Truck Scale Basics
There are two basic types of truck scales; Pit mounted or pit-less truck scales. Pit mounted truck scales are installed in a concrete foundation below grades. Pit-less truck scales are mounted on top of existing grades and need ramps for the vehicle to enter the truck scale.A truck scale contains of 4 to 12 load cells attached to a steel or concrete frame. The load cells are connected to a weight indicator summing the signals from the load cells and display the total loaded weight. There are five major manufactures of truck scales on the US market; Fairbanks, Mettler-Toledo, Cardinal, Avery Weigh-Tronix and Rice Lake. If you own a truck scale or want to buy a truck scale from one of them, the performance and functionality of these truck scales is pretty much the same. Our only advice is to select a full size truck scale. The most common full size truck scale is 70x11 ft.
Truck Scale Software
The weight indicator only displays the total weight. To print a scale ticket, report daily production or invoice sales, you will need truck scale software on a PC attached to the weight indicator. There are about 20 companies in the US market delivering truck scale software. Most of the truck scale manufactures supply own truck scale software, but often with limited functionality and support. Some software vendors deliver software for only one branch, like waste software or recycling software. There are also a few software vendors with truck scale software that will work with all truck scale brands, covering several branches like; waste, recycling, landfill, aggregate etc. As a software vendor with truck scale software covering all of these areas mentions, we will not name any of the competitors, just point out important areas for truck scale software.System Requirements
When you select truck sale software, make sure the software will run on newer operating systems like Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Both are also delivered as versions like Home, Professional, Premium and Ultimate versions, and to make this even more confusing in both 32bit and 64bit version. Some of the truck scale software packages are not able to run newer Windows versions, and if a software vendor advices you to use an older Windows version, keep away!Truck scale software vendors use a database for storing data. Through the year there have been many database solutions on the market, but today there is one database standard for Windows computer, Microsoft SQL server. The most used version is SQL server 2008 Express, but all SQL server versions are great products.
Scale Ticket Printers
Truck scale software's most important task is to print a scale ticket. There are 2 types of printers; matrix printer for carbon paper or laser printers. With a laser printer you are able to print logos and have better designs on the scale ticket, but laser printers can be slow printing the scale ticket. A few of the truck scale software can also send scale ticket as e-mail or text message, so if you like to go green and save money, this is a great option!Reports and Integration
Any truck scale software must have a good report module. You must have possibility to select from various reports, both common reports and branch related reports. Some truck scale software packages can in addition to print reports also save reports to Adobe PDF, Excel XLS and other popular file types. If the report module is also able to change existing reports and create new reports, you have found a good solution.Integration with popular accounting software like Quick Book and Sage is important for most customers. In addition to the two majors accounting software programs there are a lot of accounting systems in the market. Truck scale software vendor must be able to interface to your accounting software if not listed on their white paper.
Other System Equipment
Many users need to connect credit card terminals or identification scanners for driver license, passports, checks or other documents. Other peripherals used are signature pads and fingerprint scanners. All these peripherals have more than one supplier in the US market and truck scale software must interface to the most common ones.Unmanned weighing is important for many customers. On the marked there are 2 types of unmanned weighing systems; standalone RFID systems and unmanned weighing terminals from truck scale manufactures. Both types are very use full and should be supported by truck scale software in connection with barrier or traffic lights.