Barcodes for Inventory Management

[Sandy_Hang]

Hi friends!

I work for a cleaning company and we are trying to find a better way to manage our cleaning supply inventory better. We currently have a complicated situation where our cleaners need to notify us when they need cleaning supplies, we then move it to a master list, and then onto a distribution list.

Cleaners often will forget to ask for a product and are in need of something so they’ll ask to grab something the day of. This always messes with our ordering process as sometimes it will be so busy when they come in, we forget to mark it down and we’ll run out of products faster than expected.

Wondering if there is a way through airtable to scan the barcode and have it automatically subtract one from the master inventory.

[JonathanBowen]

Hi @Sandy_Hang - I can’t find a way to do manage this with a barcode field and a barcode scan, but you can get close to it using the standard forms.

The first table I have is the “stock items” table:

This has a name or ID, an opening stock number, a link to a “Scans” table (see below). The “count of scans” is a count of the scanned field. Finally, “current stock” is a formula of:

{Opening Stock} - {Current Stock}

The second table (I’ve called this “Scans”) is where your staff record the stock that they take:

The “Stock” field is the link to the stock items table.

As each item is recorded in the scans table, the link is updated in the stock items table and the current stock is recalculated (decremented).

Obviously, as you buy in new stock you update the Opening Stock record and delete any records in the scans table in order to reset the opening stock and the current stock to the same value.

Hope this helps!

JB

[Moe]

Sandy_Hang:

Wondering if there is a way through airtable to scan the barcode and have it automatically subtract one from the master inventory.

You can’t scan a barcode and have it trigger an action automatically. However, this is possible with QR codes since they can be based on links (not just numbers). Here’s one solution:

1. Generate an ‘action link’ for every record with this extension.

2. Turn those links into QR codes.

Now every time you scan one of those generated QR codes, a specific record will get updated (or created).

Another option would be to make something like a changelog history table using our form builder. It has a built-in barcode scanner and you can create a new record for every entry.

miniExtensions

Scan Barcodes and QR Codes in miniExtensions Form

Turn barcode fields in your form into a barcode scanner. It allows you to scan barcodes in the browser with live cameras on both mobile and desktop devices.

[Bart_Junior]

Where do they scan in this table ?
I do not see the link between the scanning and the name ?
Do i miss something ?

[Sun_W_Kim]

The person scans the barcode Scans table under the Stock column (2nd picture). Each row is a scan of one item. Then he created a view (1st picture) that groups all the same items into one row and gives you a count of the number of times the item got scanned. This works well if you scan one item at a time to deduct inventory.