ScanBeep - Inventory Warehouse
End-to-end inventory management with custom barcodes, Android scanning, and a web dashboard.
Screenshots
Overview
The existing inventory process at the company was Excel spreadsheets and memory. The result of this was the company wouldn't get container equipment back (such as steel frames) after shipping seed/fertilizer to clients. I built an Android app on a Tera Android 13 Barcode Scanner P161 for scanning custom-made barcodes, a SQL database to back it, and a Next.js dashboard so managers can view reports and run queries without touching a terminal.
Challenges
Although I had prior Android development experience, I've never handled an Android integrated with a laser barcode scanner. While it does come out of the box ready to scan, the app had to work around small gimmicks in the way a barcode is even scanned in the first place. The app includes a set of operations that need to behave differently based on both physical and digital button controls. I also had to design a barcode format that worked with both his system and mine. For this approach, I decided a scalable option that utilized Code-128 barcodes. This includes text and numbers, which is how I determined what is what. Another challenge I faced was making a UI for a farmer. While it may seem silly, the application was made in mind that the person operating the scanner needs it to be obvious what each thing does.
What I learned
Building something people use at work every day is a different responsibility than a side project. If the scanner crashes, operations cease and work can't be done. That pressure made me much more careful about error processing/handling, offline behavior, and actually testing on real hardware before deployment. Furthermore, I've gained tons of experience since this project. It gets the job done, but I would likely choose a different development tech-stack if I were to do it again.
Outcome
The scanner sits in the warehouse ready to be used at any time. The software was sold to the client and has data readily-available in the case a client doesn't bring back any shipment containers. Since this software's development, the client now has access to track down where the equipment went and when it went out.