How to choose barcode or RFID for equipment tracking
To track equipment, set the identifier for each item before you choose whether that identifier is printed as a barcode or written to an RFID tag. A barcode has to be presented to a scanner, and GS1’s current RFID page describes RAIN RFID as a read without line-of-sight contact. Whichever carrier you choose, the identifier still has to be written into the same software record.
On this page
Give each asset an identifier first
A barcode and an RFID tag both hand an identifier you have already assigned to a reader. Until that identifier is written down, a clear label still does not tell the software which asset it is.
The current GS1 identification keys page says the GS1 General Specifications define 12 ID keys. The page shows no publish date. It names the Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI) for assets, with examples that include manufacturing, transport, and IT equipment, and the Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI) for returnable assets such as crates and totes. The same page says an organisation builds a GS1 ID key by becoming a GS1 member and obtaining a GS1 Company Prefix. This note does not quote a membership fee. Which five records a rental has to keep is covered in How to choose an equipment rental management system.
What the barcode page describes
The current GS1 barcodes page describes barcodes as symbols that can be scanned electronically using laser or image-based technology. They encode identifiers, such as a product, a shipment, or a location, and attributes, such as a serial number, a batch or lot, and dates. The page shows no publish date.
The same page separates linear barcodes from two-dimensional barcodes. Linear symbols include the UPC/EAN used in retail, and GS1-128 and ITF-14, which the page associates with distribution. Two-dimensional symbols encode data in dots and shapes. The page says they can hold more data than a one-dimensional barcode while the symbol can be physically smaller. It calls the GS1 General Specifications the core document for how GS1 barcodes and identification keys should be used. This note does not add a read distance the page does not state.
What the RFID page describes
The current GS1 RFID page describes the Electronic Product Code (EPC) as syntax for unique identifiers assigned to physical objects, unit loads, locations, or another entity in business operations. An EPC has binary forms for RFID tags and text forms for sharing among enterprise systems. The EPC Tag Data Standard specifies the data format and encodings for numbering schemes, including GS1 keys. The page shows no publish date.
The same page says RFID tags differ, that GS1 standards focus on UHF and HF passive tags, and that the most widely implemented tags in its industries are UHF passive tags, also called RAIN RFID. It also says that when unique EPCs are encoded on individual RAIN RFID tags, radio can capture those identifiers without line-of-sight contact, at distances well in excess of 10 metres. That sentence is the page’s description of this tag type. A read distance in your yard belongs in a trial record with its own date. This note does not treat 10 metres as a purchasing promise.
Match the carrier to the yard
When each asset can be brought to a scanner, and paint or a stack will not hide the symbol, the step matches the laser or image scan the barcode page describes. If a serial or a lot has to sit in the symbol, use a syntax the page already says can carry attributes, and write that same string into the software.
When assets move in batches and the yard cannot present each symbol to a scanner, read the RFID page’s description of RAIN RFID: a read without line-of-sight contact. After the read, the text form of the EPC still has to be written back to the same asset record. A code that exists only on the tag, with no matching string in the software, will not meet the next work order. How a maintenance order uses the identifier is covered in How to do predictive maintenance for equipment.
Write the identifier into the same software
The master record, the rental calendar, and the repair order share that identifier. When a label is damaged or a read fails, the string still finds the asset in the system, and the record says this attempt did not read it.
The delivery scope sits under Custom software, websites, and applications. The system keeps the identifier, the time of the read, the read point, and who checks an asset that was not read. This note does not draw a reader layout, and it does not quote a price for tags or readers.
When to leave barcodes off
When paint, mud, or a stack will hide the symbol, and nobody owns reprinting, leave the barcode off as the only way to read the asset. Write who reprints it, and how the same identifier goes back on the same asset.
When the count is small and one person can keep the five rental records aligned, a spreadsheet can still be enough. That condition is already in the rental-system note. When the count outgrows that alignment, come back to the identifier and then to a barcode or to RFID.
When RFID, and when neither, can wait
When the gate has no reader, and nobody works the list of assets that were not read, leave the RAIN RFID tags off the assets. A silent tag in the yard leaves the book to a person. Run one dated trial, record how many assets were read and how many were not, and only then decide whether to extend it.
When the identifier is still unset, and GS1 membership and a Company Prefix are not in place, leave both barcodes and RFID unpurchased. Decide who issues the identifier for each asset. This note does not state an inventory-accuracy figure or a saving in labour. Until a trial and a software write-back exist, check the programme by whether every asset has an identifier, whether a read is written back to that record, and whether a person takes an asset that was not read.