As easy as 1-2-3 with a lot of barcode
labels and shipping labels in between!
|
It’s a sound we should all know and love: the electronic notes
associated with that final scan of a box being dropped off at our
doorstep. Maybe it’s the latest bestseller from Amazon or a new
iPhone. Whatever it is, barcode labels play a big part in shipping and
tracking the flow of packages around the globe.
Let’s break it down.
An mp3 player manufacturer in China accepts daily
deliveries from component manufacturers in over a dozen countries.
The parts required to put together the player come in large quantity
boxes, mostly marked with direct thermal barcode labels, bar-coded to
reveal quantity, production date and additional information.
The manufacturer prints direct thermal barcode labels
on blank label stock to track the storage and use of component materials
throughout the manufacturing process.
As the mp3 player is assembled in the factory,
workers scan personal barcodes so efficiency experts can better track
the labor required for each step of the assembly. This helps to
better manage labor schedules and target specific areas of the
production process to improve efficiency.
Once the mp3 player has been assembled, it is
packaged. The packaging also has a barcode label that can be
scanned by retail checkout technology. The package is then placed in a
box with other mp3 players. The larger boxes containing multiple
mp3 players all have barcode labels that are scanned before being placed
in a shipping pallet, also bar-coded. Pallets are assigned shipping
orders, packed into a container, and moved to the port.
Blank labels are printed and attached to the shipping
box which is scanned by the shipper upon release to the port. At
the port, thermal transfer barcode labels and direct thermal barcode
labels are used to label the shipping container with delivery
information. The delivery information is put into a planning
program to determine placement of the container on the ship.
 Once
the item is loaded onto the ship, its barcode labels are scanned again.
At any given time, a shipping company must be able to pinpoint the
location of thousands of shipping containers.
Upon arrival to its destination, the
shipping company scans the container and releases it to another
forwarding agent, who has (you guessed it) his own set of barcode labels
printed from blank label stock. The majority of short-term
shipping labels are printed on direct thermal labels.
The container is trucked to a warehouse where its
contents are then unloaded. Pallets may be shipped to different
warehouses around the country and/or retailers. Let’s assume that
several pallets are shipped to a major electronic retailer’s warehouse.
After you purchase your mp3 player online, a unit is
packed into a shipping package. A barcode label is printed from a
blank label and affixed to the package. As the package makes its
way from the warehouse, to the courier service, to a local dispatch
center and finally out on a delivery truck, these shipping labels make
it possible for you to track your item’s journey. Some savvy e-tailers
will send you email updates that are automatically generated every time
a barcode label on a shipping label is scanned.
Finally, the item arrives at your door, ready for its
final scan. The beep of the scanner over the package’s barcode
label is the last sound separating you from your brand new mp3 player.
Indeed, shipping labels and barcode labels (in
all of their variety, including thermal transfer labels and direct
thermal labels) help make production and distribution cheaper and more
efficient.
At Uprintlabels.com, that is music to our ears.
| 
