Typing a lot number into a terminal is where traceability quietly breaks. The digits are long, the label is dusty, and a single transposed character detaches a finished item from the material that went into it. Scanning removes the keystroke and the error with it.
In FactoryBridge, scan controls sit next to every identifier field — items, lots and bins — and as a global work-order scan on list screens.
Scanning runs through the browser using the device camera, with an on-screen framing overlay. On a shop-floor tablet the built-in camera is the scanner. There is no companion app to install, no pairing, and no separate device for someone to leave on a bench.
Where a barcode will not focus — long Code 128 strings on a curved or damaged label are the usual culprits — there is an Upload photo fallback that reads the code from a still image instead.
Dedicated hardware still works if you already own it. A USB or Bluetooth scanner that emulates a keyboard types into the same fields, because those fields accept typed input as well.
Scanning is governed by an Enable Scanning toggle in the admin console, applied across the whole tenant and taking effect immediately. With it off, the scan controls disappear and identifiers are selected or typed. That is worth knowing before troubleshooting: if scan buttons are missing everywhere rather than on one device, it is the toggle rather than the hardware.
Component issue. It is the step with the longest identifiers, the highest transcription risk, and the most expensive consequence if it is wrong — because it is the link a recall depends on.
Scanning is not a convenience feature bolted onto data entry; it is what makes the lot traceability record trustworthy. A lot chosen by scan came off the physical label in the operator's hand, not from memory or a clipboard.
See paperless shop floor for the wider move off paper, or NetSuite MES for the execution layer as a whole.
Explore FactoryBridgeNo. Scanning uses the device camera through the browser, so a tablet is enough. Keyboard-emulating USB or Bluetooth scanners also work if you already have them.
The scanner reads standard 1D barcodes and QR codes through the camera. For codes that will not focus, the upload-photo path reads them from a still image.
Reading the code is done on the device, but the lookup behind it — which lots exist, which bins hold them — comes from NetSuite and needs a connection. Submissions made while offline are queued and synced on reconnect.
Check Enable Scanning in the admin console before checking the device. The toggle is tenant-wide and applies immediately, so when it is off the controls disappear for everyone.