Looking for some application advice with barcode scanners and Compactlogix PLC and a Panelview Plus. I assume Ethernet/IP is the way to go here.
We've done some simple barcode scanning before with keyboard wedge style scanners just plugged into the Panelview Plus USB port which worked fine when just scanning one or two things. We have an application where a customer wants to scan several things (8-15 or so) off a single part sheet so clicking on the screen then scanning then clicking on the screen etc. would be pretty cumbersome.
So a few questions:
I think all the fields are unique enough that we should be able to figure out what is being scanned with some logic. For example, if the field starts with J it would be the job number. Has anyone done something like this with an Ethernet/IP barcode scanner where you just start scanning fields and the data ends up in the correct place regardless of the order you scan them in?
I see there are barcode scanners that can read multiple barcodes at once. This would probably be ideal. Do these work well? Are they a fortune?
One catch with scanning the full part sheet at once is that one of the fields they want to scan multiple times as a part count, so that may not lend itself to scanning all at once, but maybe they could manually enter the quantity at the HMI after everything is scanned in.
Any brands that would be recommended to make any of this easier?
We've done some simple barcode scanning before with keyboard wedge style scanners just plugged into the Panelview Plus USB port which worked fine when just scanning one or two things. We have an application where a customer wants to scan several things (8-15 or so) off a single part sheet so clicking on the screen then scanning then clicking on the screen etc. would be pretty cumbersome.
So a few questions:
I think all the fields are unique enough that we should be able to figure out what is being scanned with some logic. For example, if the field starts with J it would be the job number. Has anyone done something like this with an Ethernet/IP barcode scanner where you just start scanning fields and the data ends up in the correct place regardless of the order you scan them in?
I see there are barcode scanners that can read multiple barcodes at once. This would probably be ideal. Do these work well? Are they a fortune?
One catch with scanning the full part sheet at once is that one of the fields they want to scan multiple times as a part count, so that may not lend itself to scanning all at once, but maybe they could manually enter the quantity at the HMI after everything is scanned in.
Any brands that would be recommended to make any of this easier?