License Plate Tracking in BellHawk

One of the features of BellHawk is its support for "License Plate" tracking. In license plate tracking, a unique series of alpha-numeric characters is used to identify each item that is to be tracked. This includes boxes, pallets, rolls, reels, bags and barrels. It also includes serialized items and other individually barcoded items. License plate tracking enables the tracking and traceability of materials from vendors through manufacturing to end customers. This enables targeted recalls when problems arise and well a compliance with many Government regulations designed to protect heath and human safety.

It used to be that most organizations did their barcode tracking by putting barcodes, such as part number, lot number and quantity barcodes on boxes. These barcodes were then scanned to make entries into the forms within an ERP or other financial system. While barcodes with meaning are still used, license plate tracking has become the universal standard for tracking materials in the global supply chain and is supported by a set of standards administered by the worldwide GS1 standards organization

We now have standards to uniquely identify serialized items and containers of materials on a world-wide basis using both barcodes and RFID tags. This enables complete tracking and traceability throughout the supply chain and not just within a single organization.

The license plate number is used as a reference to a location in the database that contains all the information about that item or what is in that container:

The data about what is in each container is typically kept in a containers table. Each record in this table contains information such as Part Number, Quantity, Manufacturer, Lot Number, Age of Materials, Location, Quality Control Status and Cost.

It should be noted that the barcode label or RFID tag on the container does not have to be changed when:

1. The quantity of materials in the container changes.
2. The quality control status of the materials changes.
3. The location of the materials changes.

All this information can simply be changed in the database without the need to relabel the container.

ERP systems do not, typically, have container tables. Instead they track aggregate inventory. Thus BellHawk for example may know that it has 3 containers, each with 100 widgets each, in three different locations. The ERP system knows that it has 300 widgets in stock. By recording the detailed changes in materials into the BellHawk containers table and then exporting these as changes to inventory levels, we get the best of both worlds. We get all the tracking and traceability information that BellHawk provides and at the same time get real-time updates to the inventory levels in our ERP or financial system.