Choosing The Right Barcode Scanner

Barcode Wands

Barcode wands were the first broadly used types of barcode readers. How does such a barcode wand work? In the tip of the wand you'll find a small LED (light emitting diode) and a photo receptor. The light is reflected from the code into the receiver. From the signal pattern of the reflection the wand can determine the type and content of the barcode. Reading a barcode with a wand is simple but requires some practice. There is no trigger button, basically the wand is "always on" when connected to a PC. Then user holds it like a pen and moves it quickly from left to right to left over the barcode.

Barcode CCD Scanner

It's almost certain that most scanners today are of the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) scanning type. A good CCD Barcode Scanner for less than USD 100 will easily outperform a wand and at times even a laser scanner that costs two or three times as much. A CCD scanner is like an "expanded wand". Where wands have just one light emitting diode and one receiver, CCD scanners have a complete row of those elements. By triggering the scanner the whole code is illuminated and exposed to the receiving elements. Scanning barcodes with a CCD scanner is faster and more reliable than with a barcode wand.

Barcode Laser Scanner

Laser scanners have their name from a laser diode in the scanning head or "scan engine" as it is sometimes called. The beam is projected through a system of lenses and mirrors onto the barcode, resulting in a visible single red line or pattern of lines. Laser scanners have two modes of operation: They can be used in a stand and will trigger automatically if a barcode is held in front of the scanner. This can be very useful because it keeps the personnel's hands free and is one of the real pros of laser scanners. Out of the stand these devices use a trigger button much like a CCD scanner to trigger the scanning process.

Barcode Imager

Two dimensional or area barcodes have gained much popularity in recent years. With a 2D barcode it's possible to encode up to 3,000 bytes of information in a single barcode symbol the size of a stamp. However, this progress comes with a notable drawback: Ordinary barcode scanners will not read this type of barcodes. To scan area barcodes, so called barcode imagers are required. These scanners basically work like a digital camera, that is they take an image of the barcode, decode and process the encoded data and transmit the data to the host computer.

Connecting a Barcode Scanner to a Computer

PCs still outnumber Macs by far so it comes as no surprise that most scanners use an interface that will only connect to PC's: A keyboard wedge. Basically a keyboard wedge is a "Y" shaped cable that connects the scanner, the keyboard and the PC. Everything the scanner sends looks to the computer as if the user have typed it into the keyboard. Drivers are not required, the installation is child's play.

For Macintosh computers or laptops without keyboard ports, a connection via USB is the only viable alternative.

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Bar Code Label Printers

The best way to print bar codes is to use laser, ink jet or dot matrix printers. Bar code printers are of two major types.

A bar code direct thermal printer uses heat to print the images. This printer burns dots on heat-responsive paper. The images printed using this technology are susceptible to heat, industrial ultraviolet light, sunlight, and pressure. These labels are best suited for short-life purposes, and they are quite liable to worsen over time. It is best not to use direct thermal printing for long-life applications.

A bar code thermal transfer printer is another label printer that prints images through the use of heat. It melts the ink in the ink ribbon on a wide range of synthetic material labels and paper. An extensive range of ribbon and media formulations is obtainable, giving the facility to print bar code labels for almost any application. Those may include extreme environment and long-life applications.

Direct thermal printers are characteristically more affordable than thermal transfer printers, as they do not require the mechanisms and electronics that are necessary to control and run an ink ribbon.

Direct thermal and thermal transfer printers typically require print software and "optional" bar code label designs. The most popular bar code printer is the archetypal HP compatible laser printer. Laser printer resolution is generally of higher quality than industrial bar code printers.

It is risky to print bar codes with colored ink or colored paper. Colored ink and colored paper have the propensity to diminish the contrast between the spaces and bars. It is vital to remember that most scanners use red light. Thus, if you print the bars with any shade of red, there is a likelihood of the light reflecting off the bars as white spaces. Also, avoid printing black bars on colored paper.

Labels provides detailed information on Labels, Address Labels, Record Labels, Bar Code Label Printers and more. Labels is affiliated with Color Label Prints.

Defining Your Barcode System Requirements Will Give Your Business The Edge It Needs

Implementing a bar-coding system can be difficult without the care and discipline any serious undertaking requires. That means preparing yourself and your staff for the job at hand and setting aside the time to properly implement the barcode systems that will become an integral part of your overall business information system.

When designing any business process it's always best to start out with a plan that outlines the steps involved. To start, your team needs to develop a list of requirements. Requirements are statements that define the action or result you want the system to do for you.

To find your requirements ask yourself and your staff questions such as:

• What are my bottle necks? (Every business has bottlenecks)
• How long does my raw material sit around?
• How long does inventory sit in the warehouse?
• Is any part of my inventory increasing? If so, why?
• How much time is spent looking for things?
• What don't I know about my business?
• What are my customers biggest complaints
• What departments or processes are consistently slow, inconsistent, or have quality problems?

You get the idea. These kinds of questions will lead to opportunities to improve your business information systems and will help you develop your barcode system requirements which are a critical part of most information systems today.

After you list your requirements you then need to develop 'use cases'. These define the actions that might be taken to accomplish the goal set by the requirement. An example of some use cases might be:

• The receiving clerk scans incoming material into your database system
• The order database is updated so the material order status reflects the receiving of goods
• Labels are printed and made available to receiving

Most likely your barcode equipment requirements and use cases will grow as you work through this important analysis phase. Spending time up front defining exactly what your company needs, who will do it, and how it will be done will save you lots of headaches and money down the road. In all likelihood you have been doing this already with some of your non-technical business processes. So don't be put off because you're dealing with technology.

You or an assigned coordinator need to be directly involved in this process if you expect any kind of real success. Technical expertise is not necessary, though having someone involved that understands the technology will bring you benefits upfront and help you through the process, but the priority must stay on the requirements of the business and not the technology itself.

• Assign someone to be the barcode coordinator.
• Talk to people in your industry that have barcode systems. They will be happy to discuss what they did and you will benefit from their mistakes.
• Learn your industry bar coding standards
• Find out what your suppliers already have in place as far as barcode scanners, printers and systems.

Vaughn Balchunas works with small businesses that want to leverage their barcode tracking systems and improve their business processes. More barcode technology information is available at http://barcodegeek.com

Barcode Printers for Your Business

Choosing the right barcode printer for your needs can be a bit overwhelming. There are a few questions you must ask yourself before buying a printer. The first is what are you printing? Most people use a thermal barcode printer to print labels or tags. The paper that runs through these printers isn't standard laser paper. Depending on what printer you buy, it may require a certain type of paper. Smaller, desktop printers are great for running small batches of labels or tags. These printers are typically direct thermal only; meaning they use a heat sensitive paper. Direct thermal labels are fine for shipping labels or something that isn't going to be around for a long period of time. Direct thermal paper changes color with exposure to heat or sunlight. Choosing a printer with a thermal transfer option will give you more range in the materials that you can print on. Thermal transfer paper is a coated paper label or tag stock that bonds well with a thermal transfer ribbon. The advantage of thermal transfer is longer life to the image on the label. Direct thermal labels are typically more expensive, but you have to factor in purchasing a ribbon with a thermal transfer label. Thermal transfer printers will give you more versatility. For instance; you may need to print shipping labels and also print a synthetic rack label for your warehouse. There are more thermal transfer label material options on the market, so if you think you'll be printing more than just shipping labels, then thermal tranfer might be a better option. Most of the larger printers can switch between direct thermal and thermal transfer with just a setting on the front panel of the printer. Using thermal tranfer labels will require that you change a ribbon after every 2 to 3 rolls of labels. In a manufacturing setting like a seafood distributor, they don't want the downtime of changing out a ribbon. A direct thermal shipping label can get printed rather fast and is only on the product the time of transit. A health care facility printing patient file labels may want to go with a thermal transfer barcode printer because the label will be around for the life of the patient.

If you are just printing a handful of shipping labels every month because a retailer requires you to, consider purchasing some sheet fed laser labels for your laser printer. Seagull Scientific makes a great label design software package called Bartender that allows users to create labels on the fly and incorporate barcodes and text on one label. Bartender will work with your laser printer and most thermal printers, should you decide to upgrade down the road.

If you are needing to print thousands of labels at a time, tying up your laser printer really doesn't make sense. Toner is expensive and it's not fun printing several sheets of labels at a time. A thermal printer will give you the speed and functionality you need. I would go with a printer that has a 4" print width and the capacity to hold an 8 inch roll diameter of labels. Your options are more diverse for different size labels than smaller, compact rolls. A printer will run between $800 and $1500. Plan on additonal money if you need faster speed, additional memory, higher resolution (DPI) or a wider print width. These printers can accomodate a variety of different label stocks from papers to polyesters. Print rack labels, asset labels and shipping labels on the same printer.

Rule of thumb is that if you are printing just text and a barcode on the label, a printer with a 203 DPI resolution is just fine. If you want a nice looking logo, have it preprinted on the labels and use the thermal printer to print just the variable information on the label. This will give you a professional look to your labels without breaking the bank.

Brad Hole is President of Eversio Technologies; a Seattle based distributor of barcode equipment, labels and software. http://www.eversio.com