Assuming that we are talking about equipment "asset labeling" here, I’m wondering what actual use is made of the coded labels?
At least one hospital I know has bar codes alongside the "human readable" number on their asset labels, but (as far as I am aware) do not make any use of them at all.
By the way those same guys have all the clever stuff available to them (
eg, bar-code wand on the electrical safety tester), but it all seems to have fallen into disuse (once the novelty had worn off, I guess).
Meanwhile, I have found bar-coding to be very useful and efficient in fast-moving retail operations (you know, Morrisons, Tesco
et al) and for processing and tracking parcels in transit (
eg, by "couriers").
