While barcodes are an integral part of our everyday shopping culture, their usefulness extends far beyond retail. In industries like fleet management, barcodes are essential tools for tracking vehicles, their maintenance needs and their spare parts. These little lines and dots make life a bit easier for both fleet managers and drivers.
Let’s dive into how scanning 1s and 0s works to streamline operations and keep your fleet running.
For many businesses in manufacturing or freight, efficiently managing inventory and orders or shipped goods is a top priority. The more advanced their digital tracking systems, the smoother their operations run.
To monitor and ensure everything gets delivered where it's supposed to, many businesses started putting tags or visible markers on their packages to identify them and better manage their movement. This led to the invention of barcode tags. The first barcode was invented in the mid-1900s, and since then, the technology and case use have only improved over the years.
The rise of barcode scanning has enabled businesses to streamline and speed up operations—let's explore the mechanics behind its effectiveness.
There are different types of barcode labels out there, not just the strip of lines we often see. There are traditional linear 1-dimensional barcodes and newer, 2-dimensional barcodes such as Data Matrix and Quick Response (QR) codes.
These two types function the same way and can deliver the same information; the only difference is their dimensions. While the classic barcode's single-dimensional structure makes it easier to scan, its limitation lies in the amount of data it can store.
QR codes, on the other hand, are 2-dimensional, this modern innovation provides more space for information to be printed on, not limiting it to a single strip. This versatile structure also allows information to be scanned both vertically and horizontally by a barcode scanner and even by using the camera of a mobile device or tablet.
Both have their place in manufacturing and other industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, travel, retail, and grocery. Barcodes can store information such as the product number and its location, while a QR code can store much more, including identification numbers, product conditions, when the product was made, and any repairs done.
While barcodes remain an affordable option for inventory tracking, QR codes are an increasingly attractive alternative.
To use this easy and cost-effective technology, you need a barcode label and a reader. The data stored can be decoded by a reader like a barcode scanner or even a mobile device.
Despite the modest size of most barcode scanners, there is a lot of advanced technological activity at work. These devices are used to:
From there, a manager can see the information associated with the scanned item, such as price, number of items in stock, item description, and item image. Depending on the scanner's model, the transmission occurs through wired or wireless connectivity. Newer models are designed to use wireless transmission.
Think of it this way: A barcode scanner is doing the same thing as you would cataloguing and tracking inventory on a computer, but instead of manually typing each item on a keyboard, the scanner automatically reads barcode stickers and significantly speeds up the process.
There are many different types of barcode scanners used for different reasons, for fleet management and asset tracking, these types of readers can be purchased:
Often, this technology is used for smaller items or goods, but there's no size limit on what can be tracked using barcodes and scanners. With this in mind, businesses can use this barcode tracking system on bigger assets such as machinery, tools and even vehicles.
Fleet management can benefit greatly from this technology. By incorporating barcode technology into fleet management systems, businesses can achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in tracking their vehicles and equipment, successfully optimising their operations.
For example, adding a barcode to each vehicle in your fleet can greatly improve vehicle and machinery tracking within your working site or overnight parking locations as you could capture your vehicle's status, see check-in or out times and efficiently manage vehicle usage or calculate working hours.
The possibilities are virtually endless.
Barcodes have become an integral piece of technology used to streamline operations, improve efficiency, reduce human errors and revolutionise inventory management.
Here’s how barcode scanners can further benefit fleets.
Vehicle tracking
Rather than manually tracking your fleet, using barcodes paired with GPS vehicle tracking technology can be more effective. A barcode scanning system is specific in its identification and can automatically keep track of vehicles or other objects.
Barcode scanners have an error rate of 1 in 36 trillion characters, to put this in perspective, manual errors occur every 2 to 300 characters.
Inventory management
This department is where barcode technology shines. Barcodes can be effectively used to oversee spare parts, tools, equipment and any other assets, ensuring you always know which assets you have and their status. This can fast-track vehicle maintenance or even downtime events as you can accurately manage task allocation and work around these delays.
Maintenance and repair
Barcodes gather information such as vehicle status, maintenance needs, wear and tear and more. This allows you to stay up to date with your vehicle's maintenance, helping prevent breakdowns and extend asset lifespan.
Reporting and compliance
By generating detailed reports on vehicle usage, maintenance activities, and regulatory compliance, barcode scanning ensures you follow industry regulations and legal requirements, keeping your operations on the right side of the law.
Reduce fleet costs
With accurate asset tracking, you know the exact number of assets you have on hand. Barcodes save you from purchasing unnecessary machinery, tools, etc. The same goes for vehicle parts when managing fleet maintenance.
Businesses can integrate their barcode system into their fleet management platform or cloud for easy access to barcode information. Barcode scanners transmit their scanned data directly to the cloud for real-time tracking and easy accessibility.
Cartrack is a globally trusted company that offers advanced fleet management solutions and vehicle safety technology. Whether using barcode scanning systems or not, Cartrack’s vehicle tracking and fleet management features complement barcode scanning by providing real-time visibility into the location and status of vehicles, machinery and even cargo, further enhancing vehicle, cargo and inventory management.
Here are some ways Cartrack uses barcode scanning to improve efficiency.
During deliveries, Cartrack's platform allows drivers to scan barcodes of goods during loading and offloading, track cargo location events, and ensure cargo is accounted for. This provides managers with full visibility of the cargo throughout the delivery process, allowing them to update delivery schedules and manage customers' expectations of ETAs.
Cartrack's delivery management system enables drivers to account for parcel delivery with a signature, photo of the item or scanned barcode upon pickup and delivery. This feature helps streamline the delivery process and ensures accurate item tracking.
Imagine what your barcode system can accomplish with Cartrack. Enhance your delivery operations with precise cargo tracking, streamlined inventory management, and optimised routes.
Don’t wait a second longer to start simplifying fleet management with advanced digitised technology. Contact us today to start.
Discover barcode scanning as your one-stop shop for asset management and tracking. Boost cargo safety, inventory management, delivery efficiency & much more.
