Barcode Basics

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Barcode Scanner Basics
Barcode Basics App
Barcode Scanning Basics
Barcode Basics Review

Each type of symbology (or barcode type) is a standard that defines the printed symbol and how a device, such as a barcode scanner, reads and decodes the printed symbol. If an industry standard has already been established for the intended implementation, the standard should be implemented. A basic inventory tracking system consists of software and a barcode scanner or mobile computer. Inventory items (like products you sell, supplies, or raw materials) will all have barcode labels, so when you remove an item from stock, you just scan the barcode to reduce the available count in your inventory tracking software, instead of having. Barcode labeling basics for your business Barcodes have become a necessity in doing business today. For one, it is critical for your organization to keep accurate data of all inventory, shipments and assets incorder to be more productive and profitable.

Barcode basics: Understanding barcodes and product codes

Today, we are going to cover the barcode basics regarding barcodes and product codes. We’ll begin with an example for produce. Product information for produce is regulated by the International Federation for Produce Standards. Most other food items and consumer goods that you can find around the house or workplace use product code standards created by the GS1 organization.

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“The GS1 System provides for the use of unambiguous numbers to identify goods, services, assets, and locations worldwide. These numbers can be represented in barcodes to enable their electronic reading wherever required in business processes. The system is designed to overcome the limitations of using company, organisation, or sector specific coding systems, and to make trading much more efficient and responsive to customers.”^[1]

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the barcode labels usually found on produce (left) and packaged goods (right):

As you can see, the produce sticker contains an image of its origin (the yellow semicircular image), barcode (the thin and thick black lines), and a product code (4046). You can read more information on produce stickers here.

In contrast, the packaged item’s product identifier is a U.P.C. barcode: barcode lines (the thin and thick black lines) with a product code (the series of numbers under the barcode)^[2]. The string of numbers underneath the barcode lines make up the item’s Global Trade Item Number^®, or GTIN^®^[1]. Packages and shipments, as well as warehouse containers and units, utilize a separate system for standardized identifying numbers created by the GS1.^[3]

The GTIN is a standardized method of assigning a universally recognizable product code to an item, which is helpful for consumers, distributors, manufacturers, and anyone involved in the supply chain. Per the GS1, the GTIN:

“…uniquely identifies trade items at all item and package levels, thus ensuring that they are always identified correctly anywhere in the world. Each trade item that is different from another is allocated a separate, unique GTIN.”^[1]

Here is an example of a GTIN from GS1’s website^[4]:

Most items that can be bought by consumers include a GTIN-12 or a GTIN-13 to accompany the barcode; the numbers following simply refer to the number of digits in the GTIN^[5]. These are the items you would most likely buy from a grocery store or retail store.

A GTIN is comprised of three elements^[6]:

A U.P.C. company prefix
Item reference number
Check digit

In order to receive a U.P.C. company prefix, a company must apply to GS1 and have one assigned to them.^[5] From there, the company will assign GTINs to all items they manufacture using their designated U.P.C. company prefix. The company prefix is unique to each company and is a way to identify the company that claims ownership of a product^[7].

However, the GS1 states…

“Note that since GS1 member companies can manufacture products anywhere in the world, GS1 prefixes do not identify the country of origin for a given product.”^[8]

So purely going off of the first digits you see on a product label to determine where it was manufactured can be misleading for many reasons, including:

– U.S. companies are assigned a company prefix starting with the number ‘0’^[7]. However, those companies may not include the ‘0’ in the beginning of their product label GTIN numbers.

– As noted by the GS1, a U.S. GS1 registered company may manufacture their products in another country or other countries.

So as a consumer, the best way to know where a product was manufactured is to look for a “Made In…” label. Additionally, you can find out what company the product is registered under using GS1’s handy GTIN search tool.

Barcode Basics Pdf

Barcode basics: How a barcode inventory management system is used in business

So we learned about barcodes and GTINs from a consumer standpoint, but how are they actually utilized by businesses?

As far as the U.P.C. barcode lines, the barcodes can be scanned to maximize productivity and accuracy in the warehouse or store.

For instance, barcodes can be scanned to:

receive inventory in the warehouse or store
pick items and fulfill orders
conduct inventory counts and verify inventory

GTINs provide a way for businesses to identify a product. This is in conjunction to other identifiers such as:

Barcode Scanner Basics

SKUs
serial and lot numbers
internal product ID
product description

These identifiers can be associated with the related product in an inventory management system. Having multiple product IDs and descriptions are helpful when looking up an item in a database.

Barcode inventory management can be a useful tool, especially for those businesses that handle many products, have a warehouse or warehouses, or simply want to reduce the amount of time spent on inventory management while increasing accuracy. To learn more about barcodes and barcoding, check out our barcoding and mobile page for how you can utilize barcodes in your business or warehouse.

References

1. GS1’s ‘An Introduction to the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)’, 2.GS1’s ‘About the GS1 Company Prefix’, 3.GS1’s ‘GS1 Standards’, 4.GS1’s ‘Search by GTIN’ tool, 5.GS1’s ‘GS1 General Specifications’, 6.GS1’s ‘Create Your Product or Location Identification’, 7.GS1’s ‘Get a Licensed GS1 Company Prefix’, 8. GS1’s ‘GS1 Company Prefix’ listings

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Back to Basics

Why is this necessary? Months of strange, new and sometimes difficult ways of working? Emerging, new ways of doing old things. Pandemics and technology both have a way of doing that. Election year anxieties have everybody on edge? I do not know what is driving it, but our barcode test lab has lately seen many barcodes with simple problems. Innovative packaging and new printing technologies do not negate the basics. So here is a review.

Barcode Colors

Scanners do not like barcodes that are red and backgrounds that are green. This is because scanners use a red-spectrum light to scan the barcode. Why? Because the original scanners back in the 1970’s used ruby lasers, producing light in the 660nm range. Modern scanners do not use lasers but lasers are still around, so we stick to the old rules. Pouting will not change that. We drive on the right side of the road in the US. There is cosmic law for that—we just do.

Your smartphone can scan barcodes in all sorts of colors. That’s because smartphones use white light, not red light. That proves nothing about whether your customer’s scanner can read them. Do not be fooled—it gets expensive to be wrong about this.

Quiet Zones

Scanning a barcode starts with the scanner finding the barcode. Your eye does this easily. A scanner cannot. Scanners cannot differentiate a barcode from text or pictures or patterns. Scanners only see reflective differences. That is why barcode colors are important. A red barcode against a white background is like white on white—invisible to the scanner. A barcode amidst a sea of text is just a jumble of dark and light reflective values. Quiet zones make it possible for the scanner to detect the barcode as a recognizable and intelligible field of data. It all happens in a fraction of a second. Do not be lulled into thinking it is easy. Quiet zones are essential.

X Dimension

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The width of the narrow bar is the building block of a barcode. 1D barcodes like UPC and Code 128 are a combination of bars and spaces (elements) of various, known widths. Wide elements are a calculated multiple of the narrow elements. The X dimension is the width of the narrow element.

Smaller X dimensions make barcodes smaller. They also make the tolerance for element width tighter. There is less margin of error, and accurate printing is more difficult on smaller barcodes. Smaller X dimensions also make scanning more challenging.

Barcode Scanning Basics

Package design often conflicts with barcode requirements. The solution is often to reduce the size of the barcode. Lately we have seen UPC symbols as small as 50%–much smaller than the 80% allowable minimum. It is really just mathematics: at 50%, the X dimension is .0065” and the margin of error is about .0005”. Is your printing process capable of resolving a 6.5 mil line accurately and repeatedly? Even if it can, some scanners cannot read it. The reflective differences between bars and spaces that small are too tiny to differentiate.

Questions or comments? Please contact us here.

John helps companies resolve current barcode problems and avoid future barcode problems to stabilize and secure their supply chain and strengthen their trading partner relationships.