IBT
Barcoding Lubricates Logistics
By Darrell Hensley: Corporate Operations Manager
Apr 15, 2009 - 12:06:55 PM

Today, I logged into the gym with my barcode ID. I used my barcode library card to check out books and a DVD (also barcoded). My incoming mail, with the postal service's barcode imprint, reached me quickly. Last week, when I checked into my Southwest flight, the boarding pass I printed had a complex barcoding. And, passing through security, I noticed that the back of my state driver's license also contained a barcode.

Barcoding is pretty common these days. The most familiar form, Universal Product Code (UPC), was adopted in the US in 1974. Barcodes may have become an ordinary sight, but there are many exciting new developments and applications just beginning to appear. Their use will significantly change commerce as cell phone cameras scan barcode symbols and do amazing things.

But first, let's look at how IBT is currently using basic barcoding.

At IBT, we inventory more than 330,000 stocking units (SKUs) from 5,000 manufacturers. Every item we handle has a unique internal 11 digit item number (IBT Number) and corresponding barcode (UPC Number) identification connected to it. The internal 11 digit number we use is an IBT generated code, consisting of a five digit cluster that identifies supplier of the product and a six digit cluster that identifies the actual specific item.

The database, the real brainpower behind any barcoding system, not only lists the IBT numbers connected with a specific item, it also has a description of the item which allows for the database to be searched by key words. And, we can also link our identification to other numbers specific to a customer's system.

The barcode system we use at IBT is fundamental to the accuracy and efficiency of our total distribution system. Barcoding allows us to ship all items from our Central Distribution Center (CDC) to all remote Service Centers on a daily basis without the aid of paperwork. This allows us to be more efficient and realize more accuracy with each transaction throughout the entire process. The barcode system is also a key element with annual inventory counts and weekly cycle counting processes.

We also print barcodes on Packing Lists so our customers can realize a saving with the automation of the receiving process on their end. Each step that we take using barcode technology speeds up the process and improves the accuracy of data entry and transfer. It adds up!

As universally dispersed and as effective as barcoding is today, there is much more on the horizon. In some significant applications which link barcodes and cell phone cameras, the future is already here. Barcodes and mobile devices allow people to buy movie tickets after scanning posters in theater lobbies, add time to their parking meter from any remote location, scan a business card and add the contact information to the phone's memory, point at a sign in the airport to scan a code and book airline tickets or hotel reservations – or even scan a retail UPC and shop for a better price or availability in an instant.

The applications of barcoding that will develop in the near future will be, I predict, ingenious, effective and pervasive. Things which we can not imagine today will be commonplace by 2015 – or sooner.

At IBT, we are using barcoding at a fundamental level today, but are always scanning for the horizon for new ways to apply this – and other technologies – to improve our process, increase our productivity, enhance our accuracy and, most importantly better serve our customers.