Given L-Tron’s substantial focus on data-collection and automation solutions, it’s no surprise that the L-Tron team relies partially on online resources such as The BarCode News (www.barcode.com) to stay abreast of ongoing developments in barcode technology. Major industries served by L-Tron – enterprises as disparate as healthcare, public safety, retail, manufacturing and supply chain, governmental, and transportation and logistics – all rely heavily on state-of-the-art machine-read technology, and The BarCode News covers nothing but machine-read tech.
Recent BarCode News articles of note include:
- Bar Code Quiet Zones Illustrated and Explained: “Quiet zones” are the surrounding neutral areas designed to ensure that scanners don’t confuse the printed barcodes contained within those zones with outlying symbols and graphics. The article provides graphic depictions of the minimum quiet zones required for QR Code, DataMatrix, UPC-A and DataBar symbols, as well as a list of minimum specifications for twelve popular symbologies.
- Bar Codes and Packaging: This article explores packaging-related barcode strategies, including optimization of the location of the code, ensuring that each barcode number is indeed unique, management of barcode databases, and code verification during the production process.
- 3 Trends to Watch For in RFID-Based Authentication: Noting increased deployment of RFID solutions by producers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices for improvement of anti-counterfeiting measures, the article highlights three predictions from VDC Research’s recent report, Product Authentication & Anti-Counterfeiting: The Next Wave of Adoption for RFID.
- RFID Applications For Timing Sports Races: I especially enjoy resources that reveal applications for barcode and RFID tech that I would not have otherwise discovered, much less imagined. This article is a prime example, again proving that machine-read technology offers solutions for a surprisingly-broad range of applications. What’s better than photo verification of a race finish? High-speed digital video backed by the millisecond accuracy of an RFID timing system.
- Choosing a Bar Code Label Printer: An essential tutorial on what to consider when selecting your next barcode-label printer, including analysis of factors such as direct-thermal versus thermal transfer systems, batch versus on-demand printing, anticipated print volumes, etc. The article concludes with a list of leading barcode-printer manufacturers, headed by Zebra Technologies.
I encourage you to add The BarCode News to your bookmarked tech resources. I’ve learned much of value there, including this unanticipated gem that appears in Choosing a Bar Code Label Printer:
“Zebra offers the widest selection of bar code printers in the industry and supports them extensively with software, connectivity assistance, and supplies. Greater than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Zebra-brand printers.”
Yes, I knew Zebra is the barcode printer leader and that it, indeed, offers “the widest selection of bar code printers in the industry.” But that “90-percent of Fortune 500 companies use Zebra-branded printers”? Wow! That, I did not know.