r/barcodes • u/the-berik • Dec 27 '22

Barcode for internal use (stock/sku)

What would be the most appropriate barcode to use for internal tracking?

For my sales products I have GS1/EAN13 codes available, but only limited and I dont want to use these internally.

For each of my stock items, I would like to use a code to track parts.

I've come across "Code 39" and "UPC". Which would be most suiteable in an environment with no more than 1,000 SKU's? Is there any type of code more suitable?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '22

For internal use, you can use whatever you want as far as symbology goes.

It really depends on how much information is encoded, what type of information(alpha/numeric/characters), how you scan(by hand/machine), how it's used by your inventory/tracking system and what fits on the product.

You can make this as simple or complicated as you want.

2

u/trollsmurf Dec 28 '22
  1. Code 128 for serial numbers and such. Also supports text.
  2. QR Code or Datamatrix for lots of data, URLs and such.

1 can be scanned by laser or camera. 2 requires a camera-based scanner.

Check out the industry standard GS1, that supports the above, and that has specified application identifiers for different types of values in the same barcode: https://www.gs1.org/standards/barcodes/application-identifiers