Inventory and assess existing labels

The first step in a best-practices enterprise labeling deployment is to find and inventory all your label files. A team or individual should catalog network contents, ask current and former label users to search their hard drives, browse company intranets, and search for attachments in Outlook or other email clients. Don’t be surprised by the number of labels and the diversity of their locations.

Once you have collected all the labels, you should assess what kinds of data they contain, the sizes of the labels, and if any special label media are required. Look for redundancies that can be reduced by creating one document or template for similar labels and then applying business rules and process controls to define the data printed on each label.

You can also simplify label management and improve data accuracy by consolidating different but related formats into one label file or template.

Group associated label formats

Think about this common scenario: You need to create pallet, case, item and shipping labels for a product. If you store these different labels in one label file, you can easily tie all the data fields to the same data sources. When a data source changes, all the labels change. And when it’s time to print, the system only needs to call one file, not four different label files, and conditional printing rules can ensure that the correct number of each label are printed.

Centralize label management

A streamlined and efficient labeling process requires centralized management of label access, editing and printing. When you store your labels in one place where they can be accessed throughout the enterprise — a “single-source-of-label” strategy — you can make changes to the central data source and automatically cascade them throughout the entire organization immediately.

Centralized control also enables a complete audit trail by defining user roles and allowing only designated users to “check out” and “check in” labels, alter designs, edit data, or print labels. This also reduces the risk of unauthorized label changes. In addition, by including a version management system, you can roll back any unauthorized or errant changes to a previous, correct version.

A centralized system eliminates the proliferation of label formats that occurs when labels are duplicated and shared, and it helps ensure you are always using the right label with the right data.

Engage professional services

Once you have cataloged all your existing labels and decided which can be eliminated, consolidated or grouped, it’s a good time to engage professional services to help build your new labels. Enterprises understand their business needs, but most lack the necessary skills to build label formats and templates using best practices. Bringing in experts to design and deploy the new labels saves time and resources. Contact Tri-State Business Systems for your software assessment  at 908-359-8001 www.tri-statebussys.com or email sales@tri-statebussys.com

How to create a lean enterprise labeling system Bartender Barcoding Software by Seagull Scientific

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Why 2D Scanners Are the Wave of the Future 

Advanced imaging technology is now a necessity for your business, whether you scan driver’s licenses, parts, shipping labels, or products. One of the best and most efficient ways to get the most from your business is to use 2D scanners.

You’ll find more businesses using 2D scanners because they can capture vast amounts of data—far more than 1D scanners alone. With more data comes more possibilities to improve in areas like customer service and productivity.

Zebra Technologies has designed 2D scanners purpose-built for every industry. These scanners provide you with more visibility over your entire operation, traceability from end to end, and the ability to take mobile payments and scan multiple barcodes in less time.

Let’s take a look at why 2D scanners are the wave of the future:

Improve Productivity

2D scanners have advanced scanning capabilities that allow them to outperform older models. Whether you need to scan close-up or at a distance, these scanners can capture barcodes with remarkable efficiency, which allows your workers to accomplish more in less time.

2D scanners can capture barcodes on the first try just about every time. They can read any data in any condition, including barcodes which are tiny, curved, torn, damaged, dirty, poorly printed, or under plastic.

With many 2D scanners, you can also decrease processing time by extracting information from barcodes simultaneously. For example, instead of having to scan multiple barcodes in one location one-by-one, a single trigger pull allows you to capture all those barcodes in one attempt instantly.

Many Zebra scanners now have omnidirectional imaging capabilities, which allow you to scan with an entirely new level of freedom and flexibility. You can read barcodes from any direction. With these scanners, you no longer need to align the device with the barcode, as you’ll capture your data just by having the scanner in the general area.

Capture More Information

2D scanners are versatile; they can read other types of barcodes. They are great to use if you need to decode more complex barcodes like DataMatrix, which contain many bits of data.

They have other uses, too. For example, you can instantly verify age with a single scan of a PDF417 barcode on a drivers’ license. And if you are using QR Codes, a 2D scanner can read those.

These uses can help you discourage theft and fraud, reduce liability, speed up processing times, and many other applications.

Improve Customer Service

While improving productivity and gathering more information are essential reasons to use 2D scanners, you can also serve your customers better. You can capture pictures, signatures, and documents with 2D scanners, making it easier for your customers to do business with you.

Customer service also extends to the checkout line for retailers. You can scan more than one barcode at once at the traditional checkout place or use a wireless scanner to check people out anywhere in your store. 2D scanners can be found on cell phones and iPads and tablets, giving your associates greater flexibility in your store.

The Future

2D scanning technology will only continue to evolve. With 2D barcodes, you can capture more information and interpret it in whatever way is best for your business. Contact Tri-State Business Systems today at 908-359-8001 to learn more about which 2D scanner would be the best fit for your business. www.tri-statebussys.com or sales@tri-statebussys.com