16 replies to this topic

[Simon]

I was unsure where to put this post although I suppose the introduction of barcode technology should [in theory] improve a process so it will do in here. I know barcoding is very 1980's but has anyone got any experience of moving from manual data entry systems to the use of barcodes etc. In addition, where in your process have you found barcode technology to be most beneficial? e.g. goods in, manufacturing, dispatch etc. Any do's and don'ts, and if possible reliable contacts for barcode systems analysis and barcoding equipment.

Any help mucho appreciated.

Cheers,
Simon

[Franco]

Hi Simon,

I have no pratical experience, but I was just looking around the Internet because of EU 178/2002 compliance and found this Fish Traceability.
Hope it helps.
I think this subject could be interesting for Saferpak members because of chain traceability.

Best regards. Franco

[Simon]

Hi Franco,

How's Trieste today?

Sorry I must have missed your reply.

So they are using barcodes on fish now, when will this madness end?

I have to admit I've not read the whole report but I did skim through it and got the basic gist. I think that we are going to be talking a lot about traceability and how to manage the process effectively and efficiently over the coming months. I can see the benefits of barcodes for helping with this and I was hoping that somebody might have some practical experience of barcode systems and barcode software etc.

Regards,
Simon

[Franco]

How's Trieste today?

I can see the benefits of barcodes for helping with this and I was hoping that somebody might have some practical experience of barcode systems and barcode software etc.

Dear Simon,

it's cold and windy february day near the Italian - Slovenian border.

What's going on in Manchester ?

Is Rock of Gibraltar still on the first page of newspapers ?

Quite busy, bar coding seems too far from my present worries.

We're changing our logistic partner (outsourcing), lots of things to be done ASAP

Regards. Franco B)

[Simon]

it's cold and windy february day near the Italian - Slovenian border.

What's going on in Manchester ?

Is Rock of Gibraltar still on the first page of newspapers ? 

Poor Franco,

It's about 55 degrees Fahrenheit here, the sun is shining and the air is fresh. B)

Regarding 'Rock of Gibraltar' the last I heard was that Magnier and Ferguson were going to shake hands on an amicable settlement. I always new that you were a closet Man U fan Franco, better get you cap and scarf on to protect you from the inclement Trieste weather.

Simon

[mikelond]

So they are using barcodes on fish now, when will this madness end?

Allthough we have no previous experience of barcoding fish, we have been trialling the barcoding of zebras, but with little success. However badgers have given us a 50/50 succes rate, depending on which end you scan. :D

Mike

[Simon]

Allthough we have no previous experience of barcoding fish, we have been trialling the barcoding of zebras, but with little success. However badgers have given us a 50/50 succes rate, depending on which end you scan. :D

Mike

Mike, I'm toying with the idea of setting you up with your own comedy area on the forums, what do you think?

Apart from the various levels of success you've had with barcoding animals, have you any practical experience with putting barcodes on unusual things like consumer packaging?

Regards,
Simon

[Simon]

Franco asked me to upload the file below:

It' s from Italian Bar coding Standard Institute (INDICOD), member of EAN International. Page no.1 are scanner-readable colours and page no. 2 are the not-readable ones.

Attached Files

•  38_bis_Appendici_Tabella_colori.pdf   984.41KB   47 downloads

[yorkshire]

Simon,

We seem to be wandering into the quality, rather than the application of barcodes. I have a few bits to upload on barcode quality if that's what is wanted.

The only application I've used barcoding for, apart from on packaged food products/pallets, is a data capture system on machine efficiency. The set up is that if a machine stops running the operator scans in the reason for stoppage. This can provide valuable info to our production / engineering departments on machine performance, preventative maintenance, breakdown analysis. However you are still relying on an operators choosing the right barcode and this can sometimes be entered wrong or misinterpreted.

I have used a company in Beverley called KTP for some barcoding equipment and they might be worth a try.

[Simon]

The only application I've used barcoding for, apart from on packaged food products/pallets, is a data capture system on machine efficiency. The set up is that if a machine stops running the operator scans in the reason for stoppage. This can provide valuable info to our production / engineering departments on machine performance, preventative maintenance, breakdown analysis. However you are still relying on an operators choosing the right barcode and this can sometimes be entered wrong or misinterpreted.

Thanks Yorkshire, that's really interesting. Although I was thinking more of applying barcode technology to the process of materials receipt, issuing to production and then booking into finished goods and despatching. I can really see the benefits of using it for monitoring machine performance and downtime especially. Apart from the odd error or misinterpretation by the operator I'm sure you are getting a lot of valuable information that has allowed you to make improvements.

Can you provide any details on the types and measures of improvements?

Cheers,
simon

[mikelond]

[quote name='Simon Timperley' date='Feb 18 2004, 08:23 PM']Apart from the various levels of success you've had with barcoding animals, have you any practical experience with putting barcodes on unusual things like consumer packaging?[/quote]
[QUOTE]

Aside from the above 'side-projects', our main area of issue with barcodes is when reverse printed onto shrink film.
As we are major producers and printers of printed shrink film to the food and beverage industries, the printing of product barcodes onto the consumer products is an area of constant development and review for us.
The main issue is to try and ensure that the print position and quality of the barcode on the flat film supplied remains legible after being heat shrunk round the product, so it will scan in supermarkets, and more importantly, at the intake stage of the major distribution warehouses around the country. The e-centre produces plenty of information on this and other subjects, which has proved extremely beneficial, along with the support of a company called Barcode Systems, in Hounslow.
The positioning of the code itself is always a compromise with the various marketing departments, who tend to put such things as barcodes and ingredients panels in the most inappropriate places to ensure that the overall look of the pack is not detracted from. However, the tide is changing, and early involvement has helped to avoid quite serious distribution and point of sale issues for barcode reading. :) The key point is to get the barcode printed in an area least affected by the shrinking of the film round the product as it passes through the heat tunnel

Mike

[Simon]

Sorry Mike, I'm a bit confused, do you shrink film the badgers before or after the heat process? And which end of the badger is most affected by the process?

Regards,
Simon

[mikelond]

If done at the right temperature, we find that the heat actually sedates the badger somewhat ( a sort of mini-hibernation, if you will), allowing accurate positioning of the pack in the tunnel (I can't believe I'm replying to this................).
This is imperative to ensure that when the finished shrunk packed badger emerges at the other end, there is sufficient time to correctly position the reader head an inch from the code (in this case, the stripes on the snout) and get a good reading before the beast is rudely awoken prematurely from what it thought was a good four months kip.
Obviously, being woken up early and having a laser shone in your eyes is more than enough to provoke even the mildest of badgers, and you can appreciate that what with the size of some badgers, a certain amount of downtime on the line will result if allowed to run amock.
To fully answer your query, we have tried barcoding the other end of the animal, but have found the resulting shrunk surface too uneven to get a consistent scan from it (hence the term 'as rough as a badgers a**e, a little known quality term from the barcoding industry).
Anyway, have to go now - my medication has arrived.

Regards
Napoleon

[Simon]

LOL.

Thanks,
Simon

[rheath]

Simon,

We have a barcode finished goods stock system:

Machine operators add barcode label at point of production to pallet footer - each pallet then has its own unique ID - this is tracked through our conveyorisation, FLT operator then scans pallet into bay location for stock.

Loading information is planned - barcode scanner tells FLT driver what bay to get stock from, when pallet is loaded onto Trailer the pallet is scanned by FLT driver against wagon number. Delivery note / Invoice are then automatically generated.

For us - barcode FGS has been fantastic - all delivery note errors/complaints have been eliminated completely (we used to have around 20 per month).

Stock control / rotation is far better. We used to complete a full physical stock inventory every month - this is now done half yearly as stock audits have shown stock accuracy figures at 100%'ish'.

We have also had the knock on benefit of significantly better house keeping - FLT drivers need to keep the pallets stored well or they cannot scan pallets - all round well worth the investment!!

We are now looking at barcode goods receipt for paper reels & maintenance stores inventory control.


Regards

Rich

[mikelond]

We are looking to move towards a system like this in the near future.
The advantages of traceability, stock accuracy, data capture etc all add up to it being an obvious choice.
It will, however, be a massive culture change for our fork drivers, where our current system is very much a paper driven system, updated twice a day by our logistics department.
Being able to track a pallet of material wherever it is on site would be a revelation for us, as we currently suffer from probably the sort of problems you were experiencing prior to this system.
The data capture of production information would also prove extremely beneficial, as we are once again restricted by manual entry after the event, rather than 'real-time' updating of stock, inventories of raw materials etc.
Have you considered RFID systems? A couple of companies I have visited have implemented it with varying degrees of success. This is another system we are considering.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! :)

[Simon]

Thanks guys,

Would it be fair to say that the packaging industry lags a little behind other industries in the technology stakes, I mean barcodes for stock control and data capture were around long before Heaven 17 were in the charts and here we are still only thinking about it; despite the obvious benefits. I'm surprised even very large organisations such as yours Richard have only recently implemented it in a part of your process. Perhaps we've all been too busy collecting certificates.

With regard to RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) I don't expect many visitors to the forum have any practical experience yet, although we did talk about it briefly the other day. See thread below and you should find a link to a very good off-site article called 'RFID chips are here'.

RFID Discussion

Cheers,
Simon