Datalinx Blog

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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 1% of medicines available in the developed world are likely to be counterfeit and when applied globally this figure increases to 10%. With many of the medicines used in the UK manufactured overseas, this multi billion pound marketplace is attractive to those who would exploit and sell dangerous and counterfeit products into the supply chain.

A warehouse management system (WMS) requires the warehouse bin locations to be barcoded for efficient usage.  Barcoding eliminates the manual entry of data and the inherent risk of typing mistakes; scanning barcoded data is much faster than typing.

The naming of the bin locations should be designed to give a ‘grid map’ of the warehouses / yards / storage areas so it is clear where each bin location is situated within each branch.

Any ‘guidance’ that will be given during picking operations in the WMS will normally use an alphanumeric bin sequence. Therefore, when designing the bin code format, thought also needs to be given to the most efficient ‘walk’ around the warehouse when typically picking stock.

Two common examples of a naming convention are described below.

A sneak peak into the creation of Datalinx, company goals and industry challenges through the eyes of James Pearcy MD of Datalinx Computer Systems...

I trained as an electro mechanical engineer, but moved in the early days of computerised manufacturing systems to material requirements planning (MRP) within a large manufacturing company. After some years in industry it was a logical step, to becoming a consultant within the computer industry and director of a software house. However it was not until 1989 the opportunity occurred to form Datalinx. The first product was a barcode based “Work in Progress tracking and costing system”, that front ended many popular ERP systems, this quickly led to warehousing and a long term relationship with Sage.

Why was Datalinx founded?

After working for various software providers of ERP and MRP systems, 2 friends identified a gap in the market for automated data collection, which in today’s world, we would call Mobile Systems. These were used for Warehousing plus Work in progress tracking and labour costing. With time the focus shifted to Sage and their customer needs.

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Before we get into the way in which Datalinx have incorporated GS1 into our warehouse management applications, it is worth taking a moment to look at what GS1 is about and what it means to the businesses in the supply chain.

Embracing the power and capabilities of the GS1 Standard

GS1 is both an organisation and today a synonym for a barcode standard. GS1 as an organisation has, in the UK a community of over 28,000 members and is one of 111 independent, not-for-profit GS1 organisations operating across 150 countries.

GS1 help everyone involved in making, moving and trading goods to automate and standardise their supply chain processes using the common language of GS1 Global Standards and  GS1 are now bringing these same standards to the healthcare supply chain....

Online retail has been growing since 2012 when shopping via mobile devices first became widely adopted. A forecast by Barclays suggested that online shopping will rise by 29% between now and 2018 with 70% of shoppers seeking more innovative and rapid delivery options. Have you heard about Amazon’s trial with Audi and DHL delivering parcels direct to customers’ car boots?