12 replies to this topic

[Parkz58]

Hello,

 

I am hoping maybe someone out there has been down this road already and can help me out.

 

We are a VERY small company (2 owners and 3 employees total), and we have a VERY simple operation where we bring in only ONE raw ingredient, ONE packaging material, and produce TWO very similar, yet distinct products.

 

We are looking for a free app (there are tons of warehouse/inventory apps out there for free...one of them has to work for what we need, right?) that will do the following:

 

- After we've finished production, we'll either be putting the product in a bulk bin (for bulk shipping) or into bulk totes (supersacks) of roughly 1 ton each.  We want the flexibility to enter the production run as either one bulk entry with lot number, or split it into each supersack by lot number, but with specific weight and bag number for each supersack.

 

- We want to be able to print some sort of scannable label (one for a bulk lot; one for each supersack for a bagged lot)

 

- We want to be able to scan supersacks as we load them onto semi trucks, and have it compile into a complete list of each sack on the truck, complete with product ID, lot number, and bag number, which can then export to Excel or some other database

 

- We want to be able to scan and choose options (receive, move inventory, ship, rework, etc.) for each supersack or bulk lot

 

Any suggestions on where to start?  Obviously, we could have an ERP-type program made custom for us, but we are a start-up and have VERY little capital available for software and equipment...so we're looking for something free that's Windows-based (for our production tablets) and, as a bonus, able to be used with our Android smartphones as well (though that is not a deal-breaker).

 

Any thoughts/help/ideas you have are more than welcome...thanks!

 

Brian

 

 

[jems]

I was looking for something similar for the company I'm working at. From the days and hours or searching on google and on forums, I can say that there is no such product for free, or even for cheap.

Maybe there is some way of programming for the windows tablet to use the camera as a scanner, and input directly in excel of google spreadsheet. But making it look nice and professional like is another story.

If you do find a solution I would be glad to know which one.

[dandy0215]

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're looking for, I think there are quite a few options out there.  

 

Check out the following links  (I attached pictures with numbers that match the links):

 

1-     GOOGLE SEARCH (I typed in program to print and scan barcodes and export to excel)

https://www.google.c...5.0.jFEJXJhzQxQ

 Google search.PNG   154.46KB   2 downloads

 

2-     GOOGLE PLAY APPS:

https://play.google....o.scanpet&hl=en

 Google Play Apps.PNG   415.15KB   2 downloads

 

3-     SCANPET APP

https://domusnatura.wordpress.com/

 SCANPET.PNG   169.02KB   1 downloads

 

4-     SCAN TO SPREADSHEET APP

https://play.google....readsheet&hl=en

 Scan to Spreadsheet.PNG   92.18KB   2 downloads

 

5-     GOOGLE CHROME APPS/EXTENSIONS (you can see in the picture that there are more to choose from than what is pictured):

https://chrome.googl...me-app-launcher

 Chrome Apps.PNG   399.42KB   1 downloads

 

[Parkz58]

Thanks Dandy, I'll check some of those out!

 

Jems, I will be sure to let you know if I find anything that works well.

 

Brian

[swmalone]

Thanks Dandy, I'll check some of those out!

 

Jems, I will be sure to let you know if I find anything that works well.

 

Brian

I know it has been a while since this thread was active but I wanted to follow up and see if you came up with a system that works for you?  I am working on something for a client and trying to get a reasonably priced solution in place.  At the moment it is all hard copy records that a mess, we are trying to put together some spreadsheets to assist with traceability but even this has been an issue.  

 

Thanks in advance.

[Parkz58]

Unfortunately, swmalone, we haven't found anything.  I finally just gave up.  We're just going to have to use Excel spreadsheets, I guess.

[trickster245]

I know you weren't looking for a paid program but whilst searching through these forums for one found this one at a decent price of 300 a year.

[Charles.C]

I know you weren't looking for a paid program but whilst searching through these forums for one found this one at a decent price of 300 a year.

 

This one ? Which one ?

[trickster245]

My bad. https://erpnext.com/pricing

[Jorge Manzanero]

Hi I have had success using Microsoft Inventory Access Templates. You can also change designs in them.

[Parkz58]

Has anyone used QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum?

 

I have been checking it out today - it's about $369/month for 3 users, which is reasonable.  The interface looks very intuitive and user-friendly...and the pieces I've played with so far seem promising.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone out there has used it (or any version of Enterprise), and can tell me the pros and cons you've discovered?

 

Thanks!

Brian

[FurFarmandFork]

Unfortunately it wasn't my experience but my SO (also does QA in food). Worked at a small plant at about 20 employees and 4mil in business and said quickbooks did surprisingly well for that application. The lot tracking is still the biggest missing portion without a full ERP however, which is the piece I think you want the most.

[Parkz58]

Thanks FurFarmandFork!

 

From what I understand, the newest iteration of QuickBooks Enterprise has lot tracking built in to it now...so, if that was the only thing lacking in QuickBooks before, maybe it would be adequate now?