So it might not be an Olympic sport yet, but scanning bar codes is something that hundreds of thousands of people do every day. I’m sure we’ve all had those times where it seemed like the teenager behind the counter at the grocery store couldn’t possibly scan your canned vegetables and ice cream tubs any slower if he tried. It’s frustrating, embarrassing and it causes the checkout line to grind to a halt.
Then there are those occasions when you get the older veteran. You know the type. The ones who could carry on a conversation about particle physics with you, answer questions for the aforementioned teenager on the register behind them, and whiz your food across the scanner so fast that you’re surprised that the computer can even keep up with them.
So what’s the secret to their speed? Obviously experience is a big factor in this situation, but it wouldn’t be possible without the most important weapon in the arsenal of every grocery checker, manufacturer and major warehouse in the world: fixed position scanners.
Fixed position scanners are extremely fast, accurate and as the name implies, in a fixed position. Many major suppliers and manufacturers use them along their conveyor lines to read pallets and products as they pass because they allow the company to keep track of production and inventory at a speed that could be difficult or inefficient for an employee to do by hand. So when that veteran grocery employee is making your food fly across to the bagging area, it’s the fixed position scanner built into their counter that allows them to do so.
No matter what sort of inventory management system your company uses, whether it is traditional bar codes, much more data-rich 2D matrices or RFID tags, AbeTech can help you find the right fixed position scanner to improve the speed at which you are scanning products coming in, passing through or going out. Not all scanners are built in the same way, however, so it’s vital to find out exactly what your needs are. Just a few of the factors to think about are your bar code orientations, fields of view along the line and the speed at which your line operates. Your AbeTech specialist can help you determine what your requirements are by contacting us today!
If you were a customer of your company, wouldn’t you much rather have the zippy veteran than the slow teenager? Me too.