Printing Parts & Supplies Labels/ QR Codes
Enhancing Warehouse Processes Through Labelling & Signage
Introduction
One of the most important aspects of proper warehouse management is the implementation of warehouse labels and signs. Warehouse labelling systems provide order fulfillment teams a variety of benefits that are crucial to the success of the warehouse management process and system. Without proper inventory management, finding parts/stock items and managing dispatching and receiving will be much more disorganized and challenging.
What are some of the benefits of labelling?
So why do we need to properly label parts within the warehouse as well as warehouse locations?
Let's take a look at some of the benefits:
Enhance Dispatching Efficiency
Warehouse and distribution services work a lot quicker and efficient when signs are in place because it eliminates errors by making sure pickers are in the right place to pick the right materials/ parts. Signage also improves warehouse staff time management, reduces waiting times for field teams picking up parts, and overall efficiency of the warehouse.
Parts Visibility and Warehouse Location
Signage can lead warehouse staff to the location they need to go to in the most direct manner. Such signs include warehouse aisle signs, flat signs, floor signs, and rack labels, which let staff know their location, and where to go to fulfill their picking slip/ tasks. Signs are are typically for internal use and navigation, making them extremely customizable; they can be colour-coded, and include barcodes, making it possible for staff to see them from afar and allowing them to scan items from forklifts that aren’t necessarily close by. Properly placed signs take less time to scan, which will save you hours of time over the week that would normally be wasted.
Boost Warehouse Productivity
Endless mistakes with warehouse pick-and-pack procedures can be avoided with the use of warehouse labels and signs. Mistakes like dispatching incorrect parts to field teams or mishandling items that should be treated with care have a huge impact on warehouse efficiency. Labels that include data such as OEM part numbers, expiry dates or security warnings can improve the organization of your operations and boost productivity.
Efficient Inventory Management
Signs can improve inventory management and streamline the supply chain by making scanning and organizing easier. Signs also reduce the amount of time spend finding products to prepare for shipments and simplify the sorting process. Sending and receiving shipments have a huge impact on the supply chain, so it is a great place to begin improving. If your warehouse struggles to meet deadlines, you will experience drops in customer satisfaction and brand reputation. But the solution is simple: With proper signage in place, you can eliminate most errors, improve supply chain productivity, and produce better margins overall. The benefits of signs and labels are endless, and businesses can experience terrific benefits in productivity and profitability through proper use of them.
What to look for when deciding on your labels
Warehouse labels should be easy to install and durable, so even if you are boosting productivity by using floor labels, you can be sure that labels applied to stock items/ stock locations will stand up to the wear and tear of foot and forklift traffic. They should be easily readable and easy to replace if they do suffer any damage over time. There are an endless variety of warehouse labels that can meet the needs of any distribution/ dispatching centre; there are long-range retro-reflective barcode/ QR labels, multi-level warehouse rack labels, aisle signs, floor labels, and more. These examples and more are typically easily accessible through various suppliers/ 3rd parties and can provide solutions to sometimes unique needs of companies looking to improve warehouse efficiency. Other types include bent warehouse signs for narrow pathways, high ceilings, and low-light conditions; flat signs printed with long-range bar/QR codes to easily scan; and floor signs that are fixed to floors and are an often-overlooked spot for barcodes or information.
Parts & Supplies Labels in Fracttal
At Fracttal we have recognised the need and benefits of being able to generate labels from the system that directly links the item on the floor with its corresponding record in the Fracttal system. To this end, we have allowed users to quickly generate and print item QR labels directly from within the system. It should be noted that there are various ways you can generate the QR labels for your items, either by making use of the built-in QR label generation feature in Fracttal (mostly used for labels printed with a laser printer) or by exporting your data and generating your QR labels using a 3rd party label design/ printer software package (typically included with a label printer like Zebra / Brother label printers).
Generating QR codes in Fracttal
Let's look at how you can quickly generate QR labels for your parts in Fracttal
1. In the main menu on the left, click on the Assets module
2. The click on the Spare Parts & Supplies sub-menu to call up your master parts catalogue
3. With your master parts list open, if you want to view the generated URL QR code links for your items, scroll completely to the right of the list
4. If you want to generate and print these QR codes, simply select all or some of the items you want to generate the labels for by ticking the check-box next to each item
5. With the items selected, click on the drop-down menu top right corner of the window and select Print QR from the menu
6. This will bring up your printer options with an example/ layout of what your labels will look like. Select the printer you want to print the labels to and print.
*Please note that the settings for paper size, page layout, colour vs. black/ white printing all depends on your printer and printer settings and is not related to the Fracttal software
Generating QR Labels outside of Fracttal
As is often the case, warehouses/ parts stores have their own label printers. So in order to export your parts from Fracttal so that you can use the system generated QR link in your printer's label design software, do the following:
1. In the main menu on the left, click on the Assets module
2. The click on the Spare Parts & Supplies sub-menu to call up your master parts catalogue
3. If you want to generate an export for only some of your part items, simply select the items you want to generate the export for by ticking the check-box next to each item
4. With the items selected for export, click on the drop-down menu icon top right corner of the page and select Export from the options
5. If you want to do an export of all the items in your master parts catalogue, simply select the Massive Export option from the drop-down menu
6. With the export complete, you can use the excel sheet and import it into your printer's label design software to generate labels based on the data fields you want to include or exclude from your label's design.
Note that the QR code in your label's design must contain the URL as specified in the QR Code column in the exported data sheet
Label Design Software
The label design software you use to generate labels outside of Fracttal, really depends on the printer you have or are planning to purchase. Typically all label printers comes standard with some sort of label design software that will allow you to import data from excel, csv, text files and others. If you purchased a label printer and you did not get any label design software with the hardware, it might be worth visiting the OEM website and see if there are any packages available for download.
Some common label printer label design software packages are:
Brother Printers Label Design Software supplied by APE Software™
*Please note that Fracttal, nor any of its partners/ affiliates takes any responsibility for any 3rd party software downloaded on any of the links provided. The links provided are purely for demonstrative purposes and should be handled as such.
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