Barcode readers for machine data collection

Can anybody recomend a good system for data collection in a maintenance system? We have paper audits of flows, pressure, temprature etc on all of our equipment. I was thinking of buying a bardoce scanner and software to collect data. The theory is to put a laminated barcod on all the guages and have an operator scan a barcode and enter the value for that guage. After the operator completes his rounds the data would be uploaded to a server and tracked.

Has anybody succesfully done this, and do you have any recomendations?

Thank you

cdlove28,

Yes, many people have successfully collected data automatically. You are not going to like the answer, however.

What you have described is a ******* system: Collecting data manually, but recording and saving it electronically. Why not do it all electronically? The way to do it is to replace those gages with 4-20 miliamp current transmitters, and wire the data to a computer running RSView (or some other graphical interface). Then set up Trending functions to record the data periodically (once a minute, hour, or day). Actually you don't have to replace the gages, but merely add a transmitter at each gage location. This is the foolproof way to do it.

Now, if you insist on reading the gages manually, then I suggest a Handheld Computer, such as a Palm Pilot, or a Dolphin with built-in bar code reader. The collected data can be transmitted either wirelessly or by plugging in to a base station (which is connected to a computer RS232 port). Once the data is in the main computer, you will need some type of database software (MSAccess?) to display and manipulate the data.

Baby steps.

The second paragraph is what im looking for. I did find a company that looks promising called Datanet.

The wiring option is a good idea for the future. But with over 200 data points the setup would cost a lot of $$. If i get this in and we go paperless then we can later exand out system and collect automaticly.

Thanks for your response.

BTW what is a dolphin?