Bar codes are the oldest form of the automatic identification and data
capture (AIDC) technology in use today. Newer technologies such as biometrics
fall under AIDC, while relatively older ones in the category are electronic
article surveillance and magnetic data capture, among others. Although bar codes
constitute a two-decade technology, they are less prominently used in India than
anywhere else in the world. However, bar coding has the potential to impact
sales, gross margins and overheads of organizations across any industry. Today,
bar codes have even been completely integrated in supply chain processes, with
direct links to ERP applications.
Code Drivers |
The key drivers to using bar codes in India: |
l Growing buyer requirements across industry segments |
l The National IT Task Force has mandated the use of bar codes for all Indian products by end of 5 years |
l Automated physical goods flow normally precedes EDI which is a national priority |
l Bar coded cargo gets faster clearance worldwide by customs, freight forwarders. etc. As mentioned earlier there are several bar-coding companies in the country, which supply labels and tags depending on designs. The bar code label costs are as low as 50 paise per label. EAN India is responsible for allocation of International Numbering standards used for bar coding and also extends technical advice. |
Simply put, a bar code is a front-end IT tool used for automatic and quick
data or information capture. It is considered to be 20 times faster and 20,000
times more accurate than any keyboard data entry. A series of bars and spaces,
which represent alpha-numerical information, it uses the binary system for
coding and decoding. Each bar represents ‘1’s and the spaces represent ‘0’,
while a thick bar is couple of ‘1’s clubbed together. There are several
versions of bar code standards, among which the most commonly used are UPC
(Universal Product Code) and European Article Numbering (EAN is a superset of
UPC). A standard bar code set appears with a 12-digit or a six-digit number.
These UPCs were first created to speed up and bring efficiency to the process of
retail units or outlets. Other commonly used symbols are Code 39, UCC/EAN 128,
Interleaved 2 or 5 etc. The selection of the symbology would depend on the kind
of organizational need and type of application used.
Microsoft is considered the first major software vendor that used source
tagging for its Office 97 suite, resulting in huge cost savings from theft. Ever
since, Microsoft has been encouraging retailers to use source tagging with their
products. An extensive use of data collection will be seen in transportation,
hospitals, schools and traffic police. For instance, using bar codes in the
management of a library eases a lot of the everyday tasks, especially in large
libraries where the number of transactions exceeds thousands. There is bar code
software available for the management of books, items in a hotel, vehicles
entering a premise, aircraft cargoes and couriers etc. In other words, any
segment whose transaction exceeds hundreds every day can make use of bar coding.
Decoding Drug Discovery |
Purdue University was in the news recently after it developed a method of bar coding individual chemical compounds. The process allowed one to make quicker, easier and more economical identification of most biologically active compounds, among thousands in a drug- screening process. Each compound is assigned a unique bar code bead. Scientists need to create compound libraries to store millions of chemical variants in a minimal number of chemical steps. But as the libraries are assembled, the newly developed compounds are continually rearranged and resorted, making it difficult to track information about the order in which the building blocks are assembled. The new bar coding strategy encompasses different stages of the drug discovery process whereby each bead carries vital information about the chemical nature of the compounds. These bar coded beads are synthesized with built- in spectroscopic bar codes. The barcodes are read using infrared spectrometers and the chemical nature of the active compound is then determined. Several months of laboriously categorizing individual components are reduced to a few hours. The same method can have applications in gene sequencing, biomedicine or biotechnology, wherein the task of decoding is simplified. |
Streamlining supply
Some of the issues that can be addressed using bar codes are maximizing
warehouse space, minimizing goods shrinkage, inventory and errors in delivery.
Bar codes enable automation throughout the supply chain, including optimization
of warehouse space, reduced shrinkage, time to market, and improved goods
tracking. So goods passing through a supply chain can be traced using bar codes.
As a good passes from one link to another the information about its location is
sent to a central information repository, which is shared between the sender and
the end receiver. There is then a real-time flow of information while minimizing
human intervention. Goods arriving at the wrong location can even be alerted.
Process efficiencies
Bar codes can be used from the point of production to the point of purchase,
keeping track of products produced and purchased. Most enterprise applications
used in warehouses, distribution chains, and by retailers has enabled the
integration barcode information. The ERP application used by Lee Cooper (called
the apparel production & distribution system) integrates information
received from barcode devices. Now Lee Cooper requires that each of their
garments be uniquely identifiable, both in terms of when it was produced and the
date of production. A company called E-Biz Systems devised a system of bar codes
for them, which ensures that each garment has a unique barcode on it. The
barcode information includes details like style, size, and name of fabricator,
date of production, lot number, and the unique serial number. The bar-codes are
used for receiving the garments from the fabricators and in-house production
into stock, generating pick-lists, dispatching cartons, selling the garments
from the retail outlets, taking the physical inventory of the stocks and
accepting .the sale rejects from the market.
Devices for Bar Code Data Collection |
Basic computing Bar code scanners, printers, portable data collection terminals/computers, label-designing software, interface & communication software, labels & ribbons |
Mobile computing Mobile computers, hand held terminals, portable printers, interface software with backend application software, sales force, automation software, and distribution management software. |
Wireless Wireless hand held terminals and computers, wireless LAN cards for laptops and desktops, access points, antennas etc. |
Asset management
There are several bar code applications that can be used in storehouses,
equipment or tool rooms. For example, if a school has an equipment room for
students to borrow sporting equipment as and when required. By scanning the
student’s ID, the equipment manager can quickly verify that the student is
cleared to take the equipment, and by entering the information into the
computer, the stockroom application can generate reports as to who has what
equipment and when it will be returned.
Companies wanting to keep track of fixed assets can also use bar codes.
Managers can maintain an accurate account of all fixed items in their business
such as computers, phones, desks, chairs, tables, and other office furniture.
This application of inventory management is used in almost all businesses,
organizations, and groups and a company’s inventory is more accurate.
Cost savings
Bar coding will save billions of currencies, which will otherwise be lost in
theft, damage, and obsolescence. For example, the product by CheckPoint alerts a
store if its stock is in short supply and in some cases even generates a warning
if a particular medicine file, cheese packet, or a milk pack has expired.
To grow...
" There is a slow adoption of this technology as people are only
beginning to understand the extent and benefits of using it. It is only
awareness that will increase its usage in other areas," claims Ajay Bhutani,
CEO, Bar Code India. Most of their solutions have gone into the retail,
inventory control and tracking segments, where acceptability is much higher. In
the retail segment, its clients are ITC Will Sport and Marks & Spencer. It
is not uncommon anymore to see organized retail units like Pantaloon and Music
World using barcodes to keep an inventory stock of their assets. However it
would be wonderful if the same could be used even as alert systems for
generating a warning of an expiry date or of an approaching stock depletion.
Vendors
Some MNC players in the Indian market are Honk Kong based Checkpoint
Systems, Bartronics India and Bar Code India. Most Indian players import the
technology and sell them here. For example Bar Code India is a leading
distributor of US-based Symbol’s hardware and software. The success of any
barcode system requires a close attention to the reading equipment and the
quality of the printed barcode labels. It is of utmost importance that the
barcode labels have high contrast, neat bars and spaces, without any voids and
specks. In India it is yet to take off in the manufacturing segment in a big
way, but is already in use to some large extent in inventory, tracking and
shipping. Citibank, Maruti Udyog and Indian Airlines are using it extensively.
Technology for tomorrow
To achieve the next leap forward in supply chain efficiency many
organizations abroad are turning to RFID. The usage level for RFID is low but is
an emerging technology that is to oust bar code in the near future. But this is
a future technology and the costs of radio tags are still very prohibitive. But
according to Bhutani," RFID is a complementary technology to bar coding,
and is being used only in certain applications today."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Auto-ID center is developing
ways to use the tags in consumer product packages with blue chip companies such
as Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Gillette, Unilever, Target, Pepsi and
Coca-Cola. Most airline companies abroad already use RFID tags to improve
luggage-tracking services for customers.
This radio tag consist of silicon chips and an antennae to transmit the data
to a wireless receiver. Radio tags need not be in line-of sight in order to be
read, but rather within the field of the wireless receiver. As compared to bar
codes, radio tags are faster and can hold more information. These tags can be
inserted invisibly on clothes labels, items for sale, packages, numberplates and
a host of other items. Companies abroad are investing heavily on this technology
that can be used to improving supply chain management and make it a mass
production technology. It won’t be long before barcodes become more entrenched
in Indian businesses as well.
Radhika Bhuyan in New Delhi
CASE STUDY: Warehousing Management, APBCL-style
Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation Ltd deals in wholesale trading–procuring
Indian-made liquor and beer from distilleries and breweries, stocking these in
its depots, before finally selling off to retailers. Also, the Department of
Prohibition and Excise requires information on APBCL’s operations. Here’s
how APBCL cracked it:
The requirement
DPE needed information from APBCL about the cartons sent and what was delivered
where and to which depot and retail outlet. Earlier APBCL was entering all these
details of the cartons on paper. They had to enter every detail of the carton at
the time of dispatch, at the time of delivery at the depot, and while issuing
transport permit to retailers. So to bring about efficiency and ease in the
entire process, APBCL wanted a bar code solution.
The solution
So Bartronics studied their problem and decided to package all bottles in
cartons in lots of 12, 24, 48 or 96. Each bottle was given consecutive numbers,
whose cumulative gave a unique number to the carton. They created barcode carton
labels and supplied them to all 31 IML distilleries and 3 breweries. These
barcode carton labels had to have a box number unique all over the state. The
labels were affixed on the cartons at the time of packing at the distilleries
and breweries. When the cartons are unloaded at each depot the barcode
information in the label is scanned through a barcode reader and stored in the
computer. While issuing transport permits to retailers, the barcode on the
cartons is scanned once again. Each time the information is scanned, they are
stored in a common server on which basis of which MIS reports are generated.
Benefits
Some of the benefits derived from the implementation of a bar coding
solution were the elimination of paper work, reduction in errors, saving time,
reducing costs, enabling carton label tracking from the point of dispatch to the
retailer.
Equipment used
l Intermec 3400
D Printers (10 No’s)
l Hand Held
Terminals Trackers 2425 (05 nos)
l PSC QS — 6000 (5
No’s)
l Bartronics has
also used the technology for accessing Job Costing at Lakshmi Machine Works.
Source: Bartronics India