Bar Coding

The RTA system contains several built-in bar code programs. These programs allow you to:

• Generate part labels (with or without bar codes)

• Generate bin labels (with or without bar codes)

• Upload fuel data collected from a TriCoder

• Upload part data collected from a TriCoder

• Upload bin data collected from a TriCoder

• Quickly and accurately enter data into RTA

Bar codes consist of a series of parallel bars and spaces of varying sizes. A device such as a light pen or laser scanner scans these bar-space patterns. There are several different barcoding techniques available today. RTA uses the code 39 (also referred to as code 3 of 9) and code 93 bar code formats when printing bar codes; however, the bar code scanners purchased through Ron Turley Associates, Inc. can read in most of the popular bar code formats available such as UPC, EAN, etc. The 3 of 9 bar code format is the most commonly used bar code format. It enables numbers (0-9), uppercase letters (A-Z), and other characters (the space character and the symbols: -, +, /, $, %) to be bar coded. It is printed in a variable-length format allowing for encoding of any number of digits. This format has become the "de facto" standard for government, manufacturing, education, business applications, and the bar code industry. Code 93 outputs a shorter, more compressed bar code than code 3 of 9.

NOTE: If your part numbers are 20 characters or larger, in order for the printed bar codes to fit on the label, you must use the code 93 format when printing bar codes. If your part numbers are less than 20 characters long, you may use either format.

Implementing a barcoding system is easy. However, you will need some barcoding hardware in order to use the barcoding programs. Although you will incur some costs initially for the hardware, the costs will quickly be offset and you will end up saving money in the long run due to the faster data processing time, fewer data entry mistakes, and elimination of trying to decipher handwritten information.