Introduction
An inventory control system is described as the process where objects and materials are located. The Automatic Identification of Inventory system mainly depends upon the barcodes as well as the RFID (Radio-frequency identification tags which serves a purpose of identifying the inventory objects. Example of inventory materials includes physical assets like circulating tools, farm machinery, fixed assets, consumables, and merchandise or capital equipment. For the purpose of accountability and record, any inventory transaction is identified automatically by the help of the barcode scanner or the Radio-frequency identification reader. The system also collects additional information from other points of service like computers and fixed terminals.
The Automatic Identification of Inventory system has developed in a way that it identifies materials automatically, gathers data about them and helps as individual to feed in data into a computer system. Apart from the barcodes and the RFID, other form of technologies that may be of help to the system includes magnetic stripes, smart cards, biometrics, voice recognition, optical character recognition among others (Müller, 2011). In definition, an Automatic Identification of Inventory system is an incorporated package of both hardware and software that is applicable in monitoring the quantity, the locality, inventory status and the distribution process. Other benefits of the inventory system include the reordering of stock and the generation of billing information on the objects available in the warehouse. Most managers are adopting the system so that it can keep employees on track and reduces any forms of mischief and corruption in the workplace. The processes of purchasing, manufacturing and distribution are closely monitored by the help of the advanced technology of the inventory system.
The barcode system
Bar coding is a major component in Automatic Identification of Inventory. It is used to automatically gather information and collect data by a keyless entry mode. A barcode looks like an arrangement of bars with gaps between, organized in a parallel configuration. The optical readers are the ones that collect the information that is stored in the barcodes at a standard rate of one barcode at a given time. The barcodes are commonly used because of their many advantages compared to other systems. This is because they are affordable and easy to use. The technology reflects high standards of accuracy and reliability and this have attracted vendors to use it in their businesses and firms. Inventory management is improving day in day out as the technology becomes more popular in automatic identification of inventory (LaMoreaux, 1995). Barcodes helps to increase more data content of an object as well as reduce errors that have been previously been so common. They are helpful in inventory tracking in commercial purposes.
In the current setting, barcodes are evolving and are treated as very mature and have different useful applications. The technology is more popular in industries and investors are heavily depending on it in their firms. The optical scanner has always supported the barcodes because it is the one that reads the code in an object enabling the data capture to be supported by the barcode (Müller, 2011). Barcode is used in the maintenance program where the bar codes are allocated to every part of the maintenance process and to other parts of equipment. The employee tracks the maintenance through time, attendance and activity menu. Barcodes will always support the automatic identification of inventory and it has never caused a miscalculation but has remained of greater benefits to employees.
Radio-frequency identification
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is another form of inventory control system that is used to identify the inventories. It is the largest technology that is applied in the management and it has shown some superior aspects over bar code technology. In the modern days’ factory operations, the production of good is undertaken in large scale and it is accompanied by the opening of the large number of retail chains globally. Therefore, the management of all the logistics has become too complex to be done manually and that is the reason why the automation is embraced (Muller, 2003). Automated mechanism such as RFID has as a result made the inventory management and identification in particular to be easier.
Radio-Frequency Identification is in the modern days used in place of modern technology to facilitate labeling of inventories. Globally, the technology has been embraced due to its capacity that has wider scope with wireless communication involved. In various departmental stores, labeling of the thousand products is need and it is now facilitated using the RFID technology. The system was initially used in the Second World War for espionage purposes and later developed to conduct civilian purposes (Shepard, 2005).
In the inventory control system, RFID is used to scan the inventory objects. The product information provides an embedded RFID tag that is registered first then recorded in the management database. As long as the product is in the range of the radio reception, it is easier to read the information encoded on the product. Scanning of more products can also be done when the RFID readers are used simultaneously. This in turn makes the tracking of inventory easier regardless of the geographical address they are situated, provided there is radio reception.
Since accurate inventory visibility is critical to retail stores, it is significant to optimize the management process and reduce the unnecessary losses that are captured from product availability and poor customer service. Therefore, RFID is a significant technology in the inventory management due to its advantageous aspects (Shepard, 2005). Among many aspects, the technology has the ability to reduce the time that is taken to perform inventory. As a result the managers are able to acquire a Real Time Visibility into the products on the stock.
Manually, a typical inventory cycle, would take a minimum of two days and the exercise would be carried few times in a year. However, with the use of the RFID technology, the inventories can be exercised daily and only need one employee to do the job in two hours. Consequently, the time improvement on the inventories allows the managers to make enhanced real-time decisions on the availability of stock (Shepard, 2005). The data collected in the real-time inventory enables the management to increase sales, improve customer experience, reduce costs and streamline operations.
Conclusion
Thanks to the improvement of the technology that has been able to facilitate the automatic identification of inventory through bar code reader and more significantly RFID. With the modern technology, it is has become easier to update inventory in real time without product movement. The fully automated system especially RFID allows the status of inventory and shipping to be determined, and automatically generating receiving of documents (Muller, 2003). In addition, cycle counting and physical inventory counting are the features that are enhanced through the automatic identification of inventories hence enhancement of the organization.
References
LaMoreaux, R. D. (1995). Barcodes and other automatic identification systems. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Pira International.
Müller, M. (2011). Essentials of inventory management. New York: AMACOM.
Muller, M. (2003). Essentials of inventory management. New York: AMACOM.
Shepard, S. (2005). RFID: Radio frequency identification. New York: McGraw-Hill.
