The Impact of Barcoding in Warehousing and Distribution Services

Jun 28, 2016

The goal of barcoding is to automate the allocation of stored goods. Packages are processed and assigned one of these codes so that they can be mapped into computer memory and then stored. Yes, this is a basic example, one that barely illustrates barcoding in warehousing and distribution services, but it does go some way towards describing the all-encompassing computer wizardry at work here. Let's take a closer look at the system.

The Impact of Barcoding

Large warehouses would be a logistical nightmare if we didn't have access to computer-readable labelling technology. Once checked in, the assigned barcode sifts its way through the warehouse storage program, a specialized software suite that tracks thousands of packages. The code is continually scanned as it passes through different packaging stations, all so that a special database can be updated. The upshot of this automated processing model is as follows:

• Reduced clerical costs
• Improved productivity
• Constantly updated storage locations
• Optimized system integration

A Focus on Integration

The electronic brain juggling these locations can't pick up its frame and walk the warehouse floors, at least not yet, so specially mounted sensors and handheld scanners take on this role. They locate commodities and packages, as already mentioned, but the software goes much further when barcoding in warehousing and distribution services accesses its full momentum. The shipping manifest communicates with truck arrivals and departures to time the shipment. Materials are processed, which includes inventory counts and shipment reconciliation, digital transactions that extend to cover financial computations and many other logistical data sets.

Pervading the Warehouse Environment

Handheld scanners and production line monitoring represent the eyes of the package-identifying technology, but there's more to incorporate. Networking technology works in concert with computer servers to map the shelves and aisles, for modern warehouses extend as far as the eye can see, so they qualify as a key part of an information technology puzzle piece. Back at the processing station, new packages are arriving and being inventoried, at which point a network printer spits out more freshly inked barcodes.

In covering the bare-bones outlines of barcoding in warehousing and distribution services, we define a cycling action, a dizzying cluster of storage-related stations. There are arrival points and departure zones, temporary and long-term shelving areas that are addressed with complex lot numbers. Thankfully, we can quickly assign a barcoded package to any of these lots and know with computerized certainty the status of that package.

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