Barcode inventory tracking revisited

[ilanh]

I know that every once in a while this topic is brought up but we still haven't figured out what to do. I am looking for an extremely simple and basic system that will enable us to log frames into the system when they come in and to log them out when they are sold. It does not have to be linked to billing, patient accounts etc. Just a simple system to keep track of what we buy and what we sell. I would be interested to know if anyone has found a stand alone system that is not linked with any of the practice management software programs and is simple and inexpensive.

[MarcE]

The simplest I have found is a 2 part carbonless copy lab order form. Original goes in lab tray, back copy goes in a bin to track whatever you like; frames sales, % of BF, % of AR, etc. You could even chart frame eyesize year to year. Whatever. Of course you need some manpower to input, track calculate the data. But in my opinion, it is less work than using barcodes.

[RA]

these guys , nice program

http://www.flexinventory.com/

:)

[Dougfir8]

Heres a free and basic way to do it. Use an Excel or an OpenOffice Calc workbook for this. Enter information in the columns/rows: OPC, Manuf, style, color, size, cost, date in, date out, selling price, customer, etc. You would need to scan the bar code into the OPC column (shows up as text), and you would go back to that item in the future by using the FIND or SEARCH, scanning the bar code, and updating the information. Good luck!

[ilanh]

I had the opportunity to see a demonstration of the flexinventory program this week at my office. It seemed quite easy to use. Essentially, the Frames Data CD is scanned into the system. A barcode reader is used to scan incoming frames and immediately prints a proprietary barcode sticker. You can see all the details of the frame in a popup window and can even set defaults regarding your pricing structure eg: it will calculate exactly 2.5X the frames data price and print that out on the sticker barcode. It also prepares reports which tells you which frames are selling, when they're out, which are discontinued etc. The total cost is about $2500 which includes the license, training and all the hardware. The program does inventory only and is not designed for anything else.