Asset management is an essential component of any organisation. In today's increasingly technological age, there is a huge demand for secure storage and distribution solutions.
Manual asset management has various drawbacks, including lower return on investment, inability to detect potential savings, data breaches, and inability to identify underused assets.
However, when it comes to organisational asset management, firms must consider two key questions —
What technology should be utilised to enable simple automation?
How can we create an effective asset management strategy?
Since the first consumer barcode was scanned in 1974, the use of barcodes for asset tracking operations has been transformative in assisting organisations to increase data accuracy and faster inventory management.
For an asset-intensive organisation, asset monitoring operations require the use of software tools and tagging technologies such as barcodes and QR codes. Especially if they rely on the precision of their stock control and inventory management. The use of barcodes and QR codes for asset tracking has been widely adopted by enterprises of all sizes, with an emphasis on cost-effective and dependable solutions.
Although QR codes may appear to be relatively small, these codes are capable of much more. They specialized in providing a more seamless and simple asset management operation than ever before.
Although other tagging methods have additional features and advantages, businesses choose barcode or QR Code asset tracking technologies because of their low operating expenses and convenience of use. Differentiating it from other asset tracking platforms.
What Is Barcode or QR Code Asset Tracking?
For organisations of all sizes, barcode asset monitoring is a simple and cost-effective approach to managing and tracking their physical assets. Whether used for inventory and stock control or lifecycle management, barcode asset tracking requires two components: a barcode label and a reader.
Barcode labels come in a range of shapes and sizes. From 1D to 2D barcodes, including Data Matrix and Quick Response (QR) codes. Despite their differences in capabilities, each type of barcode label is utilised to store data. This data is represented by various numbers and letters, which are subsequently decoded by a reader, which is often a barcode scanner or mobile device.
The flexibility to print barcodes on-site is a significant aspect that makes barcode asset monitoring appealing to smaller enterprises. Data is assigned to a unique barcode, which is then printed and adhered to an asset. Whether it's a company's fixed assets, IT assets like monitors and keyboards, or financial assets like stock and inventories.
Aside from being a low-cost alternative to time-consuming manual monitoring methods like pen and paper, barcode asset tracking provides a slew of other advantages, including:
Inventory precision has improved.
Accelerating asset data collecting
reducing the price of asset tracking
Error reduction
Record-keeping Simplified
Almost no employee training is required
The Pros of Using QR Codes
Compared to conventional options such as barcodes and RFID, using QR codes for asset tracking provides organisations with numerous benefits. The following are some of the advantages of QR code asset tracking:
Storing up to 2500 numerical characters of data obtaining data via cellphones
Being readable by a scanner even when damaged
Staff training is low, and it is used for a range of data storage settings.
How Does Barcode Asset Tracking Work?
Barcodes can be used in a variety of businesses that provide a variety of business to be used to track company assets. However, the method is always the same regardless of what each barcode system is utilised for.
Barcodes, as opposed to RFID tracking solutions, require less hardware to operate. In truth, all that is required to establish an effective barcode asset tracking system is a barcode printer. Asset Tracking Software and a barcode scanner.
The Benefits of Tracking Assets with Barcodes
The capacity to track and manage assets has never been more readily available to all business types and sizes, thanks to the rise of tagging technology and software solutions. Furthermore, establishing an asset monitoring system is critical, particularly for asset-intensive firms that rely on their assets to generate revenue.
Barcode tracking technologies, like other monitoring systems like RFID and NFC, can give a wide range of benefits to businesses that need to manage their assets.
Cost-effective asset tracking
Whether a company chooses to print its barcodes on-site or buy them from a distributor, barcodes are a low-cost and effective tracking tool. Because of their inexpensive initial costs, barcodes are quite appealing to organisations that have warehouses full of costly products. In addition to being a suitable method of tracking low-value objects and equipment.
Keep track of your asset's transaction history
The QR code included in each tool or piece of equipment will contain digital data such as the model number/serial number, factory and date of production, and other verification/identification data.
This can be placed on the tool's outside or even in its primary package, where the end-user will have access to it.
At the manufacturing end, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, CRM, or an in-house system will store this product information, as well as the history of the item's transactions, to allow product tracking throughout its chain of distribution.
Increased accuracy of KPIs
Barcodes can increase the accuracy of your metrics since they give a reliable means to track changes in equipment status and inventory. Advanced reporting options in asset management systems allow you to control critical KPIs such as:
Cycle times for orders
Inventory precision
On-time shipment
Turnover of inventory
Carrying expenditures
Order filling precision
Installing barcode labels on your equipment and inventory increases the reliability of your data. When these solutions are combined with strong workflows and procedures, you will have a system that allows you to analyse metrics at any time and swiftly assess the status of your entire operation.
Process Transparency
Manual asset management and tracking leave possibilities for human mistakes and problems. Furthermore, manual asset monitoring makes asset supervision increasingly difficult.
QR codes aid in addressing the problem because they can be tracked in real-time.
To assess asset management on an employee level, automate the process by tying the QR Code to a website. With the help of QR Codes, you can store and track assets on a single webpage, improving the automation process.
Let’s Wrap up
To set up an asset tracking system using QR codes and smartphones, you'll need software that can record and report any changes that occur. The majority of this software is web-based and includes a mobile application that works in tandem to make the recording and tracking process as simple as possible. Installing a new system at a company can be a complex job.
We understand the importance of transferring from old data to train personnel on how to use a new system. On the other hand, the QR code is simple to use because it delivers data swiftly. Simply attach the QR code to your asset, enter the information into your system, and you're done. Overall, the QR code made asset monitoring simple, straightforward, and user-friendly.
As a result, the QR code is crucial in achieving goals. There is no harm in trying, and QR code technology is worth exploring. Please connect with us, and get a free consultation. You can follow our LinkedIn page and our hashtag - #dxsolutionadvisor, on LinkedIn.