Barcode Verifiers
"We have a great Thermal Transfer printer and produce a number of labels everyday. We often check them with our scanner and they always seem to read OK. We really don't feel we need a verifier."
Statements such as the one above are made frequently. The fact that a bar code can be read by your scanner is fine, but the really important issue is, will it meet the specifications that your customers are requiring and can it be read by all of their scanners?
Here's what can go wrong...
What will the penalty be if the shipment you send to your customer doesn't meet their specifications? Or, how much will it cost you if the entire shipment is returned because of faulty barcode? What can you do to assure that what you are sending out will comply with your customer's specifications?
Scanners are NOT verifiers. Verifiers are quality control tools, they will diagnose the barcode your printer prints. This allows you to constantly monitor what your printer is producing. Verifiers will measure and check the following:
We should point out that all verifiers do not necessarily produce ANSI decodiability grades. Typically there are three different types of verifiers. They will have the capability of doing one of the following:
Statements such as the one above are made frequently. The fact that a bar code can be read by your scanner is fine, but the really important issue is, will it meet the specifications that your customers are requiring and can it be read by all of their scanners?
Here's what can go wrong...
- Mill size resolution
- Valid quite zones on both ends of the barcode
- Print contrast
- And more!
What will the penalty be if the shipment you send to your customer doesn't meet their specifications? Or, how much will it cost you if the entire shipment is returned because of faulty barcode? What can you do to assure that what you are sending out will comply with your customer's specifications?
Scanners are NOT verifiers. Verifiers are quality control tools, they will diagnose the barcode your printer prints. This allows you to constantly monitor what your printer is producing. Verifiers will measure and check the following:
- The width of each bar and space (tolerances)
- Density or mil size (high, medium, low)
- Digits
- Auto-discriminate between codes and symbologies
- Start-stop characters
- Inter-character gap
- Ratio defects
- Vertical redundancy
- Print contrast
- ANSI decodiability grade
We should point out that all verifiers do not necessarily produce ANSI decodiability grades. Typically there are three different types of verifiers. They will have the capability of doing one of the following:
- Full ANSI verification
- Partial ANSI verification
- Does not do ANSI print quality grade verification
