How to Manage Your Barcode Scanners and Label Printers Effectively

Managing barcode scanners and label printers might not be a task your internal IT team has the capacity to take on as they focus on other aspects of moving your business forward. However, configuring your mobile inventory devices to the specific needs of your warehouse is necessary for successful hardware implementation, management, and maintenance. This is the foundation of your barcode inventory system.

From installing operating system updates to troubleshooting evolving operations, sometimes you need additional assistance to meet your company's needs. RF-SMART's Hardware Professional Services (HPS) equips your team to overcome ever-changing industry demands, rising pressures and shifting conditions. 

Considerations for Ownership of Barcode Scanners and Label Printers

Before your barcode scanners and label printers can make a positive impact on the efficiency of your warehouse, they need to be configured to operate safely and successfully. This multi-step process will guide you to adjust your hardware to fit your enterprise workflow and get the most out of your investment.  
 
To help your hardware perform optimally, follow these steps:

1) Identify requirements
Every warehouse operation is slightly—or vastly—different from one another. Whether you’re adapting to the size of your inventory, your operating speed, or the number of users and workers in your warehouse, it’s necessary to pinpoint your needs based on your specific means of operations.  
    
2) Select devices
The hardware you select will need to offer the configuration necessary to launch and function properly with your workload. From distance-range capabilities of barcode scanners, to label printers fit for your bin material, there are many moving parts to this decision-making process.
 
3) Configure for your warehouse
The wireless settings of your hardware need to be formatted to connect to your personalized network. Your scanner and hardware settings need to function optimally with your barcodes and other data in order to keep the workday running smoothly and deliver accurate information to your staff.
 
4) Train warehouse staff
User-friendliness plays a major role with the adoption of hardware in your warehouse operations. Investing in purpose-built hardware available to meet the demands of your business may not be enough—your staff also needs to be able to understand, utilize, and manage your hardware at every level on a daily basis.
 
5) Conduct ongoing updates and maintenance
The marriage between hardware and software in a warehouse can pave the way for more accurate inventory management, better efficiency, and higher performance throughout your operations. However, knowing how to conduct ongoing updates and keeping your hardware supply maintained will play a vital role in making the most of your technology.
 
While these steps can be time consuming, they are necessary for uninterrupted operations at a daily level, in any industry. To help alleviate our customers from this intricate process, RF-SMART offers a hand through HPS.

By providing you with in-house solutions to deploy, manage, and maintain all your hardware, RF-SMART can be a vital part of your team. From configuration and deployment to continuous device maintenance and spare pool management, with HPS your project’s success is our responsibility. 

RF-SMART HPS can help you establish and re-evaluate your operating model to be more efficient, safer, and smarter. No matter the size of your warehouse supply—or the warehouse itself—we have your back through: 

• Configuration: From customization of your settings to configuring your Wi-Fi, we can help get you up and running while you maintain your high level of operation.
• Kitting: In an effort to assemble all the moving parts and components in your system to run as smoothly as possible, we help you customize each software set to a particular site, no matter how many sites are needed.
• Repackaging: Your team doesn't have to worry about which hardware goes where. RF-SMART HPS checks that all the right equipment is sent to the right site to the right team.
• Support: With our HPS Team, you'll have the support you need to not only assist with the setup but also carry you through each step of day-to-day operations.

We’ve seen customers go from one single location with very few devices to over 400 devices spanning 50 different locations without a pause in operations. At such a scale, our HPS team helped set the customer up to maximize efficiency. We worked with them to understand what needed to be configured, how much equipment they had, what tests needed to be done, and how to make the most of their warehouse layout.

We recently covered this topic in an episode of our Taking Inventory podcast: RF-SMART Hardware Professional Services. Take a listen:

Services offered through HPS:

In addition to device configuration, here are a few additional services RF-SMART's HPS Team offers:

• Premium Help Desk Support: Get priority access to our support with a complete care line.
• Spare Pool Management: With the bandwidth to keep your spare devices on-site, we triage a potentially broken device to verify that it needs to go in for repair. We will then dip into the spare pool, configure it to your location and send it in as little as 24 hours to help you get up as soon as possible. We want your devices to show up ready to go. Your team will receive hardware from us, take it out of the box, put a battery in, and have it immediately authenticated onto your network, with no additional internal help needed.
• Mobile Device Management: This device software allows us full remote access, updating firmware security over the air. Whether it's one location with three devices or hundreds of locations and hundreds of devices, we can roll that setting out throughout your entire fleet or individually by location. 
• Golden Image Creation: After collecting pivotal information from you, we can ensure every device goes out with the same configuration, including Wi-Fi, scanner settings, applications, and more. We are also able to offer consistency through proactive updates.
•  LEARN MORE: All features offered with HPS

Improve Efficiency with Reliable Support for Your Warehouse Hardware

To succeed at every step of the way, the RF-SMART's Hardware Team:

• Is a certified resale partner of both Zebra and Honeywell for barcode scanners, printers, and more
• Provides a comprehensive solution for labeling work, from rack labeling to custom labeling for the warehouse
• Offers on-site, post-sale, technical and infrastructure assistance
• Is available for support 8AM to 5PM EST, Monday through Friday, and after-hours for critical issues through our Help Desk.