At the end of the year, we will perform our physical inventory as part of our implementation. As such, we need to affix a bar-code label to each roll of product. How do we print these labels out of EPICOR? Basically, we are looking to print labels on the fly.
I think lots of us here use Bartender as a barcode\label solution. You can print labels out of E10 but weâll have to wait for someone else to pipe in on that.
@bderuvo ?
Can you load the info into Bartender and print one label at t time? For instance, we will pull a pallet from the top rack. While it is down, we want to input the pallet information and have that print out as a bar-coded label.
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Bartender (BT for short) is very flexible. It can do what you mention and lots more. You can setup BT to do what you asked and have it prompt for the info before printing the label. You essentially just layout the label with visual software.
You can also write all of your parts/data to a CSV text file or even a DB and mass print them
Better yet, you can write customization on your inv transfer screens and print labels straight from there. I did this for my previous company. Instead of customizations, you can also setup âAUTOPRINTâ in a bpm to do similar things, less flexibly albeit.
As of now, I will need BT for about one week just to get the existing inventory bar-coded.
You need to install the barcode font on the server to enable SSRS reports to print barcodes (like the employee badge or the Cycle Count Tags)
This post talks about using the barcode font with both Crystal and SSRS report methods.
I agree with @Chris_Conn about BTs flexibility, I would be investigating your SSRS options first before investing in BT, at least to satisfy the justification of the initial outlay and the ongoing maintenance.
Iâve only been messing with BT 2016 since the beginning of the year. So others may want to chime in.
Remember also that there is a concurrent printer limit with BT, after the initial 5 (I think?) you need to buy another license pack if you were going to use more printers than that. You can cycle printers in BT out of the license server, but only after 7 days of being idle. That being said there is probably a way to cycle them early, for example for a printer replacement. The BT online support is pretty good, even if accessing it via the engineers handbook (AKA Google).
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Another option is to print direct to the barcode printer using the native printer code depending on your label printers.
For example, I am currently using Zebra printers and labels are generated via a form customization that creates an âActionâ - Pint Labels.
When the user triggers the action the code that writes part information in ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) to a file using the FileStream from within the System.IO namespace.
Once I have created the file I then copy the file to the printer name on the shared network
System.IO.File.Copy(ZPLFile, SharedPrinterName+ZPLFile, true);
The following article is not Epicor specific, but explains the options at a high level: What Language Does Your Printer Speak? » Labeling News The third paragraph details the option I have explained.
One big plus is that this is very quick as you can build up the file in the code and only send it across to the printer once. Very useful when you need to print 1000 serial numbers.
Depending on the trigger to do the barcode label printing on the fly, this can be done with a Standard Data Directive via the Auto Print widget. If you want to have labels printed as counts are being entered, then you can put the Data Directive on the CCTag table and trigger when the âReturnedâ field is set to âtrue.â
You can have the auto print one of the BarTender Report Styles (GenInv?) or any other report. I have found the trickiest part to be getting the BarTender server stuff working properly when Iâve done this before.
I have set this up to print a BarTender report or a SSRS report.
If you are using multiple Printers you will need to assoicate each âworkstationâ with a printer and then associate user accounts (handhelds for your physical?) with each workstation, then it can print to the workstationâs printer.
If you think you only need BT for one week, then I would recommend using SSRS. While itâs a bit tricky getting label size and margins right, itâs quite doable. Maybe easier then BT based on my experience.
