Datalinx Blog

Whilst it is easy to blame the warehousing system when you scan a 1D linear barcode and it fails to read, often this is not the case and there is a very simple reason for the error. We often find that it might be a quiet zone failure connected to the printing and/or layout of the barcode itself.

The quiet zone is the empty space area around the barcode that enables the scanning device to establish where the barcode begins and ends and thus allow it to read the label.

There is usually a simple reason for a quiet zone error. It could be that when the barcode was printed on the carton the ink “bled” on the absorbent cardboard and thus made the bars a different width rendering them illegible....

Tracking products through the supply chain

This is covered by various acronyms; GS1 global standards / GTIN or EDI and focuses on using barcodes which are machine readable character strings which can be created using linear symbology, are typically between 30-40 characters or could be a matrix code of up to 2000 characters. These symbologies could be compared to a foreign language with syntax and construction rules and industry standard defined codes are EAN or UPC.

Barcode scanners come in all shapes, sizes and types from the traditional basic tethered scanner to wireless hand helds with batch capabilities to RFID based mobile computers. Each device has advantage and disadvantages but when it comes down to it when you exclude price from your comparison the key points you are looking at are; freedom of use and safety and how rugged a device you need.