Distributors’ customers are getting more demanding all of the time. In some instances, customers are requesting that their distributors label product or shipments with some information bar-coded. The industry buzzword for these requests is "Customer Compliance Labeling". Being able to do this easily and accurately will differentiate a distributor from his competitor and add to the value that he provides his customers.

Some customers may want the product labeled with their product number with a certain barcode format, along with information such as their PO number, the distributor’s invoice number and other information. In order to comply with customers’ needs, some distributors purchase a stand-alone PC and barcode print software such as WASP or BARTENDER and manually create the barcode labels. This is a very laborintensive process, as each line on the order must be entered into the software to create the desired barcode.

Another concern is many errors will go undetected, frustrating your customer. Infor Global Solutions is positioned to assist the distributor with these requirements with the Integrated Barcode (IBC) module. Part of the Integrated Barcode module allows for the creation of custom barcode labels and allows printing of these labels directly from SX.enterprise. No more data entry on a stand-alone PC, saving time and errors which costs your company money as well as customer satisfaction. The Integrated Barcode module contains a Unix Barcode print engine that allows you to dictate what information is printed in a certain barcode symbology. IBC allows you to design the layout of the label, complete with static information (perhaps your company name) with variable information from the order (ship-to, order number, customer PO). As you design the label specific to your customer, you can define how you want the information to appear. Perhaps you want the customers’ name displayed in bold with the ship-to address slightly in smaller font. Their PO number needs to be displayed in Human-Readable as well as a Code-128 barcode. They would also like the line items printed with their product numbers in both Human-Readable and barcode format.

Using the IBC module, you can format the label and attach it to the customers’ master record. When a pick ticket prints for that customer, the labels for the product automatically print as well. Not only can you create custom labels for your customers, you can also adapt to new requirements that they have, quickly and easily. This will increase your value to that customer as well as distance yourself from your competitors. There are other uses for the IBC module in addition to Customer Compliance labeling. IBC will also allow you to create bin labels for you shelf locations, product labels to be created at receiving to label your product for internal use. Shipping labels and mailing labels can also be created, straight from SX.enterprise, again, allowing you to eliminate stand alone label programs and time and errors created by this solution.

If you would like to get more information on the IBC module, contact Aaron Horn at Infor Global Solutions to discuss how you could use the Integrated Barcode module to address your labeling needs. Aaron Horn is the Warehouse Products Specialist at Infor Global Solutions. He can be reached at (719) 264-4747 or at ahorn@nxtrend.com