Barcodes and Common Sense
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Posted in: Applications
I can’t recount the number of times we get invited to quote on a barcode integration that isn’t well thought out. Most often the inquirer believes that the technology itself is a solution. Truthfully, it’s just a tool to be used in a process.
The key to integrating barcode technology is to understand that process and seeing how barcode technology could replace redundant data entry. If there isn’t already a system in place, one will need to be created before barcode-based data collection will have any impact on the process.
A perfect example of a system-in-place is the Evidence Room in the Police Department at Huntington, West Virginia http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x1898611022/HPD-pushes-for-modernization-of-evidence-room. There are everything from guns and drugs to bicycles and golf clubs that are received and tracked using an index card system. Confiscated or retrieved stolen articles are checked in and tracked as evidence technicians and police officers access them for use in courtroom proceedings. It is a labor-intensive and cumbersome system—but it is a system with a process in place.
The Huntington Police Department is looking for funding to integrate barcode technology into the evidence room, estimated to cost at least $20,000. It seems like a lot of money for a relatively small 5,000 square foot facility. But the number of articles to be tracked, the amount of activity and the potential cost of losing an important piece of evidence dramatically offsets the initial investment. The test of any tracking system is return on investment and if all costs including risks are taken into account, the ROI in a good system is measured in months.
Occasionally you run across a situation where the entire tracking system is already in place but not being used. Take, for instance, the state liquor control system in Utah, http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11867614. For years state employees were affixing state ID labels on millions of bottles of liquor, at a cost to Utah taxpayers of about $1 million per year.
The state ID labels were meant to mark each bottle as having paid the state liquor tax—a tax which can be tracked and verified through the UPC barcode already printed on the bottle. The change from the ages-old tax sticker system to the new system which utilizes the UPC symbol required legislation, but made use of technology already in place and immediately saved Utah taxpayers nearly $1 million. Talk about ROI!
For further info contact: John Nachtrieb
Fotel, Inc. 1125 E. St. Charles Rd., Suite 100 Lombard, IL 60148
Phone (800)-834-4920 ext#13
