Welding & Gases Today Tackles Mobile Bar Code Trend

Sept. 26, 2011 - PRLog -- QR codes and Microsoft Tags are cropping up with increasing frequency. In the gases and welding industry, suppliers are adding mobile bar codes to products, displays and literature. These two-dimensional bar codes can be a selling tool for distributors, but only if they know how to use them. This emerging industry trend is the focus of “Why 2-D Is The Next Big Thing,” an article appearing in the Fall 2011 issue of Welding & Gases Today, the leading magazine for the gases and welding equipment industry.

Welding equipment manufacturer Lincoln Electric is one company that has embraced mobile bar code technology. The company introduced Microsoft Tag codes to several welding machines in April 2011. Bruce Chantry, portfolio manager of welding equipment at Lincoln, oversaw the project. “Smartphones are becoming second nature to people regardless of age or industry. Using handheld devices to deliver information was an obvious next step for us,” says Chantry.

QR codes and their Microsoft counterpart are slowly becoming a part of the sales process. If a customer wants to know the weight or duty cycle of a machine, the salesperson can scan the tag—with his own smartphone or the customer’s—and access the information in less time than it takes to go back to the desk and get a brochure. Offering to give a demonstration of 2-D bar codes can even give the salesperson an excuse for engaging the customer.

Mobile bar codes can also assist in post-sale service and support. “If the user has the machine set up for flux-core wire and goes and buys a bottle of gas from their distributor, they may want to know what they need to do differently for MIG,” says Lincoln’s Chantry. “They can see the procedure right on their smartphone by scanning the tag code.”

To find out how distributors can take advantage of the mobile bar code trend, read “Why 2-D Is The Next Big Thing” (http://www.weldingandgasestoday.org/index.php/2011/09/why...) at Welding & Gases Today Online.  For more information, contact Devin O’Toole, content editor at Welding & Gases Today at devin@weldingandgasestoday.org or 315-445-2347.


About GAWDA
Founded in 1945, the Gases and Welding Distributors Association (GAWDA) is the premier source for manufacturing knowledge, education and networking. Through its member journals (www.weldingandgasestoday.org), e-magazines, newsletters and industry wiki (www.gawdawiki.org), GAWDA connects suppliers of gases and manufacturers of related equipment as well as manufacturers of welding equipment and distribution leaders, for the purpose of safely delivering optimal solutions to the users of those products. GAWDA publications are the industry’s voice for all matters related to the latest technology and the most up-to-date processes spanning welding equipment and products and services related to industrial, medical, specialty and cryogenic gases. A 501(c)3 organization, GAWDA members are located throughout North America.