Barcode Disruption-Proofing
Barcodes are everywhere. Here is a list where barcodes are critical:
- Retail and commerce
- Supply chain and logistics
- Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
- Manufacturing
- Libraries and education
- Transportation and ticketing
- Food service and agriculture
- Government and public services
- Finance and Banking
- Entertainment and media
- Personal use
- Automotive
- Telecommunications
- Real estate and facilities
- Asset tracking and IOT
Each of these areas uses barcodes in multiple ways. For example, there are six obvious barcode applications just in Food Service and Agriculture:
- Food traceability from farm to table
- Restaurant inventory management
- Expiration date tracking
- Batch and lot tracking for recalls
- Food safety compliance
- Menu ordering systems (QR Code)
Finance and banking use barcodes in four different ways. Government and public services have six different barcode applications.
Some applications are more critical than others, but in many usages, disruption is more than inconvenient. Simple solutions aren’t always available when the barcode fails. Recently, I dined in an airport restaurant. with no wait staff. I ordered and paid for my meal from a menu accessed with a QR Code. There was no wait staff, no checkout counter. If that barcode didn’t work, the restaurant would be out of business.
Several weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I encountered a barcode that seemed to scan fine, but was inaccurately decoded. The barcode on the vanilla yogurt I bought charged me for lime-flavored yogurt. It also debited the store shelf, and updated the inventory buy list for the wrong item. Store sales and inventory were disrupted. What if the barcode on a drug administered in a hospital mis-decoded? The consequences could be dire, existentially and financially.
Barcode quality doesn’t just enhance convenience. History does not map the future. Believing that you will never have a barcode problem in the future because you haven’t had a problem in the past puts your business, your reputation, and your financial future at risk.
If a system fails because of a bad barcode, isn’t reliance on a barcode a flaw with the system? Barcodes are a component in a system, similar to the transmission in your car. Maintenance is required to detect deterioration and prevent failure. Disruption of a system can have catastrophic consequences. Maintenance is cheaper than breakdown.
Systems simply don’t work without barcodes. Disruption-proofing of barcodes is cheaper and easier than recovering from failure. As cheap and easy as a $25 verification test. In about an hour.
Got a barcode quality or compliance question? We can help. Contact us here.
