Before we deployed our mobile app at our customers’ warehouses, we wanted to know which barcode scanners actually make operations staff’s lives easier. Hence, we designed a three-stage test, got a bunch of scanner models ranging from cheap knockoffs to the industry gold standard, and had far more fun doing so than we probably should have.
The first part involved the thermal label, which contains the AWB in the barcode format our mobile app needs. Going into the test, we noticed that the barcode on our old design was more prone to failed reads if stuck on incorrectly or used on polypropylene sacks (which, it turns out, are where barcodes go to die). So, we investigated how AWBs are attached, what usually goes wrong, and what possible solutions could look like.
The second part was the printing, scratching, crumpling, and scuffing of these labels to replicate every possible condition they could be in when arriving at the warehouse. The challenge here was to apply the damage as identically as possible across the different designs to actually yield useful insights.
Third was the scanning itself. With warehouse operations often chaotic and fast-paced, the ability of scanners to work in various situations is essential. As such, we tested a variety of distances, angles, and light conditions to see how effective each scanner was at tackling each situation.
Our result: when it came to actually reading barcodes, there was surprisingly little difference between cheap and expensive. The differences were in how annoying the scanning sound was, how easily the scanners paired with a phone, and how many settings we could tweak.
But the largest difference we noticed was in one of our label redesigns, where certain redundancies allow staff to use quicker fallback methods, ensuring they can keep working fast and aren’t slowed down by a poorly attached label.
So, buy whichever scanner beeps the least and spend the money on better-designed labels. Your ears and your warehouse staff will thank you.
Written by Moritz Handtke and Marwin Himmelreich