Can someone please recommend something for us?
We are a prescription lens manufacturer. During our process, we separate the spectacle frame from the job, while optical lenses are being manufactured. Once the lenses are finished being manufactured, the frame is matched together with the lenses for our final fitting process.
The Frames are placed into a plastic bag or frame case and stored in a Kadex vertical stacker, while lenses are made.
What we are looking for is a programable device / TAG ( so we can program the job number ( job numbers are released when the job is shipped and reused on a new job ) onto the TAG ) that we can put in the plastic bag with the frame, so if the frame is miss placed. It can help us find the frame.
Hi Dunstan,
Welcome to the forum 
I just wanted to clarify if you were looking to find a way to automatically allocate job numbers and associated information onto a physical object which can stay with the item? Or if you wanted a tracking device or beacon that will help you physically locate an item if it is not where it should be?
NFC fobs are great for linking small chunks of data (job number, customer name, phone number, shelf location) with a physical object, in a similar way you might with a paper manifest, only it can be rewritten automatically, but they wonât act like a beacon.
Alternatively there are things like the Apple Airtag which are about tracking an objects physical location over time and reporting it to nearby devices so it can be found if misplaced.
Which use case were you trying to find a solution for?
Hello Trent,
Thank you.
Locate the item if it is not where it should be. does not need to be automatic. As I was hoping to reuse fob for another job with a different number.
Yes, I am aware of Apple tag, that was the sort of thing we were thinking of but something we can control the number and is not so expensive, as we will be needing around 4000-5000 of them.
Hi Dunstan,
NFC fobs like these donât require batteries but will only be picked up out to a range of a couple of centimetres from the reader. This might help you catch if someone filed a tagged device into the wrong drawer, but wouldnât help if it was misplaced away from the reader, like if it were left on a desk somewhere.
Iâve seen a couple of bluetooth beacons like the Apple airtag out there, but they donât have the extensive network of apple phones within range to act as triangulation devices and if you are relying on the beacon itself to indicate itâs location you will need a device with a directional antenna to track it down and know its position.
GPS positioning can be ruled out as an option since you are indoors.
Hi all
What about bar codes with a portable hand held reader. You would have to scan each bag but would not have to open them or read small labels with all the info printed on them which could be time consuming.
Re GPS indoors. I believe some large warehouses use a sort of GPS style system to track and position picking robots. Not GPS really as the âGlobalâ term would not apply but similar strictly local use.
Cheers Bob
1 Like
Hi @Dunstan248742 ,
When I was the system designer for the Technician management system at work, we were using barcodes for tracking over 2,000,000 items in the warehouses,and as they were moved into/out of technicians vehicles, and to/from hundreds of external locations.
Used thoroughly, they are extremely consistent. We had them on the items, on warehouse shelves, on the con notes etc etc
A successful part of this was the use of wifi hand scanners (actually smart devices with extra capabilities) and every time something was âtouchedâ, it was scanned, i.e. move this (scanned) item to this (scanned) shelf. Something new arrived, attach a barcode (scanned), and put it onto the inwards goods (scanned) shelf ⌠. .
Items had a specific prefix in the barcode to indicate âProductâ, shelves had a different specific prefix to indicate âLocationâ, a tech vehicle was âTechnicianâ, etc etc
When the scanning process was followed - didn t lose anything. And printing a barcode (i.e. âProduct-Jobnumberâ) is cheap (a few cents each) - after you get the printers and data system in place 
Murray
1 Like
Hi Robert and Murray, Thanks for your suggestion. We currently use barcodes for our inventory and picking ( scan and verify ) but we can not work out how to use them for locating missing frames.
Hi Dunstan,
the âlocate missing framesâ element was covered in our warehouse tracking system by coding the shelves / racking locations etc with barcodes also, and following the process of placing/moving an item (scanned) to this (new) location (also scanned).
We didnt worry about scanning the from location, only the item itself and the to location.
As long as EVERY TIME an item was moved, it and the new destination were scanned, then the item could be located.
It is both a technical process (data management) and the accompanying human process (scan everything!)
Then a search on the computer via the database would tell you where the item should be âŚ
Select Location from Shelving where Item = "JOBNUMBER";
Wrap a similar sort of query up in your management system screens and the response should be something like
Shelf-8-position-6
if the tagging and scanning process is followed.
Murray
1 Like
Hi Murray,
We currently use a barcode system with associated software.
What I need to fix. We occasionally go to match finished lenses with the stored frame and the frame is not in the allocated location. Our team searches for the frame, we allow about a week of searching ( just in case it turns up ) then we have to pay for the lost frame. So they can provide our client with the finished job.
Sure enough 1-2 weeks later the frame turns up.
I know it should not happen and we have put processes in place to try to resolve it but it still happens occasionally. and it is ways an expensive frame.
1 Like
Hi Dunstan,
If you are tagging the frames, and have a method of recording the storage locations as items are stored and moved then I think that the issue is in the human process.
Items are being relocated without being re-scanned.
I know that you are not a warehouse operation as we were running, where every team member had access to a scanner ( either portable wifi handheld, or tethered to their computer at the desk), but this is I believe where your issue lies. And adding technology may not be the best solution, or will be a very expensive system that can maintain an automated wide area coverage that doesnât rely on humans.
(noting that humans and machines can both make mistakes, just that machines can make them faster 
)
Murray
2 Likes
Hi Murray,
That is exactly our problem. Human error. But I am trying to find a way to fix the problem when human error happens.
Hi Dunstan,
Location barcodes, more scanners and a process review procedure ⌠It did take a while to get our warehouses working well, but as the team realised that the âextraâ scanning on every item movement actually made their job easier, things improved⌠They could find âstuffâ, and the tech waiting on parts while their SLA clock was running down were provided much better service.
Lotsa luck, and patience.
Murray
Edit: down the track the techs were included in the âwarehouseâ process as all their vehicles became warehouses also, just with wheels . Small vans - the items were âjust in the vanâ and relied on the tech being neat (most were), while the bigger vans actually had internal storage shelving/compartments and these were added to the database in the same manner as any location in the forkliftable racking warehouses.
2 Likes
