Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Scott Helmke]

The qlx-d is labeled in the battery compartment.    You are right, if I needed to bring wired mics to a gig with IMAG this would be an issue.

We do try to squeeze the tags inside a mic whenever possible.  That's gotten easier with printing labels in-house; the guy doing the labels even managed to do one that'll carry a barcode and fit in between the XLR pins.

[Scott Holtzman]

Haha...More for our control and easy identification on joint gigs.

I pulled this out of a mic kit I happened to have in my car.  The guys could do a better job of putting the labels on straight.

[Tim Hite]

I get it.

I left my pair of PMC monitors behind at a job because I didn't inventory things off and on the truck. Lesson learned.

Having dealt with US Government property books in the past, I feel like I should have a good plan in place walking into this task.  I know I'm going to be adding a RMS software package shortly, and I may as well start integrating now.

Are you guys using barcode guns and cell phones to scan gear in and out?

Are you using pre-packed road cases with set inventories of gear?

I already feel like I'm going to end up buying a lot of stuff twice to manage the whole affair. . .I can't even figure out what size cases to standardize on right now.

Haha...More for our control and easy identification on joint gigs.

I pulled this out of a mic kit I happened to have in my car.  The guys could do a better job of putting the labels on straight.

[peter dakin]

We went down the road of FLEX. Its not cheap, but its a beast and does what you need it to. Integrates with Quickbooks too.

We have barcode scanners and most items are barcoded. SDC and hand-held mics are tricky, are you want them barcoded but want them to still look tidy.
I've seen some companies use micro barcodes and stick them between pins 2&3 in the XLR chassis.

You can build racks temporarily or permanently, so you don't have to scan everything in a rack overtime, just scan the flightcase and the system know's what's in side.

I've used a few different software platforms and FLEX is far from perfect, but it seems the most logical to me.

However with all these programs, they're only as good as the people operating them.
If you don't scan something out, the whole system can collapse, so getting these systems might seem like a good idea on paper, but be prepared to have to hire someone, just to run the scanning/warehouse side of things.

[Steve Eudaly]

We went down the road of FLEX. Its not cheap, but its a beast and does what you need it to. Integrates with Quickbooks too.

We have barcode scanners and most items are barcoded. SDC and hand-held mics are tricky, are you want them barcoded but want them to still look tidy.
I've seen some companies use micro barcodes and stick them between pins 2&3 in the XLR chassis.

You can build racks temporarily or permanently, so you don't have to scan everything in a rack overtime, just scan the flightcase and the system know's what's in side.

I've used a few different software platforms and FLEX is far from perfect, but it seems the most logical to me.

However with all these programs, they're only as good as the people operating them.
If you don't scan something out, the whole system can collapse, so getting these systems might seem like a good idea on paper, but be prepared to have to hire someone, just to run the scanning/warehouse side of things.

This is very helpful info. We're in the market for something exactly like this.

[Steve Eudaly]

Revising this topic as we never discussed what people are using for barcode printers.

We purchased a Zebra GX420t but are having an absolute bear of a time getting it to work properly. Flex recommended it, but was little help after we purchased it and started having issues.

Curious if there is a printer that better suits our needs and isn't so difficult to use.

Any first hand experiences or recommendations?

[Tim Hite]

I've gone to myassettag.com and ordered a sample pack sent out. There are a couple dozen options for tags. They can all be custom sized. Prices from 50¢ to $3+ per tag

I am still plagued with indecision. Will likely end up ordering more than one sort of tag. Trying to work out number scheme.

Revising this topic as we never discussed what people are using for barcode printers.

We purchased a Zebra GX420t but are having an absolute bear of a time getting it to work properly. Flex recommended it, but was little help after we purchased it and started having issues.

Curious if there is a printer that better suits our needs and isn't so difficult to use.

Any first hand experiences or recommendations?

[Frank Koenig]

Trying to work out number scheme.

Tim, I'm far from having a dog in this fight but I do have an opinion about numbers from numerous encounters with inventory and manufacturing control systems over the years: "Smart numbers" -- aren't. Pretty much every attempt at encoding extra information in a numbering scheme eventually fails for reasons including fields that are too small, un-thought-of categories that are relevant, irrelevant categories, and adding more physical storage locations in a warehouse in numerical order. (I kid you not. I worked at a place where whenever a new part was added they needed to move all the bins higher than that part number to insert it on the shelves )

Numbers are cheap. Use them as arbitrary unique identifiers, with a check-sum or other redundancy built in. Use computers to give them meaning.

--Frank

[Ray Aberle]

Revising this topic as we never discussed what people are using for barcode printers.

We purchased a Zebra GX420t but are having an absolute bear of a time getting it to work properly. Flex recommended it, but was little help after we purchased it and started having issues.

Curious if there is a printer that better suits our needs and isn't so difficult to use.

I'm going to be using Flex when I finally sign up for it. I'm still working on the back end infrastructure (ensuring everything is labeled, and then building their inventory import spreadsheet). I don't want to waste my 60-day free trial!

I ordered my labels from Electronic Imaging Materials. Pricing was good (I think it was $76 per thousand) and printing/delivery was fast. I went with "partial-preprinted," so they put my company name in color at the top, and the lower half is white space for printing the barcode/number. I can also print anything else I want in that space, so it makes it easy to label other things just to show ownership. [I did NOT order labels with the asset number/barcode already printed on them- if I had, I could have skipped buying the printer. I made this decision because a) not everything that's in my inventory spreadsheet that's been numbered since, say, 2004 or so, is going to be tagged now, and b) being able to print labels on demand means if one gets damaged, it's easy to replace.]

They sold me the printer as well, and that printer came with BarTender UltraLite for printing the barcodes. It installed fast and is very easy to use. [I wanted to get started on labeling right away, even before signing up with Flex. Also, Flex needs an open port on your network's firewall, another company owner told me he had problems  making *that* work, so I didn't want that hassle. This way, I'm also not dependent on having an internet connection.]

Hit me up if you'd like contact information for EIM.

-Ray

[Tim Hite]

I'm with you on the BS "smart numbers". I just need a couple different styles/sizes of tags for different sized gear, so I'm trying to work it out so I don't trip myself up while ordering pre-numbered tags.

I already shot my invoice numbering in the foot and had to recover.

Tim, I'm far from having a dog in this fight but I do have an opinion about numbers from numerous encounters with inventory and manufacturing control systems over the years: "Smart numbers" -- aren't. Pretty much every attempt at encoding extra information in a numbering scheme eventually fails for reasons including fields that are too small, un-thought-of categories that are relevant, irrelevant categories, and adding more physical storage locations in a warehouse in numerical order. (I kid you not. I worked at a place where whenever a new part was added they needed to move all the bins higher than that part number to insert it on the shelves )

Numbers are cheap. Use them as arbitrary unique identifiers, with a check-sum or other redundancy built in. Use computers to give them meaning.

--Frank

[ProSoundWeb Community]