18 May 2026  ·  Inventory

5 Ways to Scan Inventory in Standard Time®

Standard Time® supports five distinct scan types that together cover every inventory transaction — from pulling a single part off a shelf to building a finished assembly from a Bill of Materials. Here is what each one does and when to use it.

1. 1

   Scan an Item Directly

   The simplest transaction: scan the barcode printed on the item's own label. Standard Time® matches the scan value against five identifier fields — Name, Code, SKU, Vendor SKU, and Manufacturer SKU — and deducts exactly one unit from stock the moment a match is found. No prompts, no keyboard entry. This works equally well with your own labels or manufacturer barcodes already printed on incoming parts, as long as the OEM part number is stored as the Manufacturer SKU on the inventory record.

   Best for: high-velocity single-unit consumption — one fastener, one component, one assembly pulled per scan.

2. 2

   INV-SUB — Prompted Quantity Deduction

   Print the INV-SUB label once and post it at any station where stock is consumed. Scanning it opens a two-step prompt: Which item? (enter SKU, name, or any identifier — or scan the item's own label) and How many? (enter the quantity). Standard Time® deducts the entered quantity immediately and logs the transaction against the active work order.

   Best for: pulling multiple units of the same part in one batch — a handful of screws, a set of gaskets, a measured length of material — without scanning each unit individually. Also useful for bulk bins and bags where individual labels are not accessible.

3. 3

   INV-ADD — Add Stock

   The receiving counterpart to INV-SUB. Scan the INV-ADD label, enter the item identifier, and enter the quantity to add. Stock on hand increases immediately. Common uses include goods receipt at the dock, returning unused parts to inventory after a job, recording finished parts coming off a machine, and correcting stock levels upward after a physical count.

   Best for: any transaction that increases global stock — receiving, returns, production output, or count corrections. To add to a specific bin or warehouse instead of the global total, use INV-ADD-LOC (see item 5).

4. 4

   INV-BUILD — Build from Bill of Materials

   Scanning INV-BUILD automates the assembly recording process in one scan. Standard Time® reads the Bill of Materials for the finished assembly, deducts each component's required quantity from stock, and adds one completed assembly to inventory — all as a single timestamped transaction linked to the active work order. Multi-level BOMs are supported: if a BOM component is itself a built sub-assembly, deductions cascade down through the entire hierarchy in the correct proportions.

   Once built, the finished assembly is a real, consumable inventory item. A future work order can pull it by scanning its own label or via INV-SUB — enabling a two-stage model where sub-assemblies are built in batch and consumed by final assembly jobs later.

   Best for: recording any assembly step that has a defined Bill of Materials. Pair with a Barcode Rule so operators simply scan the assembly's own barcode to trigger the build — no separate station label required.

5. 5

   Location Labels — Track Stock Across Bins and Warehouses

   When the same item lives in multiple physical locations — main warehouse, floor bin, service truck — Standard Time® can maintain a separate stock count for each location simultaneously. Five location labels cover every management task:

   • INV-ADD-LOC — add a quantity to a specific location
   • INV-SUB-LOC — deduct a quantity from a specific location
   • INV-SET-LOC — set a location's count to an exact number (use after a physical count)
   • INV-MOV-LOC — move a quantity from one location to another (replenish a floor bin from the warehouse)
   • INV-DEL-LOC — remove a location record that is no longer in use

   Each scan follows the same sequence: scan the label, enter the item identifier, enter the location name (or scan a location label), and enter the quantity where applicable. All other locations for the same item remain unchanged.

   Best for: any shop with more than one storage area for the same part number. Print one INV-ADD-LOC and one INV-SUB-LOC card per bin or rack and laminate them — operators scan the bin's label first, then enter the item and quantity, so stock always lands in the right location.

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