Major benefits of automation:

• Reduces the production cost: In the manufacturing industries, automation reduces the productions costs and give quick return on investments.
• Improves the products quality: The automation system in the manufacturing industry help in producing the quality products. The product manufacturing follow the same processes from starting to time.
• Reduces the wastage: Implementing robotics in the manufacturing process ensures maximum utilization of raw materials without any wastage.
• Decreases the cycle time: Lean manufacturing is important in having product efficiency. As robots cannot take rest and work faster for longer periods they reduce the product manufacturing time.

Automation in manufacturing boosting the production, industries produce the quality products.

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According to an analysis, $17 billion is saved by the grocery industry annually in the year 1999. This system is useful for customers as the system improved the efficiency and the productivity which reduced the costs or increased the customer service. It also benefited the manufacturer and the retailer but it is the retailer who made most out of it because in addition to the savings, retailers now had access to detailed product movement data.

U.P.C. is being used by nearly 10,000 companies, almost in all the grocery industry of US. Today, there are over one million companies in more than 100 countries in over twenty different industry sectors, enjoying the benefits of scanning. U.P.C. symbols are used in industries such as retailing, construction, utilities, cosmetics, Pharmaceutical, publishing, Shipping, Grocery, Manufacturing Industry, postal, aerospace, automobile, software industry, etc. Today, there are two dimensional bar codes such as PDF 417 and Maxi Code. RSS and Composite symbologies are useful in barcode identification of very small items such as individual pills or a single strawberry.

Invention of U.P.C had revolutionized the barcode technology. It has made the usage of barcode very user friendly.

The first bar code had only four lines with black lines on a white background. Later, a system of concentric circles was introduced, but it is failed and the standard became the lines. The bar code patent was sold to RCA in 1952. National Cash Register (NCR) made use of the UPC scanners first in a Kroger grocery store in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1967. The codes were not on the packages themselves, but were printed on stickers that the store employees put on each product. The product that is scanned first is Wrigley’s Gum. In North America the two popular systems are UPC (Universal Product Code) system established in 1973 and ISBN. ISBN codes are used for books and textbooks, and they also contain figures that distinguish the product. UPC codes are employed for most other products sold in the United States and Canada.

In the modern world there are different types of technologies used in the scanners to read the barcodes like Pen type readers, Laser scanners, CCD readers, Camera based readers, Omni directional barcode scanners, Cell phone cameras etc. At present barcodes are available in two types one is linear and the other is 2 Dimensional.

A barcode system is incomplete without barcode scanners. Due to the awareness of benefits of barcode technology, the usage of barcode scanners has increased to a large extent, thereby increasing its demand in the market.

A barcode time and attendance system mainly includes three steps. They are data collection, data storage, and data management.

Data Collection:
In order to calculate wages of employees, it is necessary first to collect details about the working hours of an employees. Each employee of an organization is provided with a card having barcode number. Linear or 2D barcodes can be used for storing data like employee number, job position, and other professional details. Symbol barcode and others are used by various organizations. A barcode printer with high efficiency is used for this purpose. Zebra printers are one of the types of barcode printers which are used most commonly.

When an employee is entering or leaving the organization, the employee card having barcodes, is scanned by barcode scanners. Thus, specific data of an employee are read. In this way, data of various employees is collected.

Data Storage:
Data collected from the scanning device is stored in a database. Therefore, the barcode scanners are attached to PCs having specific time and attendance software. The data can be stored in a database of company server or a shared file on a specific computer.

Data Management:
This includes the role of a time and attendance software. A specific software is used which helps in managing the data. This software is used to calculate the working hours and payroll wages of employees. Some of the features that the software can include are: analysis of performance of individual employee and team, comparison of employee performance of each department, and others. So it is necessary to choose the best time and attendance software.

In this way, the process of payroll management can be made easy by barcode time and attendance systems.

Wireless coverage and lower cost per barcode scanner can be possible by use of wireless barcode scanners with bluetooth technology. These scanners are portable and light, which allow the movement of operator from place to place. A bluetooth protocol helps in connecting the scanner to the bluetooth enabled receiver where an ASCII text is sent. However, it is to be ensured that the scanner has a driver enables the communication of the host device.

Bluetooth barcode scanners are provided by many manufacturers. Symbol scanners are one of the types of scanners enhancing bluetooth technology.

2D scanners can store high volume of data in a small area. Hence they have been more popular these days. Increased data and accurate readings are done with portable and mounted scanners. The 2D scanners can use dimensions which run perpendicular so that the added data can be stacked on the information that is already present.

Storing, Identifying, and decoding complex barcodes is possible through the use of 2D barcode scanners. For accuracy and integrity of medical records 2D barcode scanners are being in use by medical professionals. Inventory of medical supplies and information of patient’s intake and discharge, and tabulation of medications given to the patient are done by the use of 2D barcode scanners.

Conventional scanners and laser scanners have been replaced by 2D scanners in the market use. Complex 2D barcodes can be read by 2D barcode scanners. CCD and imaging technologies can be used by these scanners in order to get the right output. These scanners may be integrated with a computer through a USB port or a Bluetooth device. Then they would be configured with some software for getting the data into a specific file.

In order to reach the increasing requirements for storing the data efficiently, the 2D scanners are in great demand. Some of the examples of 2D scanner are two-dimensional Symbol barcode scanner, 2D Metrologic barcode scanner, and 2D Datalogic barcode scanner.

Later they formed the first barcode from sand on the beach. Then they found the system that worked better when printed as a circle instead of a line that allowed to scan in any direction.

They filed a patent “Classifying Apparatus and Method” on October 20, 1949. They described it in the invention as article classification through the medium of identifying patterns. Commercially, barcode was first used in 1966. Then it was realized that there should be some sort of industry standard set for barcodes. The Universal Grocery Products Identification Code or UGIPC was written in 1970 by Logicon Inc.

The American company, Monarch Marking was the first company in 1970 that produced the barcode equipment for retail trade use. For industrial use the barcode was first produced by the British company Plessey Telecommunications. Universal Product Code or U.P.C. symbol set is derived from the UGIPC in 1973. The first U.P.C. scanner was installed in 1974 at Marsh’s supermarket at Ohio.

With many advances in technology different barcodes have been used. The complexity and effectiveness of barcode scanners, printers, and other equipment got improved. Many companies are involved in providing the barcode equipment. Some of the most prominent equipment which are used today are Symbol scanners, Zebra printers, Eltron printers, and Liberty scanners.

There are many types of barcode scanners, which are available in the market. Generally standard barcode scanners use the USB connection to connect the scanner to computer device. Because of rapid technology movement, now a days, portable barcode readers are also available in the market. If you want to buy portable barcode printer for your business, then you can go for Symbol barcode scanner. The main goal of the barcode scanners is to make business more convenient.

Large items cannot be scanned with normal stationary scanner. Or, if you have a big storage room or large building, in which your business products are stored, then you can not carry all the products to the scanner. You can purchase the portable scanner, which helps you to do the things easily as you can carry this anywhere. You can try the Symbol scanners for portable scanners which long last. These scanners also provide accuracy and speed like standard scanners.

The above information is about the portable barcode scanners, which are more flexible and convenient.

Pen style reader: This is one type of technology which is also called as wand barcode reader. It has a light source and a photodiode, positioned next to each other at the tip of the pen reader. These pen readers are suited for low volume and desktop applications and they are small and durable.

Laser scanners: The more precise readability of barocdes can be offered by these laser barcode scanners. Instead of a light source, a laser beam is used in these laser scanners in order to work efficiently. Brightness and sharpness of the laser beam helps to have preciseness and greater accuracy in reading barcodes while reading. Symbol Barcode scanners are the best example for these laser barcodes. The main advantage of these scanners is that they can read barcode labels even from a great distance.

CCD readers: These scanners are also called as linear imager barcode reader. They consist of a series of tiny light sensors which measure the intensity of the light. The distance at which these barcode readers can read barcodes varies from few inches to several feet way. These scanners are designed to withstand hard and harsh working conditions.

Camera-based scanners: Camera-based barcode scanners are the latest barcode technology. They are also called as 2D imaging scanners. A small camera can be used to take an image of the barcode and in order to decode the barcodes advanced digital image processing techniques are used. Even wrinkled and damaged barcode labels can be read by these barcode scanners. Symbol scanners are the best example for this scanner.

The above information is about different technologies which are used in barcode scanners to get efficient and accurate reading.

Because of technology advancement, portable IT equipment and other teaching aids are being used in schools today. So, it is important to keep track of the assets of school. Equipment tracking means, when a member of staff or student wants use somethings, it can be found easily with out wasting time.

Problems in schools: It is a challenging thing to keep track of the equipment in schools. Many members of the staff need to use many types of equipments at different times. So it is difficult to monitor everything.

They want to protect the items like musical instruments along with IT equipments. It is necessary and critical to keep track the instruments in school.

Trying asset labels to track equipments is considered as the best way. This means, a label (barcode label) is assigned to each item with a unique number. Using barcode labels save time while tracking an inventory. They use the asset labels in conjunction with an asset register. Asset register is the record of all equipments and can be kept as hard copy.

There are different materials used to create asset labels like aluminum, steel, and polyesters. Like this school equipments can be tracked by using barcode labels.

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