, workers can use their Motorola MC9090 to update the location in the database so that the item can be easily located for future orders. With over 50 mobile terminals and printer combinations, Barcoding Inc. also implemented Cloudsync mobile device management, a software tool that allows McNeilus to track the location, health and performance of all terminals and printers on the netowork in order to better monitor their devices.

In addition, Barcoding Inc. also helped McNeilus add a shipment verification step to their process before trucks leave for deliveries, making orders much more likely to go out correct and complete the first time.

Once everything was installed and running, McNeilus was able to achieve its goals:

• Order accuracy increased at least 2%.
• Productivity rose through more efficient processes.
• Order fulfillment rates increased.
• Customer satisfaction improved.
• Credits issued for mis-shipments decreased.

Interested in how McNeilus upgraded their processes? Take a look at the full case study here.

A recent study regarding the use of RFID technology in the supply chain was published by the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas. The 13-week item-level tagging experiment was conducted at Bloomingdale’s stores last fall, and ultimately improved the store’s accuracy by 27 percent Let’s take a look at how these results were achieved.

In the experiment, two Bloomingdale’s stores in the northeastern United States were used, one was a test store, and the other a control store. At the test store Avery Dennison EPC Gen 2 passive UHF RFID tags were placed on men’s and women’s jeans. The RFID tags were attached to the jeans as they arrived to the test store, and the sales staff removed the tags once the jeans were purchased. Returned merchandise was retagged via a RFID printer/encoder. In order to properly count the tagged inventory, staff were supplied with handheld Motorola EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID readers.

Throughout the initial five weeks of the pilot, the test store staff used RFID readers and barcode scanners to count the RFID-tagged stock. They also scanned the barcodes attached to the same SKUs in the control store. They both performed counts three times per week, both on the sales floor and in the back room.

From there, the data was used to establish a baseline for the inventory in the men’s and women’s departments in both the test store and the control store. For the remainder of the experiment, both barcode and RFID counts were conducted two times a week via a contracted inventory service.

In the test store, inventory counting through barcode scanning and RFID technology provided a comparison of accuracy and efficiency. In addition to inventory counts, RFID readers were mounted at all employee and customer exits and entrances in the test store, allowing tagged merchandise to be more closely monitored.

Ultimately, researchers found that accuracy levels declined over the 13 week experiment when software was not adjusted by actual counts done with the RFID readers. However, once the inventory management system was adjusted to the actual counts done with the RFID readers, inventory accuracy improved by 27 percent, with overstocks decreasing by 6 percent and under-stocks decreasing by 21 percent.

Aside from accuracy, the amount of time it took o conduct the physical inventory counts decreased drastically. While barcode scanners could count approximately 209 items per hour, an astounding 4,767 items per hour could be counted with RFID. Thus, there was a net result of a 96 percent reduction in cycle-counting time by using RFID instead barcodes. By saving so much time, Bloomingdales would ultimately be able to perform more physical inventory counts, rather than just doing them a couple of times a year. The RFID system implemented at Bloomingdales was also able to prevent inventory losses.

Ultimately, the researchers plan on using the Bloomingdale’s study as a part of a more grandiose effort to demonstrate the ROI of RFID in retail environments. It will be interesting to see if further studies can influence other brands to make the move toward implementing an RFID based solution in their stores.

Do you think RFID technology will become a retail store staple?

While 2D barcodes are still taking time to show up in the American marketplace, Scanbuy Inc., a global leader in mobile barcode solutions, has recently released new integration tools for brands and media publishers in order to better facilitate their use of the ScanLife 2D Barcode System.

Their new web services now allow users to generate 2D barcodes from third party portals, connecting any URL to the ScanLife network via a camera phone. In addition, outside websites will be able to generate codes automatically from the ScanLife Code Management Platform. This feature would allow any marketing professional, technology provider, or media publisher to connect their digital content to commonly used 2D barcode formats such as Datamatrix and EZcode. The codes can then be read by the ScanLife mobile application. From there, a camera phone can scan the codes to quickly launch a specific website, save contact information, send texts and more. This could come in handy for example, with retailers, allowing them to generate a unique 2D barcode for each of their products listed in their database.

Also included in the tools is a Web Development Kit, allowing any website to embed the ScanLife code management platform into an existing environment. Since both business and personal accounts will be available, 2D barcodes can be generated commercially, or for individuals looking to link to their social networking sites, etc.

Companies throughout the US are slowly starting to realize the value that 2D barcodes can provide for their business, so there is definitely a growing demand for customers to easily integrate 2D barcode solutions with their existing content. Hopefully the new integration tools fro, Scanbuy will give the US the nudge it needs to fully adopt and integrate 2D barcodes into its culture.

A standard DNA barcode for plants has recently been decided upon by a team of international scientists. The figurative barcode is a short sequence of DNA unique to each species, paving the way for a handheld plant “scanner” used to identify species intercepted from illegal logging operations, or to identify potential toxic plants in emergency situations, thus making the day-to-day work of identifying and studying new species much easier.

Scientists who have studied organisms have built a DNA library of over 60,000 species, but have finally agreed on a single standard, which has been extremely challenging due to the genetic diversity of plants.

While barcoding can only identify about 72 percent of species of plants throughout the world, the process is still being refined. However, by simply agreeing on a standard set of genes for the barcoding process, scientists have made a step in the right direction.

In an effort to prevent illegal logging and deforestation, workers throughout the world’s tropical rainforests are hammering thousands of barcodes into hardwood trees in order to keep track of timber reserves. By implementing barcodes on the trees, firms will be able to comply with tough laws on importing sustainable wood into the US and Europe. Since the entire system is computerized, it makes the timber less prone to fraud than paper-based systems.

Although barcodes won’t prevent trees from being illegally chopped, the system creates a much larger obstacle for those that try to sell or export the wood. By using handheld computers to scan the tags from the moment a tree is felled to its processing and export, the live data is then transferred to a secure database. In addition, when a tree is cut down, another barcode is placed onto the stump and more barcodes are nailed into the processed wood, allowing customs officials to easily audit exports at the docks. With the addition of the barcodes, trees and their lumber will be able to be tracked throughout the supply chain.

Barcodes have already changed the world, so hopefully by placing them on trees, they can save the world as well!