For any business that utilizes bar code labels in some form, knowing which size of bar code font to use on the labels is important. Much like typeset fonts, bar code fonts vary in size and style and are created for many different uses depending on the type of business that seeks to use them. Some bar code fonts, such as the UPC and ISBN, are designed specifically for retail and books, respectively. Other bar codes fonts can be used for non-profit and healthcare use. 

The primary purpose of having bar code software is to render a specific printable image by using the proper point size. Any computer printer can print out bar code labels, but the desired effect is not always possible using just a word processor to create the bar code. Once a bar code is printed out on a series of labels, it should be readable with a bar code scanner.

Code 128 is ideal bar code font for companies that may use both ASCII characters and alpha-numeric characters on bar code labels. Since Code 128 supports all ASCII characters, making bar code labels for shipping or merchandise purposes is easy. There are six aspect ratios for Code 128 bar code fonts.

The Code 39 bar code font is commonly seen on library book bar code labels, but is also used for any bar code that does not require a checksum. Also used by the healthcare industry, Code 39 bar codes can be made small enough for use on specimen and test tubes for tracking purposes.

UPC bar codes can be found practically everywhere in stores in the United States, and is the standard bar code font for retail products. Unlike other types of bar codes, a UPC bar code must be unique in order to distinguish one product on the market from another. No two different products will ever have the same UPC bar code.  But once you have been assigned or purchased a UPC number, these bar codes can be easily printed using bar code software - although, when preparing a UPC label to be replicated on packaging, it is important to test the image with a bar code verfier. 

EAN (European Article Numbering) 8/13 bar code fonts are used in Europe much the same way the UPC bar codes are used in the United States.

The 2/5 Interleaved bar code font consists of a high density numeric bar code which means that only pairs of numbers can be encoded. This is a basic bar code for anyone who wants to use a numbers-only bar code for identification purposes. 2/5 Interleaved bar code fonts look similar to the Code 128 bar codes and are used in shipping.

If you are not required to adhere to a specific standard, then you are going to have more flexibility in choosing the right barcode to represent the data you want to encode. Do you want to encode:

• Numbers and letters, or just numbers?

• Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or both?

• Special characters including @ # $ % ^ & * ) and others?

• Special functions such as tab, carriage return, etc.?

• Approximately how many total characters do you need to encode in your barcodes? (i.e. less than 13, less than 50 or more than 50?)

The above questions are very important because they will determine which barcode is going to meet your needs. In fact, there are really only a few barcodes that should be considered if you are not being held to an industry-required standard:

• Code 39 can generally encode up to about 13 total characters consisting of uppercase letters and numbers. IDAutomation products that generate Code 39 can also encode the space character.

• Code 128 is used for encoding up to approximately 50-60 total characters consisting of uppercase and/or lowercase letters, numbers, special symbols and some functions. Special symbols and functions usually consist of more than one character to encode however, and it is good to stay aware of that when determining your overall number of encoded characters.

• QR, Data Matrix and PDF417 2D Barcodes typically encode upwards of 800 characters in a single symbol, consisting of any combination of numbers, upper and lowercase letters, special characters and functions. These are the best option when encoding large amounts of data.

Of course, there are other things to consider when deciding on which barcode to use in a given project or process. If your barcodes are in danger of being damaged, for example, consider a 2D barcode for its’ high level of error correction which means the barcode can take a certain amount of damage and still receive an accurate scan. Density is also something to consider, with 2D barcodes taking up less space than Code 128 barcodes which are more compact than Code 39 barcodes. Finally, complexity of encoding may play a role in your decision. Code 39 only requires an asterisk at the beginning and end of your data while other linear barcodes and 2D barcodes require far more complicated encoding processes.  

Nate Schubert of ID Automation contributed to this content. Nate is the ECommerce & Marketing Manager at IDAutomation, a leading provider of barcode generation software solutions that help businesses reach more efficient and profitable levels of production by minimizing human error through the automation process.  IDAutomation provides both bar code software and hardware to companies since 1996 and is located in Tampa, Florida.

http://www.idautomation.com/fonts/

Click for other bar code resources

 (You can help us keep this site free and productive by letting vendors know you've seen them on Barcode.com - thank you!)

What do you do when your client needs barcode labels that measure just .2 inches by .2 inches? 

Those barcode labels are so small that the client needs magnifying glasses and tweezers to put them on the product, which, incidentally, is an industrial manufactured circuit board that is treated with assorted chemical solutions AFTER the barcode label has been applied!

This was exactly the situation presented to Barcodes West, a specialist in barcode labels of every size, shape and description.    Barcodes West created a solution for the client that is still going strong years later.

 How did they do it? Barcodes West used a 2D data matrix barcode to reduce size requirements and keep the label square.  With a 9 mil 2D barcode and 4 point type font Barcodes West, delivered a sequential barcode and human readable printed on a .2" x .2" label.    The client then uses tweezers and loop to place the small label on each electronic component.

Once the barcode labels are applied, each component is subjected to various chemical and alcohol based treatments that the printing needs to withstand.  Barcodes West uses a specially formulated ink allowing the barcode label to be readable after all processes are complete.

Summary:  Using a combination of unique materials and printing processes Barcodes West delivered a scannable serialized barcode and human readable for an exceptionally small space.  This combination with quality control and managing data has solidified a relationship that is now 5 years strong.

Barcodes West, LLC (BCW) is the label, tag & systems industry leader with combined experience of over 85 years providing high performance print, identification, & data collection solutions to customers in over 35 countries around the globe. They combine technical, material, hardware, and software expertise, industry knowledge, and personalized service to deliver the right solutions to help improve  business productivity and image.  

They can be reached at 888.889.0747 toll free to speak with a barcode and labeling profesional today! Click here to contact Barcodes West.

For more information about bar code basics, visit our Learn Section.

Stay on top of industry news, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

{jcomments on}

Written by Craig Aberle 

Recently, 3GVision and ScanLife, two of the more dominant companies in the two-dimensional (2D) barcode industry, have each published new market research reports, indicating an increasing number of 2D barcodes are being scanned by consumers in the United States, as well as worldwide. While this research spells great news for the industry and points to the fact that consumers are becoming that much more familiar with, knowledgeable of, and interested in scanning 2D barcodes, what is less clear, however, is how companies themselves are adopting to and making use of this mobile phone-based technology.

Through the tracking and analysis that my company does on 2D barcode use and strategy for corporate advertising and promotion purposes, it seems as though, on a gross basis, more and more companies are incorporating 2D barcodes in their advertising and promotion. However, on a net basis, each individual company is using 2D barcodes that much less.

Why should this be? Why would one set of numbers be going up while the other set is going down? Well, if success rates (i.e., an increase in advertising response rates, product sales revenue, customer loyalty, social/media buzz, etc.) have anything to do with it then, perhaps, plenty.

In the field of marketing, if a strategy or tactic proves to be successful it will often be repeated time and again until that level of success starts to diminish. If 2D barcodes, as a tactical element in a campaign, were thought to or actually proved to help drive corporate advertising and promotion campaign response rates, etc., it would stand to reason that 2D barcodes would become a standard fixture in advertisements and pieces of collateral. But this is not happening.

What we often find is that any one company will use a 2D barcode in one campaign and then never again, even though they continue to conduct traditional advertising. Or, a company may use a 2D barcode in one channel, but not across multiple channels.

The frequency and breadth of exposure becomes almost nonexistent at that point, and might lead one to believe that 2D barcodes are not generating the results that a company had envisioned or expected, so the continued use of bar codes by any one company quickly drops off.

While there are a variety of factors which might explain the lack of success and poor results that many companies have experienced with 2D barcodes, what often lies at the root of the problem is a failure to properly formulate, integrate and execute 2D barcode campaigns from the start. Oftentimes, it appears as though the use of 2D barcodes is a mere afterthought in the creative and development process. What may also be happening is that the agency pitches the idea of being viewed as cutting edge (i.e., by placing a 2D barcode) but, unfortunately, the agency has not done their homework and goes about developing and delivering a half-baked campaign.

As with many facets of marketing, there are often a number of best practices which can be deployed to ensure a greater chance of success, effectiveness and efficiency. Let’s review five of the more fundamental of best practices, as they relate to the use of 2D barcodes.

2D Barcode Best Practice No. 1

Companies must realize that a 2D barcode placed in a print advertisement or on a piece of marketing collateral is merely one more tactical method by which a company can engage and interact with a customer. It is also a gateway between the print world and the digital world. 2D barcodes in and of themselves should not be viewed as “the strategy.”

2D Barcode
Best Practice No. 2

With a 2D barcode displayed in an advertisement, the advertiser must provide a reason or use a call to action that is strong enough to attract a consumer's attention and will have them wanting to take out their mobile phone, launch a code reader app, scan the code and then filter through the content that is provided, also known as the scan resolve.

Similar to any other form of advertising, whether it be direct mail, email, internet, telemarketing, television, radio, etc., 2D bar code-based advertisements must have a meaningful and purposeful call to action, and if the call to action is focused on or directly linked to the code, all the better.

2D Barcode Best Practice No. 3

Because 2D barcode technology is still so new in the United States, companies should not assume that consumers know what to do once they see a 2D barcode. For this reason, companies that choose to make use of 2D technology should incorporate descriptive and/or instructional copy next to the 2D barcode. This way, consumers will know what the code symbol is, where to find a code reader app, and where they will go once the code is scanned.

2D Barcode Best Practice No. 4

If by scanning a 2D barcode a consumer is brought into the digital world via their mobile device then companies need to realize that there is a vast difference between a traditional or desk/laptop internet experience and a mobile phone internet experience. When developing a 2D barcode campaign, companies should build out a mobile website to house whatever content is to be provided to the consumer. Optimizing sites and/or content for mobile is key if the advertiser wishes to keep a consumer engaged past the original advertisement and call to action message.

2D Barcode Best Practice No. 5

Companies often limit the use and exposure of their 2D barcodes to the print channel only, and this should not be the case. Instead incorporate 2D barcodes across multiple channels in order to increase exposure and response rates.

Instead of just print, companies should consider the out of home, in-store, on package, direct mail, internet and event channels, as well. If a 2D barcode is used in various channels then the company must make certain that, in each instance, the 2D barcode message and scan resolve makes sense and is relevant to that specific channel.

If your company plans to use 2D barcodes in future campaigns know that these five best practices merely scratch the surface. There are a number of other best practices to employ not only from a marketing perspective, but also from a technology perspective.

2D barcode advertising needs to be given the time, energy, resources and overall consideration that any other form of advertising (e.g., direct mail, email, telemarketing, television, radio, banner ad, landing page, text message, etc.) might take. There are no quick fixes and shortcuts are not recommended in order to be successful. Companies, as well as their agencies, must do their homework to fully understand the technology and how best to apply it. And, hopefully, the information provided in this article is a start.

About the Author

Roger Marquis is the founder of 2D Barcode Strategy, a marketing consultancy that focuses on the use and strategy of 2D barcode technology for marketing, advertising and general business purposes. Prior to this, Mr. Marquis held senior-level marketing management positions at leading global organizations within the financial services, technology and publishing industries, and he conceived and managed True Wind, a travel accessories company. Experienced in all aspects of the marketing mix, and knowledgeable of digital and traditional marketing practices, Mr. Marquis is considered a thought leader in the ever growing 2D barcode industry and is known for providing insightful analysis and commentary on the subject matter.

If you liked this article, also try:

1. How Government Agencies Are Using QR Codes.. beginning to look toward barcoding technology and mobile apps to serve their constituencies. For many government agencies, QR codes (Quick Response codes) are the wave of the future. Here are just ...
2. How Mobile and Social Loyalty Programs Can Work for Your Business.. perks including affiliate and loyalty membership accounts for hotels and airlines. Transaction ... Mobile Bar Code Trends - ... made the list, indicating that QR codes can ...
3. Bar Code Marketing Gaining Mainstream Adoption, Gartner Says... offer useful insights for business and enterprise the world over. See related articles: QR Codes and Augmented Reality: Competing or Complementary? - ... up some examples to get an .

YouTube Videos that illustrate how to make labels and bar codes:

1. Create a QR Code for business cards

2. QR Code for Signs and Flyers

3. Create a UPC Bar code

4. Make sheets of bar code labels

Often, people don’t improve until they’re forced to. The same is true of companies.  If you represent a defense manufacturer, or another company just looking to improve operations, keep reading because, sometimes, being forced to comply with rules and regulations saves us from being our own worst enemies.  Recently, A2B Tracking created a white paper on how an IUID (Item Unique Identification) requirement for all new Department of Defense assets can help you streamline your operations and maintain or even enhance your profit margins, even if you’re not required to comply with the new regulations.  A2B graciously allowed us to share some of their material: 

Getting on Top of IUID Compliance

In 2001, the U.S. Secretary of Defense issued a directive stating that all Department of Defense assets – including those currently in production – must be accountable to meet the DoD’s need for clean audit readiness. Part of this is the Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR), which calls for accountability by the end of 2014. To this end, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requires defense manufactures to identify, mark and track assets by placing a label or plate containing a machine-readable item unique identification (IUID), a 2D Data Matrix barcode, on new equipment under contract. It’s not an option.

Fortunately for defense contractors, and government furnished property (GFP) managers, IUID is more than just a reliable compliance technology. It’s a powerful way to streamline your operations using serialized item management (SIM), and to incorporate item resource planning into your business processes. In other words, whether you need to comply with new regulations or not, an IUID system is an investment that delivers significant returns.

Value Across the Board

Today, the issue of potential military budget cuts are a frequent part of the national dialogue. But you can hedge against receding profits due to shrinking DoD expenditures by implementing IUID.

IUID lets you tighten controls across the enterprise on every level. It not only allows you to meet DFARS requirements and military identification and marking standards such as MIL-STD-130, but also gives you the ability to locate, track and maintain highly granular visibility of items throughout all your business operations. It doesn’t matter if your focus is in production, logistics, maintenance or property management. Eliminate time-sapping, resource-draining activities and methodologies using IUID, and you can maintain or enhance profit margins and beef up ROI from within.

Here are the functional benefits of IUID:

ROI by the Numbers

There are many areas of your organization that can tap into the value of IUID. The table below illustrates a simple ROI calculator involving tool crib activity and management.

The example above represents a common scenario involving relatively low-cost items. Substitute low-value items with those of higher value, and extend this across numerous operations, and the savings accumulate exponentially.

The advantages of IUID are not limited to defense manufacturers. Organizations handling government furnished property (GFP) and legacy items can also get in on the IUID benefits. That’s because the DoD, which sets a threshold on the value of newly manufactured items requiring IUID labels at $5000, has issued a ruling stating that GFP items, including non-serialized items, of any value should contain an IUID mark and be reported to the DoD IUID Registry. Aside from the item management and accountability benefits this brings, organizations can now develop a much broader business perspective and strategy that uses IUID as a highly precise operational standard that can be uniformly integrated throughout all company processes.

Read the entire white paper to learn about more benefits of an IUID system and for a checklist of questions to ask if you’re considering the move to IUID.

About A2B Tracking

A2B Tracking provides enterprise-class solutions for asset identification, marking, and tracking. They provide expertise in managing assets in highly regulated environments, where accuracy is crucial, and best practices are indispensable.

Subscribe to the Barcode News! Get it daily, once a week, or once a month. We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our list.

Below, find some other asset tracking articles you may enjoy! Please let these vendors know that you've seen them at barcode.com -thank you!

Asset Tracking / Wasp Barcode Technologies Management Solutions

RFID Asset Tracking Saves Time, Money at Texas Police Department

Multi-part Bar Code Labels Help Minimize Loss

Track Cars and Tools with Metalcraft, Inc. RFID Tracking Tags

Tracking Inventory with Bar Codes Saves Time, Money... and Lives?

What is Asset Tracking?

The final date when companies must comply with the new EU Food Labeling Regulation 1169/2011 is December 13, 2014. NiceLabel has developed a simple solution to help food suppliers achieve compliance with the new regulation, with minimum effort and change to current procedures or hardware.

From December 13, 2014, all companies who manufacture, sell or import food into the EU market need to comply with the new EU food regulation. This new regulation states the mandatory information on the package or label on food products, like the name of the food, list of ingredients, net quantity, etc.  One of the biggest challenges companies face is the labelling of certain substances or products causing allergies or intolerances. 

Food suppliers are required to clearly highlight allergens in the ingredients list and to emphasize them by means of the font, style or background color. These requirements make the labeling process particularly challenging for the companies producing many different food items in smaller quantities and thus printing labels on-demand.

To help such companies achieve compliance with the new regulation with minimal effort and without the need to purchase new printers, NiceLabel has developed a solution that generates smart labels. These smart labels allow companies to automatically highlight allergens without modifying their existing databases or purchasing new printers. NiceLabel dynamically formats the allergens text before printing and is compatible with any existing page or label printer. The NiceLabel solution is ideal for on-demand labeling including bakery, sandwich, delicatessen, and other retail and catering applications.

“The NiceLabel food allergens solution produces labels which automatically and clearly emphasize the 14 substances listed within the EU regulations and also have the flexibility for related words to be highlighted as desired. Once implemented, the database of allergens and related descriptors is easily maintained, also in the case of multi-lingual labels. NiceLabel is unique in that it allows users with no programming knowledge to create their own printing solutions,” said Ken Moir, Global Marketing Director at NiceLabel.

To learn more about EU Food Regulation solution or to download the NiceLabel free trial, please visit www.nicelabel.com/allergens.  

***
About NiceLabel:

NiceLabel, established in 1993, is the world's leading developer of barcode and RFID labeling software. Its solutions include software for label design, error-free manual printing, automated labeling from other applications and cloud hosted web printing. In collaboration with its global partner network, NiceLabel provides labeling software solutions for companies of all sizes, across most industries (including Fortune 500 companies), delivering higher supply chain efficiency and data accuracy at lower costs.  NiceLabel is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Oracle Gold Partner and SAP partner. NiceLabel is also the world's leading developer of Windows drivers for thermal printers. Most leading printer manufacturers ship NiceLabel-based software with their printers. Through its headquarters in the EU (Slovenia) and global offices in Germany, USA, Singapore and China, NiceLabel serves and supports its clients around the world.

Other articles on labels that may interest you;

What do QR Codes have in common with John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday? Both can be found together on ASTRELLA Musical T's ®. Astrella, daughter of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Donovan, will release her full line of musical T-shirts this Spring. An early launch and photo shoot featuring a limited number of artists will take place on Thursday February 27, 2014 at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

These aren't your Father's T-shirts. ASTRELLA Musical T's is a revolutionary new clothing line that combines art, music, fashion and technology to produce an entirely unique clothing experience. Astrella's designs feature re-imagined artwork based on iconic album covers from Miles Davis's Blue Moods, Thelonious Monk's The Unique Thelonious Monk, John Lee Hooker's Country Blues, Billie Holiday's All or Nothing at All and John Coltrane's Lush Life.

Every shirt is tagged with a designer QR Code which consumers scan in order to receive a one-time download of the full album associated with each shirt. Philip Warbasse, and his agency PRINT2D, created the mobile architecture behind the music delivery system that provides secure, one-time distribution of each artist's music.

"PRINT2D fully understands the space and have helped to create the ideal platform for our needs. I look forward to a long relationship as we continue to grow our business and push the limits when it comes to technology and style.
-Jason Rothberg / ASTRELLA INC.

PRINT2D's one-time download technology works with assigned PIN numbers that provide access to secure content via a url that is set to expire once clicked and self-expire after a certain period of time if not clicked. Jason Rotherberg / CEO ASTRELLA INC. explains, "Working with Philip and the PRINT2D team has been a pleasure. They fully understand the space and have helped to create the ideal platform for our needs. I look forward to a long relationship as we continue to grow our business and push the limits when it comes to technology and style."

Look for an impressive list of other globally respected artists and their recordings to join the ASTRELLA line this Spring, including Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual, Elton John - The Diving Board and The Who - Odds and Sods.

###

About PRINT2D
Based in Santa Monica, California, PRINT2D is a company built on the idea that 2D barcodes are only as relevant as the experiences to which they point. The mobile designers and developers at PRINT2D go beyond the code - providing everything you need to successfully engage mobile consumers, interact with them and measure the results.
About Astrella, Inc.
Astrella Inc. is a luxury T-shirt Brand focused on quality, high-end everyday wear with an eye on style and comfort, while leaving a green footprint. As the creators of the MUSICAL T's, it is a first of its kind to marry art, fashion, music and technology, which can be found exclusively at high-end retailers and boutiques, as well as online at the Astrella website www.astrellainc.com.

So far so good with the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) and the supply chain safety initiatives it includes. Now begins the formidable task of actually making it effective—and there is much to do. There is a lot of ground-level detail to be added in order to make the DQSA do what it is intended to do: Make it quicker and easier to recall problematic drugs from the legitimate supply chain and more effectively protect the legitimate supply chain from counterfeit, adulterated and fraudulently obtained or mishandled drugs. But what about barcode quality?

Thanks to recent criminal activity in the pharmaceutical supply chain, we are now aware that it is not enough to secure the movement of ready-to-prescribe drugs. The ingredients used to manufacture legitimate drugs also need to be protected from fraudulent tampering or substitution. This has created a need for a new and different level of upstream security on the inbound supply side of pharmaceutical manufacturing. What good does it do to secure outbound shipments of pharmaceuticals if they are formulated from uncertain ingredients? And what methodology is available to effectively secure not only the outbound finished product but the upstream manufacturing process? Is the existing FDA Standardized Numerical Identification system capable of doing this? Or would a Good Manufacturing Process guideline for pharmaceuticals be a better solution?

 There are at least two schools of thought on how to do this tracking validation of manufacturing components. One proposed method is to secure the ingredients-side supply chain with a documented transaction history (called a pedigree), and further securing the pedigree with a digital signature, which electronically authenticates the identity of the document by including an encrypted key that is available only from a central authority. In this model the movement of inbound ingredients for manufacturing, or finished products for distribution is validated by the presence of the pedigree, but the movement of ingredients and products is tracked with barcodes.

Another method is to use the barcode itself as the product validation tool. This would be done by serializing the barcode data sequence in a protected way, through use of secured algorithms; by randomizing the serialization sequence; by releasing only a packet of legitimate numbers, or by any number of other closely guarded numbering schemes. The key to the success using printed barcodes is that a single source both issues and validates the secure barcode.  This prevents both having multiple lists of valid bar code IDs in the field, and reissuance of valid barcodes on duplicate or counterfeit product because once used throughout the supply chain, the number is declared no longer valid, and a counterfeit product using that secure number will be caught the next time it is presented to the central registration and validation authority

Both of these methodologies rely on barcodes, which are capable of accommodating additional security requirements described here. But conventional barcodes simply do not have sufficient data capacity to do this, and they are too sensitive to printing problems and damage to do it well. And there is also the issue of limited pharmaceutical package space, which mitigate against long linear barcodes.

The DQSA must abandon all thought of using linear barcodes in favor of adopting the proven Data Matrix 2D symbology, which is highly resilient both to poor printing and to physical damage. Data Matrix is highly space efficient, encoding vastly greater amounts of data than any linear barcode in a much smaller footprint. More information capacity means more capacity for security related encrypted information. Data Matrix’s error-correcting capabilities enable recovery of data from many damaged symbols, improving both reader and system reliability. It is a proven technology: Data Matrix is already being for pharmaceutical tracking in over 95 nations.

But here is the most important point: none of this means a thing if the symbol (or the barcode) doesn’t read. The whole security system fails and the supply chain breaks if the machine-readable information cannot be acquired by the scanner. The DQSA must include a requirement that all encoded information, whether a barcode or a 2D symbol, must be verified by an ISO-compliant device. While 100% verification is the ideal, at least a sampling process needed to be employed… and whichever process is used, it needs to be institutionalized into the manufacturing and packaging GMP processes to ensure compliance.

Written by John Nachtrieb   -    Mr. Nachtrieb has 30+ years of hands-on experience in barcode technology. His team imaged the film master for the first commercially scanned barcode in North America (1974). His specialty is barcode quality. He created and hosts a highly customized barcode quality seminar which has been presented to 100's of companies, reaching thousands of quality-concerned people, helping them to avoid barcode problems and manage barcode-related risk.  Other articles by John Nachtrieb.

The author expresses his gratitude to Clive Hohberger, an AIDC industry pioneer, former AIM Chairman of the Board and recipient of the ICCBBA One World Award 2011-2012, for his generous assistance.

For more articles on bar code quality, testing and general bar code resources, click on the "Resources" link on the menu on the left side of the page.  Thank you for visiting us.  Please let our sponsors know you saw them on www.barcode.com.

From the earliest days of Scandinavian folklore, Trolls have been used to explain diverse everyday experiences such as earthquakes and avalanches (Fjell-Trollet, the Mountain Trolls, stomping their feet), or to provide explanations for bad behavior (i.e. Lange-Nesen, or Long Nose, causes people to gossip), or to excuse fussy babies (the mortal baby was stolen and replaced with a Troll child).

The Trolls in these stories come in many shapes and sizes, from huge and ugly to beautiful and human-like (but with a tail!).  We’ve heard the story of the Bro-Trollet, or Bridge Troll, threatening to “gobble up” the Billy Goats Gruff wanting to cross his bridge.  Not so familiar outside of Scandinavia are stories about the tiny Tusselader who come out at night with a hammer and chisel to make holes in the teeth of those too lazy to brush.  Or the Vesle-tomten who whisper in horses ears telling them to be disobedient and telling the hens not to lay eggs so they would end up in the stew pot.  

Consider that perhaps there is a folklore story that we haven’t heard before, about a heretofore-unknown Troll, and maybe it goes like this:

There was once a type of troll called Lazy, and they did nothing but think and plan for ways to benefit themselves while avoiding any kind of work.  On a particular day one of the Lazy Trolls came into an inheritance of some skinny Billy Goats and some chickens. “I don’t like Billy Goats!” said the Lazy Troll.  “And I don’t like chickens.  But I do like eggs, a lot.  And chickens lay eggs.  It is my good fortune to inherit the chickens because I can collect their eggs.”

However, Lazy Trolls don’t live in houses because they require housework.  So Lazy Troll didn’t know what to do with the creatures he inherited.  

“Think, think, think,” Lazy Troll said to himself.  “How can I turn this to my advantage?”  And then, “Aha!  I know of a certain Bridge Troll that was never seen again after trying to gobble up the third and largest of the Billy Goats Gruff.  No one is using the place under the bridge, so I will put my chickens there and I will collect the eggs.  And my skinny Billy Goats will cross the unguarded bridge to eat from the grassy hillside and get fat.  It is my good fortune that the Bridge Troll was never seen again.”   And he made it so.

After a time other Billy Goats crossed the unguarded bridge to eat with Lazy Troll’s goats and the grassy hillside was soon covered with fat Billy Goats.

Lazy Troll said to himself, “Think, think, think.  How can I turn this to my advantage?”  And then, “Aha!  Bridge Trolls like to gobble up fat Billy Goats.  I will send the fat Billy Goats to other Bridge Trolls and they will send me chickens so I can collect more eggs!  I can never have too many eggs!  It is my good fortune that so many Billy Goats have crossed the unguarded bridge.”  And he made it so.

But one day, Mountain Troll started stomping, because that’s what Mountain Trolls do.  And his stomping caused an avalanche that blocked one of the roads leading to Lazy Troll’s bridge.  Lazy Troll noticed that the Billy Goat and chicken traffic was slowed and he wasn’t gathering so many eggs.  

“Think, think, think,” said Lazy Troll to himself.  “How can I turn this to my advantage?”  And then, “Aha!  It is Mountain Troll’s fault that I’m not able to gather as many eggs.  I will ask the Eastern District Council of Troll Country for justice.”   And he made it so.

As egg lovers themselves, the members of the Eastern District Council of Troll Country decided that Mountain Troll’s avalanche infringed on Lazy Troll’s right to gather eggs.  They ordered Mountain Troll to deliver a dozen eggs to Lazy Troll every day that the road was blocked.

“This is good news,” said Lazy Troll to himself.  “Now I can collect eggs without doing any work at all!  It was my good fortune to inherit the chickens and skinny Billy Goats.  It was my good fortune to find the unguarded bridge.  And it was my good fortune that the members of the Eastern District Council of Troll Country are egg lovers!”

“Think, think, think,” said Lazy Troll to himself.  “How can I turn this good fortune to my advantage?”  And then, “Aha!  I will find more blocked roads leading to the unguarded bridge and the Eastern District Council will order other Mountain Trolls to deliver more eggs.  I can never have too many eggs.”  And he made it so.  

Eventually, Lazy Troll thought, “This is too much work to find blocked roads.”  And then, “Think, think, think,” he said to himself.  “How can I turn this to my advantage?”  And then, “Aha!  If I give some of my eggs to other Trolls, they will find the blocked roads for me and ask the Eastern District Council to order the Mountain Trolls to give me more eggs.  I can never have too many eggs.”  And he made it so.

Silly story, right?  Maybe, but there are parallels between this made-up folklore story and the rise of modern day Patent Trolls.

Granted, modern day Patent Trolls are much more sophisticated than their folklore counterparts, but they work in much the same way.  Today’s Trolls buy patents for things they didn’t invent, many times from companies going out of business.  Then they file broad lawsuits claiming infringement.  

The behavior has become so prevalent that in 2012, the most recent year with statistics available, more than half of all patent suits filed in the U.S. were by Trolls.

One of the most frightening examples of patent trolling is the success of Intellectual Ventures, a company that has been called “a troll on steroids.”  Since it was founded in 2000, Intellectual Ventures claims it has generated more than $2 billion in revenue.  That claim is difficult to verify, however, because many of their dealings are channeled through shell companies, making it somewhere between difficult and impossible to sort through the transactions.

In June of 2011, National Public Radio (NPR) featured a story about Intellectual Ventures entitled When Patents Attack.  The story describes, in part, the convoluted web of the estimated 1300 shell companies associated with Intellectual Ventures.  

The reporters followed the story to 104 East Houston Street, a building just two doors down from the Federal Courthouse in Marshall, a small Texas town with a population of around 24,000.  They were looking for Suite 104, the reported office of Oasis Research, LLC, trying to determine the connection between Oasis Research and Intellectual Ventures.  Suite 104 was dark and no one answered a knock on the locked door.  It was one of many dark and empty offices in a long corridor of this building.

A local attorney interviewed in the story claimed that, as far as he could tell, none of the offices had employees.  They appeared to be nothing but addresses for companies existing solely for the purpose of filing lawsuits for patent infringement.  The Eastern District of Texas, where Marshall is located, has consistently been first, second or third in the nation in numbers of patent cases filed each year, presumably because the juries of Marshall consistently grant large verdicts to patent-owners.  At the time of the story, the list of patent cases at the Marshall courthouse was about 2,000 cases long.

On it’s website, Intellectual Ventures claims they are in business, in part, to “assist small inventors against corporations.”  But are they, and others like them, actually exploiting weaknesses in the patent system?  
In November of 2011, the Boston University School of Law published a paper in entitled “The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls.”  Following is the abstract of the paper:

In the past, non-practicing entities (NPEs) — firms that license patents without producing goods — have facilitated technology markets and increased rents for small inventors. Is this also true for today’s NPEs? Or are they “patent trolls” who opportunistically litigate over software patents with unpredictable boundaries? Using stock market event studies around patent lawsuit filings, we find that NPE lawsuits are associated with half a trillion dollars of lost wealth to defendants from 1990 through 2010, mostly from technology companies. Moreover, very little of this loss represents a transfer to small inventors. Instead, it implies reduced innovation incentives and a net loss of social welfare.

The authors make convincing arguments of the following three points:  

1) The costs to technology developers from patent troll lawsuits reduces their profits and substantially reduces their incentives to innovate.

2) Less than 2% of the defendants’ losses from the infringement cases brought by patent trolls are transferred to the patent inventors.  

3) The court cases brought by patent trolls exploit weaknesses in the patent system, focusing on patents for software and business methods that have “fuzzy boundaries” in which vague language causes the scope of the patents to be unclear.

In their conclusion, the authors state:  

We conclude that the loss of billions of dollars of wealth associated with these lawsuits harms society. While the lawsuits increase incentives to acquire vague, over-reaching patents, they decrease incentives for real innovation overall.

Just as disturbing as the conclusion of the Boston University paper is an example of the Patent Troll behavior reported in this January 14, 2014 story about MPHJ Technology.  MPHJ claims to have patents covering all networked “scan-to-email” functions.  The story reports that they sent a total of 16,465 letters to small businesses threatening a lawsuit for patent infringement if the businesses refused to pay a licensing fee of $1,000 or more per employee.  

MPHJ is the first patent troll to be investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  In return, MPHJ recently filed a suit claiming the FTC has overstepped its bounds by trampling on MPHJ’s first amendment right to send the letters.  It will be interesting to learn the outcome of that particular lawsuit.   

Members of Congress are also concerned about the overall effect of the patent troll lawsuits.  As of March 2014, there are twelve bills that have been introduced this Congress to deal with various aspects of the patent troll issue. The areas addressed in these bills include:

• Expanding a review program that allows industries to deal with the bad patents often asserted by Patent Trolls
• Curbing abusive litigation tactics used by Patent Trolls
• Protecting end-users
• Adding transparency to reveal who is actually providing Patent Trolls with patents and funding

The White House is also fed up with some of the Patent Troll tactics, announcing on February 20, 2014 the following Executive Actions:

• A new initiative is expanding ways to help patent examiners, holders, and applicants find relevant “prior art” to determine if an invention is truly novel.
• The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is inviting volunteers to help ensure that its training programs are current to help patent examiners keep up with fast-changing technological fields.
• The USPTO will dedicate resources to assist inventors who lack legal representation, appoint a full-time Pro Bono Coordinator, and help expand the existing America Invents Act pro bono program to cover all 50 states. The Administration is also calling on members of the patent bar to participate in the program.

Obviously, the story of Patent Trolls is still being written.  In late February 2014, Claire McCaskill introduced a bill in the House entitled the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act, attempting to reduce consumer scams.  This bill would assist the Federal Trade Commission in fighting companies like MPHJ by requiring “demand letters” to include minimum disclosures when alleging patent violations and making demands.

If you are one of many who are currently fighting a claim by a Patent Troll, there are options besides paying up:

• Review pending legislation, and contact your member of Congress in support of the bills that you believe are worthwhile.  
• Join with others to fight a particular troll, like here, or as in this story.  

Lazy Troll would say to himself, “Think, think, think.”  If you do, you might just have your own “Aha!” moment and find a way to turn the situation to your advantage.

About the author
Marsha A. Harmon is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Q.E.D. Systems, an organization
providing standards development, as well as educational, advisory, and systems design services; focusing
primarily on logistics technology, including the disciplines of bar code technology, two-dimensional symbols, radio-frequency identification, wireless communications, sensors, and location based services.

Copyright (c) 2014 Barcode Media Group, Inc.  Sarasota FL.  All rights reserved. May not be reprinted without express written permission.

Subscribe to the Barcode News! Get it daily, once a week or once a month.  We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our list.

If you enjoyed this article, check out these other Barcode News and Patent stories. (Please let these vendors know you've seen them on barcode.com! Thank you!)

Help Stop Patent Trolls with the EFF

Barcode Quality: A Problem and an Opportunity

The Internet Of Things (IoT) - The Fundamentals

FTC Requiring Honeywell to License Barcode Scanner Patents

10 Reasons Barcode Verifiers Make Financial Sense

The Cost of Pay Per Click (PPC) in the Bar Code World

Colorful Bar Code Scanners

 What if you couldn't tell what was in a can of food, because you could not see colors, logos or text?    A new app, currently available on the iPhone, is helping visually impaired people read bar codes.  You might be wondering why is this relevant, or why a blind person needs to read barcodes - the answer will surprise you!  

 

 This app by Digit-Eyes will scan the barcode and tell you out loud what product it is that you are holding.  Many cans or bottles with radically different products are all the same size.

 

 For example, a can of Campbells soup, is close to the size of a can of dog food.  A can of water chestnuts is very close to the size of a can of cat food.  A bottle of balsamic is similar to a bottle of olive oil.  This app will read the UPC code, look up the contents and read them out loud to you. 

 

 

This app works for clothing as well!   

   A person who is visually impaired, or color blind can use the app to create labels for clothing. Are the socks gray, or black? They came out of the wash and how do you match them up if you can't differentiate.  Digit-Eyes offers washable labels that their app will scan and identify the color of the garment.  

 

   The technology has a valuable use for medications too.  Many pill bottles look and feel alike.  An individual picking up several pill bottles at the pharmacy could place a QR code label (available from Digit-Eyes)  on the bottom of each pill bottle (as caps could be interchanged) and use the app software to have the pharmacist quickly and easily record the instructions for taking each.  

 

   The company also offers QR code playing cards (just remember to use an earphone.)

 

   The app is just $19.95 and is available in ten languages.  Please share this article with your friends and co-workers....someone may benefit! 

   

 

About Digit-Eyes:

Digit-Eyes is developed and marketed by a team that consists of both unsighted and sighted individuals. We understand, all too well, that being visually impaired is inconvenient. We are of the opinion that it should not also be expensive.
We aspire to deliver products that are: Easy to use without sighted assistance, Portable and convenient to have at hand,Robustand to do so at a price point radically below that of competing products. 

Our intention in developing Digit-Eyes was to create an outstanding software solution to a common problem experienced by the visually-impaired: labeling and understanding the content of labels.  Digit-Eyes was completed with the invaluable assistance of a multinational team of 40 low-vision and blind beta testers who served as our stakeholders.

Written by Craig Aberle

As humans, we don’t always take steps to improve ourselves until circumstances compel us to do so. The same can be said of businesses. If you represent a defense manufacturer or other company tasked with managing assets for the U.S. Department of Defense, you certainly welcome operational improvement. But you may not see a compelling enough reason to implement measures that might lead to enhanced business performance. Recently, A2B Tracking published a white paper detailing how mandatory compliance with new DoD regulations involving Item-Unique Identification (IUID) also serves to streamline your operations and even boost profit margins. A2B graciously allowed us to share some of the paper’s contents with you:

The Compelling Circumstance

In 2001, the U.S. Secretary of Defense issued a directive stating that all DoD assets must be accountable to meet the department’s need for clean audit readiness. Part of this is the Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) mandate, which calls for accountability by September 30, 2014. To this end, defense manufactures and property managers are required to identify, mark and track assets with a machine-readable item unique identification (IUID) 2D Data Matrix barcode, on new equipment under contract. It’s not an option.

The Resulting Improvement

Fortunately, IUID is more than just a reliable compliance technology. It’s a powerful way to streamline your operations using serialized item management (SIM), and to incorporate item resource planning into your business. So, whether you need to comply with new regulations or not, an IUID system is an investment that delivers significant returns.

Because IUID takes the form of a machine-readable code, it enables automatic identification (Auto ID), which is significantly faster and eliminates human error. Plus, IUID lets you tighten controls across your entire enterprise. It not only allows you to meet DoD requirements and military identification and marking standards such as MIL-STD-130, but also gives you the ability to locate, track and maintain visibility of items throughout all your business functions:

Contracts – IUID compliance and contract fulfillment

Operations – Overall control and production management

Inventory – Fast and accurate item accountability

Logistics – Chain of custody and location awareness

Maintenance – Timely scheduling, item history and predictive failures

Security – Protection from theft, loss and counterfeit items

Property – Location, status and condition of items

Customer Service – Warranty and recall history

Accounting – Lean supply chain, elimination of duplicate orders, timely billing

The advantages of IUID are not limited to defense manufacturers. Organizations handling government furnished property (GFP) and legacy items can also get in on the IUID benefits. That’s because the DoD, which sets a threshold on the value of newly manufactured items requiring IUID labels at $5000, has issued a ruling stating that GFP items, including non-serialized items, of any value should contain an IUID mark and be reported to the DoD IUID Registry. Aside from the item management and accountability benefits this brings, organizations can now develop a much broader business perspective and strategy that uses IUID as a highly precise operational standard that can be uniformly integrated throughout all company processes.

Many companies have opted for an in-house turnkey IUID system that meets DoD regulations on audit readiness while integrating with their enterprise systems – lowering overhead and improving ROI in the process. Such systems with automatic identification hardware and cloud-based software offer a reliable, straightforward way to scan, create, print, validate and verify IUID barcodes, as well as submit data to the IUID Registry and Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) system.

Click here to read the entire white paper  to learn about more benefits of an IUID system and for a checklist of questions to ask if you’re considering the move to IUID. You can also view a case scenario showing improved ROI.

A2B Tracking provides enterprise-class solutions for asset identification, marking, and tracking. They offer expertise in managing assets in highly regulated environments, where accuracy is crucial, and best practices are indispensable.

Subscribe to the Barcode News! Get it daily, once a week, or once a month. We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our list. Below, find some other asset tracking articles you may enjoy! Please let our sponsors know that you've seen them at barcode.com -thank you!

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, get fit, eat better? Did you stop actively working towards that resolution weeks ago? Maybe you’re one of the few who’s still on course or you don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions at all—maybe you just want to hold yourself accountable for your food-related decisions. Luckily, there’s an app for that. In fact, there are numerous apps. Here are a few that use barcode scanning to help you stay on track.

Ultimate Value Diary. (see lower right photo) The Ultimate Value Diary starts by asking you some basic information: name, date of birth, gender, height, and weight. The app uses this information to calculate how many “points” you are allowed to consume per day. After exiting a nicely implemented tutorial overlay, you can then start tracking your meals by scanning an item’s barcode, searching for a non-barcoded food such as “apple,” or manually inputting the nutritional information you know in order to estimate the food’s point value. It’s simple, especially if you’re mostly eating packaged food. When I went through my cupboards scanning barcodes, it wasn’t until I tried a discontinued holiday-flavored bottle of seltzer that I was able to stump the app.

My only issue with the Ultimate Value Diary app was that I, personally, don’t think in terms of “points” when it comes to food. I’ve never tried weight watchers or any other diet program that calculates food values in such a way. So when the app tells me that my morning bowl of steel-cut oats with almond butter and soy milk uses up nearly half of my allotted points for the day despite my knowing that it contains only about 300 calories, something feels fishy. Of course, further exploration of the app shows that there are plenty of foods worth zero points. These “free foods” include apples, steamed vegetables, lettuce, and the like, and are highlighted in eye-catching green when appearing in a search. According to the app’s FAQ, the point value of foods is determined by the food’s protein, fat, fiber and carbohydrate content. If you prefer to think in terms of points instead of calories—or think you could get used to points—then this app is definitely worth checking out.

There’s also a neat option, enabled by default, where you can have your remaining points displayed as a badge on the app’s icon. I thought that was a nice touch—though I’ll admit for a confused moment I thought the app was indicating it needed fifteen updates. You can also earn additional points by recording exercise sessions, which is a simple process of entering how long you exercised and at what intensity. You have the option of incorporating these extra points into your daily allowance, or ignoring them.

The Ultimate Value Diary app is available for $3.99 for iPhones and iPads, and $2.99 for Android devices, Google Play and the Barnes and Noble Nook.

Fooducate. (top left photo) The Fooducate App has a more intensive sign-up process; you can log in via Facebook or open an account requiring email verification. Then there’s the age-sex-height-weight calculation for your BMI, and if you want to lose weight you’re asked to enter your target weight and the rate at which you’d like to lose. Your target daily caloric intake is then calculated based on these factors. Yes, calories, though each food is also given a “FoodPoints” value for dieters.

With the Fooducate app, you can scan barcodes or search for foods by name, category, etc. Additionally, every item is given a grade between D and A, and these grades are color coded: red, yellow and green. The colors mean exactly what you’d expect. If the Fooducate’s algorithmic sensibilities are in line with your own, this gives you a easy eye-catching way to immediately categorize any item as an always, sometimes, or almost never food.

Fooducate is free for both Android and iOS—unless you want access to their premium options or capabilities. You can buy premium service for $3.99 for three months, $6.99 for a year, or $9.99 for a lifetime subscription. A sampling of what premium service will get you: the ability to track additional goals such as “eat healthy while pregnant” or “lower my blood pressure”; the ability to track additional nutritional information such as the amount of fat, sodium, protein and dietary fiber in the food you eat. If you have food allergies or live a gluten-free lifestyle, there is a different upgrade available for $4.99 for three months, $12.99 for a year, or $14.99 for a lifetime.

Fooducate is a perfectly functional app without the premium service, though I found it distracting how often I bumped up against offers to upgrade. But all’s fair in love, war, and free services, right? Plus, it was the only app I tested to correctly identify the discontinued seltzer.

ShopWell. The ShopWell app is a different sort of beast. No calorie or point tracking—this is purely a food shopping app. You sign up and fill out a profile that includes your gender and age range and any dietary preferences. The preference options are wide-ranging. Under “Goals” you can select options such as athletic training, weight management, or managing anemia or high blood pressure. The goals you select will automatically mark certain nutrients in the “Wants” menu, and you can indicate any additional preferences there, such as for folic acid or whole grains. Under “Don’t Wants” you can select to avoid artificial sweeteners, lactose, preservatives, etc. There is also a separate “Avoids” menu for allergies and intolerances.

After completing your user profile, you either hit up the grocery store with the app’s barcode scanner or browse ShopWell’s massive index of items. Each item you scan or select has a rating on a 1-100 scale depending on your indicated preferences and needs. It’s not a foolproof system. For example, I put in a preference for high protein, folic acid and limited added sugar, and a breakfast drink with 26 grams of sugar per serving (52 per seemingly serving-sized bottle) came up as a “strong match.” To my way of thinking, that amount of sugar completely offsets the positives of the drink. By the app’s way of calculating, not so. But, the ShopWell grading system is still a good way to get an at-a-glance appraisal of items and you can take it from there. Plus, it’s free—with no obvious strings attached.

In sum, it’s unlikely that any food tracking or barcode scanning app is going to magically make you lose weight or make it so you never again falter when it comes to eating healthfully. That being said, each of the above apps has the potential to serve as a useful tool in the unending quest for a healthy lifestyle.

By Alex Mehler

Related Articles:

Barcode iPhone Apps

LoveList App Scans Physical Products to Pin on Pinterest

ShopSavvy Unveils New Version of Mobile Shopping Platform to Empower Product and Store Discovery

Shopsavvy application for iPhone and Android

SnapTell

Scan Barcodes for Cash

Scan Bar Codes With Your Tablet: A Review of Popular Apps

Axicon Labels to Launch New Labelling Service at Foodex 2014

The Barcode Industry—Gone but Not Forgotten

(Our thanks to John Nachtrieb of Barcode-Test for today’s article.)

For many people, the term “scanning” has come to mean anything having to do with reading bar codes, including bar code verification. Consequently, those of us who specialize in bar code quality and verification are always asking inquirers what they mean when they ask for a scanner. Do they just want to read the barcode or do they want to test it against international quality parameters?

Somewhat better informed inquirers know they need to verify barcodes but would prefer to use a scanner because they cost substantially less than a verifier. If one scanner can read a bar code, they all can, right?

Consider that most of us buy property, casualty and liability insurance, even though we’ve probably never used it. Scanner A will not necessarily perform like scanner B because there is no international specification that standardizes scanner performance.

The motivation to use a scanner is usually driven by cost; the price of a bar code scanner is about a tenth the cost of a bar code verifier. But if it doesn’t actually test the barcode, will savings offset the cost of a quality action, a rejected job, and possibly a lost client relationship?

Wal-Mart and others have rather famously imposed fines for vendors who ship product with poor-performing barcodes, with some fines running in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Using a scanner as a verifier cannot possibly save that much.

When a scanner reads a barcode (or fails to read it), that result is the entire “quality report.”

A bar code scanner is what engineers call a “go—no-go gage.” What it reports pales in comparison to what it doesn’t report.

Is it a high-performing barcode? As the print run continues, is the quality of the barcode drifting toward lower performance? Is it staying the same?

A scanner won’t report any of this until a threshold between “scanning” and “not scanning” is reached. And at that point, a scanner won’t tell you why. Even worse, another scanner might have reached that threshold much earlier, or may have even failed to read the barcodes at the start of the run.

A compliant verifier determines if a barcode is high performing, marginal, or failing by grading the quality of a barcode against nine parameters, any one of which could cause the barcode to perform poorly or fail. Used periodically throughout a print run, a verifier can detect and measure changes in each quality parameter.

A high performing barcode will yield a grade of A or B and can be expected to decode first-time, every time on virtually any scanner. Barcodes with grades of C or D will not decode as easily and may not work at all with some scanners. Barcodes with grades of F might work fine in some scanning environments, but will cause problems with most scanners.

The verification report will provide specific information about why the barcode failed. Vigilant press operators can use verifier reports to tweak press settings, optimize bar code quality, and assure high performing barcodes from start to finish.

High performance barcodes keep customers happy and vendor relationships healthy. That's the kind of quality your business is looking for, isn't it?

About Barcode-Test

A 30-year veteran of the bar code industry, John Nachtrieb and his company Barcode-Test help provide solutions for customers' bar code quality challenges. He assists product managers, package printers, and suppliers by managing bar code related risk, and supporting bar code integrity over the long haul. You can find more of his writing on bar code quality at the Barcode-Test blog.

See related topics:

Microscan Verifiers Check 2D Bar Codes for Readability and Compliance

Bar code verifiers

Webscan Helps Ensure Barcode Quality

{jcomments on}

With the increasing usage of electronic health records (EHRs) by hospitals across the nation, technology has made it possible to access them through the use of smartphones. Accusoft Pegasus is one company that offers imaging software that will allow a doctor to scan a bar code on a patient's wristband, then immediately access that patient's EHR. Once the bar code is scanned, the patient's electronic health record is pulled up through a database that can be viewed by the doctor. Bar code wristbands like those manufactured by Typenex and Precision Dynamics Corporation are used in hospitals across the nation to streamline work flow efficiency and lower the number of errors made in medical records maintenance. Accusoft provides several bar code solutions that can be used in conjunction with the healthcare industry. Bar Code Xpress, Bar Code Xpress Mobile, and ImageGear for .NET have different levels of function depending upon a hospital's records maintenance needs.

Bar Code Xpress Mobile can be used with either one-dimensional or two-dimensional bar codes. Being able to scan a wristband bar code with this new software can increase efficiency for use with medical records. Bar Code Express Mobile can be used with either iOS or Androids. Doctors no longer have to leave a patient in an examining room to retrieve medical records and find something specific in the patient's medical history. Combined with Accusoft Pegasus AIMtools which allow doctors to view electronic medical records and x-rays, Bar Code Xpress Mobile provides a solution in health technology that eliminates errors in patient records. This software development kit can scan and read multiple bar codes on a document in seconds.

The company also offers a complete imaging solution called ImageGear for .NET which can be used for Winforms, ASP.NET, and WPF applications. Scanning and reading bar codes is just one aspect of this kit, as OCR, PDF, image editing, and image viewing are also included. Adding notations to an X-ray using the image editor saves the doctor time when he or she is with a patient. The OCR feature will convert any scanned documents into imaging files (ImageGear supports more than a hundred different image file types including JPEG, TIF, GIF, CAD). There is also a DICOM (Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine) file application that will enable doctors to view, edit, and display these files on their smartphones.

Accusoft Pegasus began in 1991 and provides imaging software development kit solutions for bar codes, OCR/ICR, and PDF creation to companies worldwide. The company is located in Tampa, Florida.

(Photo courtesy of Accusoft Pegasus.)

http://www.accusoft.com/

Related articles:

Small Metal RFID Tags for Surgical Instruments

Using Bar Code Label Printers to Simplify Hospital Patient Records

Electronic Patient Registration, Barcoded E-Forms & Wristbands Improve Patient Safety and Care

Secureline Barcode Bracelets Improve Patient Safety

Very Useful resource links:  Bar Code Resources - 30+ articles on bar codes     

   QR Code Resources- 20+ articles on use, tracking, creating and implementing QR codes

  Point of Sale Resources (courtesy of Pointofsale.com) - gateway to over 1,000 articles on POS

  GS1 Resource pages -The standards organization of the bar code industry - the more commonly requested links all in one spot

  Quickbooks Resources (courtesy of Pointofsale.com) - 20+ articles and how-to pieces.

  What You Need to Know about buying bar code labels - comprehensive discussion about what, where, when and why to use different types of labels and printers - but written in plain English.

   Inventory Tracking Software - products for keeping tabs on your assets

Was this article useful?  If not, please tell us how we could improve the Bar Code News site, but if it was useful, please share it or "Like" it using the buttons below. Thank you.

Newest Comprehensive Solutions for the Distribution Center on Display at MODEX 2014

ATLANTA (MODEX) – March 17, 2014 – Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announces its latest innovations for the distribution center, including a best-in-class industrial-grade full range laser barcode scanner and new Vocollect® voice technology solutions, at MODEX 2014 in Atlanta.

The Granit 1280iFR scanner joins Honeywell’s broad portfolio of scanning solutions for warehouse workers and offers the ability to easily read barcodes from short and long distances, improving worker productivity in the distribution center and cold storage environments. Additionally, Vocollect by Honeywell’s VoiceCatalyst® software provides a simple, easy path for all customers to take advantage of Vocollect’s latest Talkman® A700 solution innovations, and the Talkman A720  extends the portfolio for customers who require the use of wired peripherals. 

“In a competitive marketplace, warehouse operators need solutions that can withstand harsh environments and provide supreme performance,” said Bruce Stubbs, director of industry marketing, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility.  “Honeywell has integrated multiple solutions and products from scanners, to vehicle mount computers, to voice devices, to software to help customers solve their most pressing business challenges in distribution centers.” 

As the newest member of Honeywell’s industrial scanner portfolio, the Granit 1280iFR is designed to excel in the most demanding mission critical environments where accuracy and durability are imperative. To improve worker efficiency, the Granit 1280iFR features the ability to read 100 mil retro-reflective labels from as far away as 54 feet (16.5 m) and 7.5 mil codes as close as 3.5 inches (8.9 cm). Designed to survive the harshest environments, the scanner offers unparalleled durability by sustaining more than 5,000 1m tumbles and 50 drops from 2m to concrete. The Granit 1280iFR is designed for continuous operation at temperatures of -30 degrees C and with the new industrial cable that can survive more than 300,000 cable bends at a 90 degree angle at -30 degrees C, making it the industry’s best full-range scanner for cold storage environments.

The Granit 1280iFR works seamlessly with Honeywell’s latest expansion in Vehicle Mount products including the Thor VM2.

“With an increased demand to read barcodes that are located off the ground as well as medium density barcodes found on cartons and documentation, we needed an industrial solution with superior scanning capabilities,” said Rad DeRose, president, L-Tron Corporation. “Honeywell’s Granit 1280iFR meets and exceeds our customers’ expectations as a durable full-range scanner that survives tough conditions inside the four walls of the warehouse.”

In addition to releasing the Granit 1280iFR scanner, Honeywell released an upgrade to the VoiceCatalyst software which allows customers to seamlessly transition to the Talkman A700 device without having to change their current systems.  VoiceCatalyst software enables unparalleled connectivity and provides the launching point for implementing voice-enabled operations to achieve the highest levels of productivity.  With VoiceCatalyst 2.1, customers will have access to SoundSense™, which reduces speech recognition errors by 50 percent by eliminating unwanted environmental sounds from forklifts and conveyors to freezer fans. Additionally, shift start-up times are expedited by using Vocollect TouchConnect™ for immediate touch-pairing of a worker’s wireless SRX2 headset to the A700 solution.  Leveraging Vocollect RapidStart™ to educate workers will minimize coaching time and provide a consistent education experience.

Further, Honeywell released Vocollect’s Talkman A720 device, the latest model, as part of the Talkman A700 Solution for customers.  This new voice-centric mobile device has two Talkman Connectors, enabling customers to leverage investments made in wired peripherals.  The Talkman A720 uses the same infrastructure of batteries and chargers as other Talkman A700 solution devices, including an extended-capacity battery estimated to endure 24 hours of use on a single charge.  The Talkman A720 joins Talkman A710 and A730 in providing speech responses 19% faster (compared to the prior generation of Vocollect Talkman products) leading to better worker efficiency.

The Granit 1280iFR is expected to ship in April 2014.  VoiceCatalyst 2.1 and Talkman A720 are expected to ship during second quarter 2014. For more information, please visit www.honeywellaidc.com. The Granit 1280i will be on display during MODEX, March 17-20, 2014 in booth #4518 at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. 

 (please note that the image above is of the Granit 1190. The new image was not available at press time.)

 Asset tracking in manufacturing environments can help reduce labor and cost, plan for proper inventory and identify areas for improvement. However, the bar code labels involved in asset tracking in manufacturing environments must be durable enough to survive in difficult conditions.

Durable: Camcode’s Removable Paint Mask Bar Code Labels withstand general purpose cleaners, mild acids, oil, and water. Unique: Labels come with a special paint mask designed to remove cleanly after painting, leaving the labels ready to be scanned. Compatible: Proven to integrate easily with the leading asset management systems. Accurate: Virtually eliminates errors caused by manual data collection, ensuring accurate information. Efficient: Tracks products quickly and easily for greater productivity and reduced labor costs. Cost-Effective: Camcode’s Removable Paint Mask Bar Code Labels pay for themselves in increased productivity and reduced rework.

A window and door manufacturer was looking for a way to track its vinyl windows throughout the entire manufacturing process. Though the manufacturer had some identification in place, there was no window tracking from process to process. Specifically, the manufacturer needed to track the windows moving in and out of the secondary operations, which included a powder/liquid paint application and high temperature cure of up to 375 degrees F.

“We were looking for cradle to grave tracking of products after our secondary coating applications,” a materials manager for the company said.

The tracking method had to withstand the chemicals and high temperatures that the windows came in contact with during the secondary coating process. A search for durable bar code solutions led the window manufacturer to Camcode and the Polyester Paint Mask Bar Code Label. This label comes with a special paint mask film, which is designed to remove cleanly after the painting process, leaving the bar code label ready to be scanned and tracked.

“The labels are work well and allow us to track each window through our processes,” the materials manager said. “We are able to streamline our manufacturing and inventory practices thanks to the bar code labels.”

About Camcode

Camcode designs and manufactures durable pre-printed bar code labels and customizes services for asset tracking applications. They provide customized services for project management, data management, and asset tracking solutions. Camcode assists in improving the efficiency of asset tracking systems, including increasing data acquisition speed and reducing human error in manual entries. Visit their website to learn more.  Follow Camcode on Twitter: @camcode   or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Camcode.

Subscribe to our Newsletter and get the latest Bar Code News delivered to your inbox!

If you enjoyed this article, take a look at some of our other label and asset tracking stories.

RFID Leader Marks & Spencer Drives Apparel Sales with Accurate Inventory Tracking

Leading Bar Code and RFID Software Developer Provides One-Click Labeling Solution

Barcode Label Solution For A Medical Rental Company

Extreme RFID at 30,000 PSI and 400 degrees F

RFID Asset Tracking Saves Time, Money at Texas Police Department

Track Cars and Tools with Metalcraft, Inc. RFID Tracking Tags

Click here for access to all Label case studies and articles

On March 17, Motorola Solutions, Inc. introduced the Workabout Pro 4 rugged mobile computer, one of the industry’s most modular products that enables businesses to customize the device to meet their mobile workers’ specific needs. The ergonomic Workabout Pro 4 is the only mobile computer with modules capable of reading low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID tags. Built for manufacturing, transportation and logistics, warehousing, field service and government environments, it is ideal for voice picking, proof of delivery, vehicle maintenance and remote expert solutions that can help improve productivity and customer service. It provides the flexibility needed to meet ever-changing business needs.

This next generation of the Workabout Pro series offers a unique, flexible design, making it easy for businesses to upgrade almost all key features to the latest technologies by simply changing modules in their own facilities. They can choose the most appropriate data capture technology and voice-enabled applications for their workforces with new scan engine, RFID, camera, and voice modules.  Backward compatibility to existing backroom accessories and a majority of Workabout Pro 3 partner modules provides additional investment protection for customers.

According to Joe White, vice president of Enterprise Mobile Computing at Motorola Solutions, “As business needs change and mobile technologies evolve, Motorola Solutions remains committed to the Workabout Pro series with the Workabout Pro 4’s new features and improved performance. Built on the series’ modular design principles, cost-conscious companies have the flexibility to buy the features they need today and easily add those needed in the future.”

Research shows a substantial Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) benefit for companies that select rugged enterprise-grade devices for line-of-business applications. The modular architecture of the Workabout Pro 4 can further reduce TCO with the ability to upgrade features and extend its life expectancy. Motorola’s Primary Service offers easy access, fast repair, and expert support, and Mobility Lifecycle Management services are also offered to help customers optimize and manage their complex device environments. With its aggressive price point, larger display, and long-range scanning option, the Workabout Pro 4 addresses customers’ needs as a new offering between Motorola’s MC3000 and MC9000 families of mobile computers.

Learn more about Motorola Solutions on their website, read specifically about the Workabout Pro 4 here, and follow them on Facebook.

Subscribe to the Bar Code News! Get it daily, once a week, or once a month.  We respect your privacy and never sell or rent our list.

If you enjoyed this article, check out some other bar code news stories. And please let vendors know that you've seen them on barcode.com!

Top Ten Barcode Stories of 2013

Sochi Security Complicates Logistics

New Rental Option for Checkmate Tool and Equipment Software

Digimarc Sets Guinness Record for Scanning Barcodes

Roll Your Own Barcode Reader with New Motorola scanner #NRF14

GS1 Connect 2014 -Retail, Healthcare, Foodservice and Grocery Industry Leaders to Examine

Reinventing Business

Help Stop Patent Trolls with the EFF

Bar Code Industry News

Barcode Quality: A Problem and an Opportunity

Equipment Inventory Management System Delivers Proven Return on Investment

The Internet Of Things (IoT) - The Fundamentals

(Editors note: This is a bold force sweeping into our society.   It's not just about software, but everyday devices like the ones you buy at Home Depot.  Take five minutes to learn about something that is already touching your life and coming on like a silent avalanche.)

It is difficult today to look through on-line technology blogs, magazines, or advertising literature and not find some claim about the Internet of Things (IoT) or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications.  Claims of self-repairing machines and individually targeted advertising as seen in Spielberg’s 2002 Minority Report harken to a day where machines are able respond (and shape) our needs and wants.  Smart Homes, Smart Cars, Smart Cities, Smart Grids, and eHealth beckon us to a world of computer-assisted living with claims of an improved quality of life.
 
Likewise there is no shortage of existing technologies claiming that they are the foundation of IoT and M2M.  RFID vendors claim IoT is merely RFID+.  Sensor manufacturers note that IoT and M2M are nothing more than applications of their technology.  Mobile device companies assert that IoT is as simple as scanning a QR Code on a poster to access entertainment venues, creating reservations, and affecting payment through their electronic purse.  However, IoT and M2M are so much more and those claims are a disservice to the vision.
 
Since 2008, there have been no fewer than 40 European Union funded projects that touch upon the Internet of Things. In October, 2010, China’s IoT market size was expected to top 200 billion yuan (about 30 billion U.S. dollars) and to top 750 billion yuan by 2015.  Intel Corporation predicts there will be 31 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020.  In a statement to shareholders, the Ericsson CEO repeated the company's vision of 50 billion connections by 2020.  While it is certainly good to see that this vision is poised for phenomenal growth, the question remains, “What is the Internet of Things?”  While there are as many definitions as there are claimants to the leadership of IoT, one that has withstood the test of time is from the 2009 CASAGRAS Final Report “A global network infrastructure, linking physical and virtual objects through the exploitation of data capture and communication capabilities. This infrastructure includes existing and evolving Internet and network developments. It will offer specific object-identification, sensor and connection capability as the basis for the development of independent cooperative services and applications. These will be characterised by a high degree of autonomous data capture, event transfer, network connectivity and interoperability.”

Figure 1 — The Fundamentals of IoT

 
 
Figure 1 shows the fundamentals of IoT including an incomplete list of application domains, stakeholders involved, requirements, other considerations, and technologies, while Figure 2 drills down into the technologies of IoT.  Figure 1 also points out a major concern of privacy advocates , namely that IoT may lead to the harvesting of IoT data by government and commercial interests, leading to NSA-fed fears that smart systems could gang up on their creators, in the way they did in “The Matrix”, the 1999 film in which human beings are plugged into machines that simulate reality to control humans and harvest their bodies' heat and electrical activity. Such a scenario is likely to remain science fiction.  However, smart systems may be vulnerable to malfunctioning or attacks by hackers.
 

Figure 2 — The Technologies of IoT

And while Figure 1 provides a snapshot of potential applications, it is the supply chain where this author believes the first widely accepted applications will be found.  Granted the Smart Home is well into the implementation phase; however each vendor has a proprietary solution, whereby the supply chain demands interoperable solutions.
 
By means of example, envision a supplier that provides its product in returnable containers; fully expecting the container to be returned on a timely basis.  After a sufficient delay, the supplier contacts the customer to request the return of the container, but the customer says, “We do not have your container.” The supplier then goes to his database identifies the container and informs the customer, “Our real-time global tracking system shows that our container is located in the northeast corner of the building you designate as Warehouse 13.”  The container is then returned in short order.
 
What does it take to provide such traceability?  RFID, you say?  What the supply chain has learned is that for RFID to work as envisioned, everyone needs to implement the technology.  In our fictitious example above, if the supplier asked the customer to track the supplier’s containers, the customer might agree, provided that the supplier agreed to pay for RFID readers at the customer’s locations.  Absent such a universal implementation the supplier needs a tracking system that can extend beyond the “black hole” encountered when goods leaving the shipping doors.  
 
Such a tracking system needs to rely on the same ubiquitous communications available with our mobile phones, namely 3G, 4G, LTE, and LTE Advanced.  By combining those communication technologies with High Sensitivity GPS and A-GPS (Assisted GPS) it is possible to bring the functionality of outdoor GPS inside.  Further, technologies such as Multipath TCP, currently being used by Apple in iOS 7 to combine cellular and Wi-Fi for use by its voice-query Siri technology could enable devices to easily switch between communication modes, maintaining continuity of the connection.  
 
Several years ago a concept known as etPallet was introduced.  Should Amblin Entertainment ask, “et” is an abbreviation for “electronics and telecommunications”, but might also speak to the pallet’s ability to call home.  This device includes location-based services, cellular/satellite messaging and location services, ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-15-4 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-11 messaging, RFID, sensors, user memory, and an inductively charged lithium imide power supply.  The power supply may be replaced when energy harvesting when the technology becomes more efficient and practical.
 
RFID was devastated by early predictions of a five-cent tag, that chilled the emerging market .  This is not a five-cent device, nor is it a five-dollar device.  Efforts in 2011 to establish a bill-of-material cost came in at $17.00 for a quantity of one, yielding a sale price of approximately $50.00.
 
A remaining issue is that of variable communication costs in which roaming charges for a device traveling between carriers and countries might make the device impractical.  A solution to address roaming charges could be included in a universal SIM (uSim), currently being developed within 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).  The name “3GPP” is misleading because this organization also developed the standards for 4G and LTE communications.
 
Another remaining issue is a method of unique identification for each of the elements in this IoT application, a discussion for an upcoming article.
 
Written by Craig Harmon

Craig K. Harmon is the President and CEO of Q.E.D. Systems.  With over 30 years of proven experience in the information systems industry he is one of the leading experts on data collection and communications standardization in the world.  He is the author of four books on data collection technology, including Reading Between The Lines and Lines of Communications.  He provides the content for the web sites autoid.org and qed.org.

He founded JTC 1/SC 31 and the RFID Experts Group (REG), serves as chair of Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) MH 10 (Material Handling) and U.S. TAG to ISO TC 122 (Packaging), and leads the new ISO/TC 122 working group, WG 12, Supply chain applications of logistics technology. He serves as a liaison officer to IATA, ISO TC 104 (Freight containers), TC 122 (Packaging), TC 204 (Intelligent transport systems), TC 247 (Fraud and anti-counterfeiting), JTC 1/SC 31, JTC 1/WG 7 (Sensor networks), ITU-R, ITU-T, OGC, 3GPP, IETF, XSF, and ETSI.  He is managing the development and maintenance of the multi-lingual international vocabulary standard on bar codes, 2D symbols, RFID, RTLS, and sensors.  He leads multiple independent efforts on the Internet of Things.

He serves as an advisor to end-users and technology providers in the development of international, national, industry, and corporate standards.  He has served several times as an expert witness on automatic identification technologies in patent litigation.

He holds a Business Degree in Economics and International Trade from the University of Iowa and is the recipient of the 2004 Richard Dilling Award.

(Why not bookmark this page in your browser for future reference and share with colleagues using the buttons below.)
 

Are you using QR codes in your email signature? If not, you might want to start.

While not everyone is in agreement whether to include a QR code in your email signature (as many people read their email on their mobile phone), it's like many other forms of marketing - designed to reach some - not all - of your potential prospects.

If you decide to add a QR code to your email signature, be sure not to violate the cardinal rules of QR codes.

(1) Always direct a QR code URL to a mobile-enabled website. Don't annoy potential business or personal contacts by sending them to a site that appears tiny on their mobile device. The good news is that many websites are easily redirected to simpler mobile sites using a simple WordPress widget.

(2) When you create your personalized QR code, producing a smaller 2D code will reduce the file size for your email recipients.

(3) If you can, make the QR code clickable as well as scannable by a QR code reader. That way readers seeing your email on a mobile phone can easily access the information. (If you're not sure how to do that, we'll show you how below.)

If you're using an email service that includes an HTML editor - think Gmail, Outlook Express - then it's a piece of cake to add a QR code to your email signature. Here's what you need to do to add a QR code to your email signature using Gmail.

(1) First you'll need to create your personal or business QR code. You can link to a website, telephone number, vCard, or any number of things. I used QRStuff for this example. The nice thing about this free QR code generator is the URL shortener feature that keeps your QR code from getting too large. Download the image when you're finished.

(2) Then you'll need to find a place to host the QR code image. If you have a website, you can add the image to your Media Library. Then copy the URL that's attached to that image.

(3) Next log-in to your Gmail account and click on the gear icon in the upper right hand corner. Select Settings, and scroll down to Signature (under General options). You'll see an HTML editor.

(4) Create the text for your signature, then decide where you want to add the QR code.

(5) Click on the icon to add an image, and paste the URL for your personal QR code. You should see the image appear below. Click OK to close the window.

(6) Now you have the option of resizing your QR code. Select the image, grab one of the handles and drag it. As you click and drag, you'll see the size of the image in pixels.

(7) Now we'll add the finishing touch, allowing email recipients to either scan your personal QR code with a mobile bar code scanner or just click the image to access your information. (That means anyone reading your email on a mobile device can still read the QR code).

(8) Select the image again and click on the "chain link" icon. Add the URL. When you're finished, click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page, compose a new email message and try out your new signature.

Watch the video below to learn how to add a QR code to your email signature in Gmail.

{youtube}aVXuxeXnpls{/youtube}

Are you using a QR code as part of your email signature? Leave a comment below and let us know how it's working for you.

See related articles:

From QR to ER: QR Codes for Hospitals and Emergency Care - QR Codes have been used effectively in advertising campaigns to disseminate information quickly. Now they are being used to help save lives in emergency situations, too. By using a mobile device, paramedics ...

QR Codes Make History Come Alive - ... at the site itself. However, even audio tours can’t cover it all; generally they focus on major works or the life of a featured artist. In the past few years, some museums have embraced QR codes as a ...

Suggestion - Use your browser to bookmark this page for easy retrieval!

{jcomments on}

Computer Generated Solutions Inc. (CGS) announces that legendary leather outerwear producer Schott® N.Y.C.  has successfully implemented CGS' Leadtec™ shop floor control (SFC) solution at its Elizabeth, New Jersey manufacturing facility. The state-of-the-art production system utilizes small computer terminals and barcode scannersat more than 50 operator workstations to record all production events and payroll information as they occur in real-time. Schott expects the new system to increase productivity, reduce order throughput time, and improve overall plant efficiency.

 Schott N.Y.C. jackets come with a story that has been written over the course of more than 90 years, four generations of Schotts, and an American love affair with hitting the open road with the wind in your face and your troubles behind you.

In recent decades, Schott N.Y.C has continued to grow under the leadership of new generations of the Schott family. Product lines and styles have expanded, nylons and wools have grown in popularity, and accessories from bags to sunglasses can be found worldwide. But at the core of the business still lies the 100 year old factory just outside of New York City, now updated with the CGS Leadtec solution.

According to President Roz Schott, "Our old piecework payroll system was too cumbersome and it did not give us the accurate and timely information we needed to manage our business. Leadtec eliminates much of the non-productive employee time required in the old system and empowers our operators be more productive. It also gives our managers the information and visibility they need to manage the production floor and make better informed and more timely business decisions."

Schott sewing operators use their Leadtec terminals to clock in and out, scan barcode work coupons, change jobs, request pay and performance information, and as a coaching device to pace themselves and improve their performance. This real-time feedback also provides managers with increased visibility and production tracking capabilities needed to more effectively streamline production flow and improve overall efficiency.

"While we were initially concerned about how our people would react to the new system, we quickly realized that our operators were motivated by the ability to track their own numbers throughout the day and earn more money," continued Schott. "We are already seeing productivity and operational improvements from Leadtec and expect to achieve even more over time. By putting needed information at our fingertips, it is also helping us to find new and better ways to staff and equip each operation. We have some cases where productivity has increased by 40%."

Following a brief installation and training period, the new system went live at Schott early this year.

"We applaud Schott for achieving these significant improvements in just a short period of time," noted Jim Hoerig, Vice President of Manufacturing Solutions at CGS. "We are pleased to play a role in helping this impressive company improve the competitiveness and flexibility of its domestic manufacturing operations. We look forward to contributing to the continued progress and achievements at Schott."

Other articles that may interest you:

Assorted Bar Code Resources and How-To's

Treat yourself!  Subscribe to the Bar Code News - daily, weekly or monthly.   Free for members of the industry and bar code enthusiasts.

Today CognitiveTPG unveiled its new website.  This new site has been designed to provide improved navigation and functionality as well as a new look that is consistent with the company's rebranding efforts. 

The site navigation was redesigned with the user in mind.  "After paying attention to the most frequently viewed pages and what our customers are looking for on our website, we positioned this information up front so it is easy to find," said CognitiveTPG's Marketing Director Angela Mansfield-Swanson.  "Our goal was to make the product information accessible in less than three clicks."

The resource area contains recent company news, press releases, a video library, white papers, case studies, application brochures, microsites, and a company blog for sharing across social network sites. 

"Completely redesigning the CognitiveTPG website was a large undertaking," said Nigel Ball, CognitiveTPG's Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  "The new site reflects our move to succinctly present our products as solutions as well as highlight our custom design capabilities available at our headquarters in upstate New York."   

New features and content will continue to roll out over the coming months including the partner portal with exciting new sales tools for CognitiveTPG's distributors and preferred resellers.

"The CognitiveTPG website is a critical facet of our outreach to our partners, end users, and potential customers," said Mansfield-Swanson.  "The new site will integrate with our CRM system and other marketing tools so that we can continue to provide relevant and useful information as well as address visitor inquiries quickly." 

About CognitiveTPG