Are Bar Codes Relevant to Project Management?
In specific circumstances, certainly yes! Those circumstances are obviously wherever a significant number of items, especially if they differ in some detail, need to be stored for some time before being incorporated into the final structure. Obvious examples are frequently found in storage of steel reinforcing parts that are very similar but not identical and can be formed long in advance of actual usage. Coding is especially important if there are many similar shapes and sizes that will be created long in advance of their incorporation into a concrete structure. Such coding needs to be carefully designed to reflect time and place of usage.
This approach enables an intensive and efficient effort to produce the required number of parts well in advance of usage. This can be done by hiring specialists skilled in this type of work who will produce complete batches of parts well in advance of consumption in the final structure. However, and this is a big "however", be sure to be clear that no changes in design will be expected, such that batches of relevant steel configurations will become obsolete, unusable and therefore a sheer waste of time, effort and cost.
Another use and benefit is to have the various required parts to be prepared off site at a suitable shop set up for the purpose. Appropriate barcoding will help to avoid losing track of custom parts and where they belong in the final work. However, another vital caveat is to ensure that everyone knows what is in storage, where it is stored and how much — particularly if there are multiple small parts. Otherwise, installers on the job may decide that looking for parts in storage takes longer than making on the job and does not pay as well as making new!
Other uses
Of course, marking reinforcing steel parts is not the only application. Another useful employment is in the casting of custom concrete or steel members such that maybe required in bridge building and similar such structures. Yet another use is actually in the office for marking drawings and special specifications or other reference documents. Such documents are much more easily filed and recovered according to some meaningful code number rather than by a whole variety of different or random sets of numbering systems.
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Bar Codes Generally