Bar code technology is a well-established way to improve inventory accuracy. Bar codes are used up and down the auto parts supply chain, from manufacturing applications to point of sale. However, there are some smaller distributors and jobbers that have not yet leveraged bar codes to manage their internal inventories.
They are likely impeding their own efficiency. “The only way to achieve the type of accuracy that auto parts distributors require is through bar code scanning and verification,” says Mark Wheeler, director of warehouse solutions at Zebra Technologies, a leading manufacturer of bar code scanners and printers. “If you’ve got 50 different types of brake discs on a shelf, the only way to accurately distinguish one SKU from the next is by using a bar code.”
Using bar code scanning can increase efficiency and accuracy. That can be particularly important, given that not every supplier sends 100 percent accurate shipment information. “Those are vendors that you have to double check physically using the bar code information,” says Tom Wood, senior product marketing manager for Epicor’s automotive division.
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In 2016 Zebra released the results of its Warehouse Vision Study, which found that executives expect an increase in inbound items that will be bar coded in the next five years, from 66 percent of respondents in 2015 to 82 percent in 2020.
By 2020, 68 percent of respondents also planned to make investments in bar code scanning technology. Half of surveyed IT and operations managers planned to move to a more modern warehouse management system (WMS) in 2015, while 75 percent planned to do so in 2020.
Those technology investments are being driven by the need to reduce delivery times (40 percent of respondents said shorter delivery times were a key measure requiring warehouse investment).
According to Wood, having bar coding in the receiving area is the fastest way to gain such efficiency benefits. Previously, distributors or jobbers might get multiple paper invoices with a shipment, which complicated put away. “Now you can receive item, scan them and put them on the shelf accurately,” Wood says. “You don’t have to put it up in order based on the paperwork. You can pick up any item and put it away using the scanner.”
In fact, Epicor has found that jobbers can put merchandise up five times faster with a bar code scanning system. The accuracy enabled by scanning can also improve sales. “If you aren’t checking in those items, then your inventory can be off and you are more likely to lose sales because you aren’t able to fill an order,” Wood says.
While some companies previously balked at the expense and disruption of a bar code system deployment, it’s easier than ever to deploy bar code technology in the warehouse. “All of the WMS and ERP systems, even the ones for smaller companies, have gotten progressively better at supporting real-time inventory control,” Wheeler says. “Smaller distributors should have off-the-shelf support in whatever suite they are using today. The functionality is there.”
Suppliers are also much more likely to already be barcoding stock because they’ve been forced to by larger customers (whether that’s a bigger distributor or a retailer like Walmart). “Anything that hits the receiving dock should be bar coded in a way that you can read it and interpret that into your business execution system,” Wheeler says. “Everything in the box should be easily identified with a bar code, and there’s no reason even smaller suppliers can’t comply with that.”
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There has to be support from the top. Executive management has to make the barcoding initiative a priority, and the purchasing group has to enforce those requirements among suppliers.
Benefits of bar coding
Once the bar code system is in place, the warehouse can reap the benefits of improved accuracy and efficiency. Workers have a better chance of finding the right part, picking it accurately, and shipping it accurately. “In the parts business, you may have a part that you haven’t sold in a while, but when demand comes through you have to be able to find and ship it very quickly,” Wheeler says. “That’s why this is an important discipline.”
“For a parts distribution operation, it’s critical to manage to very high levels of location-level inventory accuracy,” Wheeler adds. “That requires a combination of technology and management focus. A disciplined cycle counting routine will be much more productive with bar codes.”
Cycle counting, in fact, can be greatly improved using bar codes. “You eliminate the problems of guys typing in wrong quantities or wrong numbers,” Wood says. “If the inventory is accurate, you can avoid over purchasing. With e-commerce, people are looking at the inventory in real time and ordering against that information, so it’s more important that the inventory is correct.”
In receiving, scanning allows trucks to move in and out of the dock much more quickly with fewer employees involved. “The efficiencies grow as the business grows, and it gets much more important to have that technology,” Wood says.
Taking full advantage of the technology also requires some operational changes. The warehouse should be configured for the most accurate picking paths, for example. “If you have pick/ship capabilities with bar coding, you can send an invoice to the bar code gun and then walk along a shelf and pick from left to right without having to double back,” Wood says. “We even have that technology for the jobber, so he can run his warehouse with fewer employees.”
The technology is also being used to authenticate parts and reduce counterfeiting.
The right bar code technology
You can’t generate a return on investment if you buy the wrong equipment, however. Make sure your scanning technology can support both linear bar codes (like Code 128 or the common UPC code) and two-dimensional codes. Because of space challenges, a number of suppliers have begun using smaller 2D codes to mark parts. “You need an imager-based scanner to read those, and the industry has generally moved to that technology,” Wheeler says. Zebra, for example, has released an imaging engine that can read very small labels as well as pallet locations up to 40 feet away.
Many warehouses also are investing in wearable mobile computers or scanners that can help pickers keep their hands free while still being able to scan bar codes. “If you are shipping heavy parts like brake discs, you need both hands free and accuracy is still critical,” Wheeler says.
These wearable solutions are often paired with voice-directed pick systems that can further save time because employees don’t have to complete as many steps to complete a transaction with their hands. There are also image presentation features in some of these systems so that employees can visually verify that they have the right part.
Mobile, hip-worn bar code printers are also being adopted so that employees can generate labels on demand when necessary. “This is an environment where labels are going to get damaged,” Wheeler says. “If you need to reprint a label, you’re going to want to do that on the floor, so there’s more and more interest in mobile printing.”
Having mobile printers available also saves time and labor when it comes to generating labels for fulfillment or shipping. “If you don’t require order selectors to come to a central area to get labels, then you can reduce cycle time,” Wheeler says.
Speed, ultimately, is what bar code scanning can deliver for a parts distributor or jobber. Improved efficiency means parts will get to customers faster.
“The fastest guy in the market getting the part to the shop gets to keep dominating that market,” Wood says. “If the shop can turn a few extra cars per day, even if the part price is higher, that efficiency is more important and a key contributor to their being successful.”
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