You may well ask WHO? We at Bishopsgate have a lot to thank him for!
Joseph Woodland invented Barcode Scanning in the early 1950’s, although it took time for technology to catch up in the 1970’s when UPC (Universal Product Code) became widely used to revolutionise Supply Chain Management. His work was recognised in his lifetime when he was awarded The National Medal of Technology by the US Government.
That logical step of producing an individual bar code that could be placed on any item which is now used in conjunction with modern day technology allows ease of tracking, whether it is for stock control, movement or point of sale and has now enhanced many a business.
Bishopsgate embraced this technology many years ago for use within their warehouses. All warehouse staff carry a hand held device so that all warehoused items can be scanned into the Warehouse Management System (WMS) and then into a specific location within the warehouse before being scanned out “just in time” and delivered to final destination. The whole process begins with an electronic order received from customer Sales Order Processing system, links seamlessly to WMS closing the order loop and providing track, trace and a mass of useful historical data to serial number level of each item moved or delivered.
Bishopsgate are currently working closely with their software provider to take this one step further by scanning every item each time it is loaded or unloaded from a Bishopsgate vehicle or customer site. This will provide complete visibility of goods to our customers at every stage of the process in real time.
Watch this space for further updates.
