How product coding saves money
Original article date: October 1999
The Government’s Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme says that tagging saves money. Tommy Miller reports on how it can
Essentially, the tagging of products can reduce waste for companies through automation, distribution, production/product quality, recycling/ disposal, security and warehousing. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that tagging is now becoming more generally accepted as an integral part of the manufacturing process
The type of tagging that is used will depend on many things, but there are three main categories of tag to choose from. Whilst optical tags (such as barcodes and two-dimensional codes) are low cost, they are limited in the amount of data that they can hold. Magnetic and electromagnetic devices are slightly more expensive, but they are read-write devices and do not need a clear line of sight. Another disadvantage of this category of device is that they are not especially robust: they are vulnerable to temperature and magnetic fields and they need to be kept away from metal objects.
If the budget will allow it, radio frequency identification is often the best option. These devices can store large amounts of data, they are read-write, reasonably robust and multiple tags can be read simultaneously.
Once a tagging system is operational, it becomes far easier to identify individual items or packages containing many items. Tagging can also be used to identify the location of objects, and relevant information about those objects can also be retrieved or stored. Information about objects is particularly valuable. This might relate to the process conditions prevalent when the object was manufactured, or a batch reference can be used as they key to a vast database of information.
Cost savings can accrue from staff no longer having to enter data manually, or from not having to search for products. Higher quality data can cut the amount of rework and can save production time. Furthermore, the availability of up-to-date, accurate data can reduce the need to hold stocks of parts, sub-assemblies or finished goods. Another important point is that tagging can also leads to benefits for the environment.
- The Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme is a joint DTI and DETR programme.
- For more details on tagging from the Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme call the Environment and Energy Helpline on 0800 585794 (UK only)
October 1999