A little Barcode help please

[Seagull]

First of all, Happy New All !
Hoping i can get some education on a barcode issue that I am having, I create a number of different kinds of codes for packaging and internal use with Barcode Pro, UPC, ITF, Pharmacodes, etc.

We have 2 kinds of QC code scanners in house, a hand held reader and more recently a camera type to read 2D codes.

Each job we do has to have all the codes scanned and printed for QC verification, the issue i want to correct with the codes i make is the "Decodability" which more times than not is a "C" and sometimes an "F" all other readings are usually "A", i get this kind of reading on both scanners that we have.

If some can help me understand how to improve this I'll buy you a nice Canadian pint !

Thanks in Advance !!

 

[M@CK]

What's your bar reduction ?
Printing process ? litho, flexo, Gravure or digital ?

 

[jlee]

Seagull,

M@CK's questions are all valid and important in determining your issue. Keep in mind that in most cases according to ISO and ANSI (depending on your symbology) a C grade is a passing grade. I find this quite silly though as most retail level barcode scanners can scan some of the most damaged codes that would read F.

A lot of my customers are pharmaceutical and I need to provide them with code scan reports at multiple stages in the process. So I must admit my team and I have figured out ways to improve the grade on barcodes depending on code type and situation.

I am also curious to know which scanners you have, unfortunate to my departmental budget I have multiple scanners from multiple vendors with multiple software packages and I hate to say that sometimes I simply have to move from one scanner to another to improve the grade. It's amusing considering all the scanners I have comply to some type of ISO or ANSI standard for verification.

Where in Canada are you? I'll try to help even if you are a competitor.

JL

 

[Seagull]

Thanks for looking at my question, We are offset litho.

I have always in Barcode Pro had my BWR set at 4, odd thing is that 98% of the time i do get a "C" or better when scanned and i do know that a "C" is acceptable.

The scanners we have are a Stratix Xaminer Elite hand held and an LVS 9505 camera scanner.

I am in Montreal and it is freakin cold here !

 

[HPC]

This may be a dumb question but I am going to ask it anyway. Do you have to calibrate your scanners?? Only reason I ask is we had a job that a bank wanted to bounce on our heads, our machine was telling us the product was good (micr encoding). When push came to shove we asked what their procedure was for calibration of their equipment. Answer: "Whats calibration?" Job was fine, their machine hadn't been calibrated or cleaned. Just a thought.

 

[Seagull]

Our hand held scanner is sent for calibration when the device informs us and our camera based scanner is calibrated on a weekly basis by our QC department.

 

[arkay_desai]

Hi Seagull,
Bar Width Reduction The thinning of bars within a bar code which compensates for print gain. I dont think it is required for Litho production. Check without BWR. Check background color if any. Some of background color are not valid for barcode printing.black bars and white spaces are best, but other colour combinations produce good scans, others definitely do not. Most scanners use red light, therefore any colour which reflects red light is suitable for spaces and any colour absorbing red light is needed for bars. Do not condence or enlarge more then 15%.