Bar codes on flat garments

Outer and inner bar codes data for hanging and flat products are the same. Exception is inner bar codes for shoes. The inner bar code for shoes consists of 10 digits instead of 8. First 8 digits as for GOH represent UPC of a product. The last two digits represent the left or the right pair of shoes. The right pair is represented as "02" and the left "01". In general, it would be good to scan both pairs of shoes on a POS machine before sale of that shoes, this action would prevent from chaos in a shoes departments of stores. In warehouse, scanning outer bar code of a product is enough. Scanning both inner bar codes of a pair of shoes will make checking process slower for warehouse staff but it is reasonable to scan both inner bar codes of a pair of shoes when it comes from a store.

Bar Codes on garments on hangers

CDC receives boxed products or garments on hangers(GOH). Generally, trucks from suppliers consist of few product items. But tracks from CDC to regional warehouses consists of too many items. In regional warehouse when a truck from CDC is received it has to be checked for discrepancy between physical quantity and the quantity in packing sheet sent by CDC. This process should be done as quick as possible but without any errors. The most reliable and quick way of checking for discrepancy is to scan the bar code labels on products. In this post, the process of scanning GOH products is described. GOH products have inner labels and outer bar code labels. In regional warehouse every GOH item should be scanned. The easiest and most practical way is to scan outer bar codes. There are two outer bar codes: front and side bar code. Both bar codes contain the same information: UPC of the item.

As it is shown in the picture above, inner bar code contain only UPC code. It is needed while scanning on the POS (point of sale) machine in the stores. In warehouse it is not too practical to scan it. Inner bar codes are scanned only if the product came from a store and suppliers' nylon bag has been removed in order to sell it but after some time for some reasons had to be send back to warehouse. In the warehouse, if goods are from CDC and suppliers nylon bags with 20 digit bar codes on them, outer bar codes are scanned. When the product is scanned the information on the bar codes are stored automatically in warehouse database system. The information is following:

• From 3-7 digits: product series id. From these digits, it it is possible to get the supplier ID.
• From 9-15 digits: UPC code.
• From 17 to 19 digits: pack quantity. Some products are packed in packs by suppliers in order to ease some logistic operations. For instance, if a pack contains of 16 products and all of them have same UPC then 17 to 19 digits of outer bar code will be "016".

Inner bar codes for products sold by two pieces or more have a bit different structure. They consist of 10 digits. First eight digits represent UPC of the product, the following two represent the number of a set. For instance, if a pyjama consists of a top and a bottom, it has two inner labels with two bar codes on them. This product has to be sold as a part set, not separately. If such product sold separated there will be store stock problems because warehouse sent these products as one item. The last two digits from inner bar code from the top are "01", the last two digits from inner bar code from the bottom are "02". But from outer bar code there is no such possibility to know how many pieces the product consists of. It would be good, to program POS machine, so that before sale, if the bar code of scanned product consists of 10 digits, then to alert sales person to control if all parts of a product do exist. Also some alert systems on a POS machine should be done for shoes. Why shoes should checked on a POS machine is explained in article "Bar codes for flat goods".

Product data analysis

When a regional warehouse gets a shipment, the shipment should be checked in a quick manner without any errors according to the data sent by CDC. At the and of this process the discrepancy report should be generated and the physically counted quantity should be taken into warehouse stock before these products are picked and sent to stores. A product has a color, size, product department, sales group and a universal product code(UPC). Every product has a label with bar code on it. In bar code UPC of product is coded. From this UPC we can get all the information such as department ID, color, size, sale group, fabric composition, store price, where product as been produced, etc.

• Sale group: All products sorted into sale groups: products for men, women, children, home, etc.
• Department ID: All products sorted according to departments. A Sale group may consist of dozens of departments. For example: women products may consist of Lingerie, Night wear, Casual, Formal, Mature, Accessories, etc. All departments IDs are 3 digit variables beginning with capital "T" and following with 2 numerical digits. Here some of them: T01, T11, etc.
• Stroke ID: A sale group consists of departments. A particular department consists of Stroke IDs. Stroke IDs are model numbers. For example: To6 is department for Jewellery. There may be too many types of ear rings, bracelets, rings, etc. To differ them a Stroke ID is given. The Stroke ID is unique in a department where that product is listed but the same Stoke ID may exist in another department but for completely different product. Stoke ID is a variable between 4-5 digits. If it is five digit variable, the fifth digit is a letter. The other first four digits are numerical.
• Color: Every product has a color description and color ID. A sale group consists of departments. A department consists of Stroke ID. A stroke may be in a number of colors. For instance: there may be a particular model of shirt. It may be in red, white, blue, etc colors but the cut and the fit is the same for all colors.
• Size: Some products dimensions may change from size to size. Shirts may have small size, medium, large, etc.
• UPC: a universal product code is unique in all sale groups, departments, strokes, colors, sizes. If UPC of a product is known then we can get product details such as: product color, size, department, store price, FOB price, supplier ID, fiber composition, etc. To be short all the information about that product. But it is impossible to get all the information if it is known department ID, stroke Id, sale group, etc. So for warehouse the most important data about product is UPC.

Products received from CDC should be checked according to UPC. This is the most reliable, quick way of checking goods.

Data flow direction

Before goods come to CDC, Buying department should analyze sales data from previous or current seasons according to season, region, store, etc and order optimal quantity from suppliers. Some data is sent to CDC and regional warehouses. The data sent to CDC consists of which goods are to come, order quantity, number of deliveries if goods are shipped in a number of deliveries, and the minimum quantity the regional warehouses should have of that goods. The minimum quantity of products may differ from warehouse to warehouse. The data sent to regional warehouses specifies which regional store which product to sent in what quantity and the minimum quantity that should always be in that store after product comes to regional warehouse. When supplier ships the products ordered, data of shipping information is sent to CDC. When products come to CDC, goods are picked for regional warehouses. If goods are new and will be shipped to regional warehouses for the first time, the launch quantity is collected according to the data sent from Buying dept. If the product to be picked has been collected and sent to a regional warehouse before then the current quantity of that product in the regional warehouse is taken into account and the quantity sent to regional warehouse from CDC is equal to minimum quantity of that product in the regional warehouse minus quantity sent from that warehouse to regional stores from the last delivery to the date product picked in CDC. When a store sells a product the information is sent to regional warehouse. Regional warehouse generates a picking work order for warehouse employees. When the goods in work order are picked, the work order is closed and the data is sent to CDC so CDC calculates the quantity of goods left in the regional warehouse. The same information is sent to stores so stores know which goods will come by the next delivery.

Minimum quantity for stores may change according to sales data. But the quantity ordered from suppliers can not change because supplier make order of row materials according to first data sent by Buying dept.

Goods flow direction

We have one central distribution center(CDC) and dozens of regional warehouses(RW) all over the world. RW are located by region or country and they feed stores located in that region or country. To CDC, suppliers from all over the world send ready to use/wear goods. Goods arrived to CDC sent to RW according to the sales data of the region where RW is located. In RW goods are sent to regional stores according to the sales data. Stores can receive goods and send goods back to RW. But RW can not send goods to CDC because of transport and custom expenses it is not reasonable. Goods received back from stores can be stored in warehouse or sent to other stores in a short or long period of time.