10 Steps to Trouble Free Scanning in 2010
It’s that time of year when you should do a quick inventory of your bar coding equipment. My feeling is that when it comes to bar coding, a ‘don’t fix what ain’t broken philosophy should be eschewed and instead a “stitch in time saves nine” is the only way to go.
Most scanning applications are mission critical and letting equipment break down is basically saying it’s OK to shut down my business.
So here’s the 10 items and it won’t take much more than 45 minutes to complete or schedule:
- Replace old batteries. Batteries that are no longer giving you more than a couple hours usage should be replaced.
- RF Wireless Coverage. Time to extend to move around RF antennae or access points to cover off any blind spots.
- Fix Handhelds. Loose keys, scratched screens, weak radios, weak scanner lines are all indications that the unit needs to be fixed. For many clients on comprehensive extended warranties – this work is basically free.
- Service Contracts. Are all your service contracts all up to date meaning you have coverage through 2010? Sometimes renewals on contracts are overlooked by the vendor with the result that your contract lapses.
- Bar code Labels. Torn or worn out labels are not just eyesores but big productivity drainers.
- Cables. Any stretched, frayed or loose cable connections? A lot of time they can be fixed by someone handy with a screw driver and pliers.
- Printers. Clean those print heads – sometimes a quick swipe will remove those annoying white dots on your label. Your vendor can supply some special wipes for this purpose.
- Servers. The servers which run your applications should be checked for storage room, CPU performance, and general operational efficiency.
- Security. Time to flush out old users out of the system. They’re a risk to your business. And while you’re at it change all the passwords to the system.
- Check your label and ink supplies. Vendors scale back their operations over the holiday so getting a shipment of labels on a timely fashion becomes a challenge.