Another area that was targeted with today’s bar code mandates was reducing stock outs at stores and depots. Bar codes are used more commonly in the world today to identify products or containers of products (such as pallets or cartons). In transportation and distribution, Advance Shipping Notices and compliance labeling are commonly paired to assist in the identification and trafficking of products in the supply chain.

Pallets and/or cartons are scanned into and out of each facility. ASN’s are generated from these scans and shared between source and destination facilities.

Bar code technology provides the capability of reading pallets as they arrive and compare them to their respective ASN.

Scanning pallets/cartons arriving in a facility increase the visibility of how much stock is physically in the building. Gaps in time between product arriving and inventory being updated is eliminated. More timely awareness of what is on hand can prevent the reorder of product before it truly is necessary.