The Basics

 

As GSI Accredited Solution Providers, Cobalt has recognised expertise in introducing good practices to achieve the highest bar code quality. Preventing incorrect or poor quality bar codes from entering the supply chain eliminates fines, rejects and rework for suppliers, and the basic principles which should be adhered to include:

 

Basic Barcoding

• Use black ribbons and white labels

• Make sure the area on the label is large enough to accomodate the barcode and the the light margins, allowing for pinting intolerances and movement of the label through the printer.

• The label and the adhesive must be compatible with the packaging materials.  Products may be frozen, chilled or kept at room temperature - check the labels will not fall off.

• The labels and ribbons must be compatible with each otherand the type and make of printer that you are using.

• Labels and ribbons must be stored correctly and not past their expiry date.  If they are kept to warm, in damp conditions or too old they may not run properly through the printer or produce inferior results.

• Whenever possible barcodes should be printed in picket fence oreintation so that they are upright when they come out of the printer.

• Including a horizontal check bar above the barcode will show any printhead element failure immediately.

Printer Setup

• Check your printer regularly for dust build up, white dots appearing in balck bars are a good indication that maintenance is required.

 

• Every time you change the roll of labels (and ribbons when using a thermal transfer printer), clean any dust and debris inside the machine, and clean the printhead with the recommended cleaning materials.

 

• Always verify the first few labels you print after carrying out any maintenance on the printer to ensure it is printing at the required standards.

 

• Printheads will wear out much faster than normal if the printhead temperature and pressure, or the speed of printing are incorrect.

 

• Keep printer covers closed when operating. 

 

Visual Checks & Verification

• Is the global trade item number (ITGN) and any other information correct?

 

• The bars on a traded unit and logisitc label must be at least 32mm tall.

 

• Are horizontal bearer bars included?

 

• If there are dots in the bars, and wrinkles in the label, and breaks in the horizontal bars or white lines appearing across the code the label needs to be re-printed.

• Use a verifier throught the production run, at least every two hours, or as often as your experience tells you to ensure that the codea re correct.  Make sure the verfier is calibrated and setup correctly before using it.

 

• Does the verifier meet all the required standards including ISO/IEC 15426-1, and measure the seven different parameters, which are:
  

 

 

• Are all the barcodes at grade 1.5 (C) or above as a minimum?

Summary of Minimum Requirements 

	Traded Units	Pallet Labels
EAN/UPC Bar Codes	x
ITF-14 Bar Codes	x
UCC/EAN-128 Bar Codes	x	x
Target X Dimension	0.50mm	0.50mm
Minimum Bar Height	32mm	32mm
Number of bar Coded Labels	1	2