QR and NFC labels for site stock: recording as things happen

Stock records fail for one reason more than any other: writing it down later. By the end of the shift nobody remembers whether it was two gallons of primer or three, and the clipboard in the site office never sees the drum that went to level 4. A label on the container fixes that by putting the record where the work happens.

What a scan should do

Scanning a container's label should take a person straight to that container, with no searching through lists:

• what it is, its hazards and a link to its safety data sheet;
• how much the records say is in it, and when that was last confirmed;
• large buttons for the common moves: issue, dispense, count, move, return, dispose.

One scan and one tap should be enough for the usual case. If recording a use takes longer than doing the work, people stop recording.

QR or NFC

QR codes need nothing but a printed label and a phone camera. They are cheap to replace and readable from a short distance. They suffer when dirty, scratched, frosted or in poor light, so print them on a durable material and put them where they will not be scraped off.

NFC tags are read by touching a phone to them. They keep working when a label is grubby or the light is bad, but the phone needs NFC switched on, and many tags do not read well on metal unless they are made for it.

Many sites use both: a QR label on everything, and NFC tags on the containers that get handled most.

Label the container, not just the product

Labels work best at the level you actually count and move: a tank, an IBC, a drum, a box of tubes. A product (say, a brand of sealant) can be on site in several containers in several stores, each with its own quantity and history. A label per container lets each one be counted and moved on its own.

When there is no signal

Basements, plant rooms and remote compounds often have no signal, which is exactly where stock gets used. Recording should not depend on a connection. A good scanner keeps the entry on the phone and sends it when signal returns, with the time it really happened.

Two people can record against the same container while offline. Software should catch that, by having each entry say which version of the container it saw, and hold a clash for someone to look at rather than silently keeping one and dropping the other.

Make the habit stick

• Put labels on before stock goes into use. Label at receiving, not after the first count.
• Keep the moves few. Most people only need issue and count. Leave adjustments to whoever reconciles.
• Count on a rhythm. A Friday count of the flammables cabinet catches drift while people still remember the week.
• Show the result. When a variance is found and explained, tell the crew. People record more carefully when they can see that the records are used.

Where labels stop

A label only knows what people tell it. Tubes that walk off site, a leaking drum or a missed entry show up only at the next count, or on a tank, the next sensor reading. That is why counts and sensors matter: they give an independent figure to compare with the records. See When the count and the records disagree.