Barcoding News

Most people don’t realize how many choices there are when it comes to designing a label or tag. Even the simplest of features can be cost-effective and can make a big impact in improving the overall retail store environment from back-office to customer experience. This white paper focuses on several features that can reduce shrink and improve customer satisfaction.

Shrink Management

To cut back on stolen merchandise, retailers are often required to implement expensive solutions like EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) systems and trained security. However, there are less expense ways to deter theft.

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While most barcodes you come across are printed on a label or paper-packaging of a product, in the manufacturing world and work-in-process applications many parts or components need to be marked with a barcode directly. Direct Part Marking is a process that  allows  users to mark a barcode directly on an item instead of printing the barcode on a label.

There are 3 main technologies available for DPM:  laser or chemical etching, dot peening  and ink jet printing. Each of these has specific  advantages  and disadvantages  in terms  of durability, cost and ease of reading.   The main advantages  of codes with  DPM technology are that  the code is permanently marked  on a surface and will  survive  for a long  time  (ideally  forever), regardless  of the  stress the part is passing  through during its’ life cycle. The main  reasons to choose codes with  DPM technology are:

• Items that need to pass through harsh testing processes  (chemicals  agents, thermal cycles, oil, moisture, etc.)
• Items that need to  be tracked  during  their  entire life cycle
• Very small items (difficult to label)

DPM technology was first  adopted  mainly  by the automotive and general mechanical industries. Currently, the popularity of codes using  DPM technology has spread into  different sectors  including electronics, chemicals  and healthcare  industries.

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POS-X has announced the availability of their new ION TP5 all-in-one terminals.  Designed for businesses large and small, the ION TP5 leverages the latest in tablet technology and quality build materials to produce an ultra-compact and cost-effective point-of-sale terminal.

Available in two versions, the standard ION TP5 or the ION TP5 with Integrated Printer, the ION TP5 comes standard with a TruFlat 14″ widescreen LCD display, multi-touch projected capacitive (PCAP) touchscreen, Intel quad-core processor, and solid state storage. Additional accessories include an integrated MSR and rear customer display.

“The ION TP5’s design is a move away from yesterday’s traditionally bulky POS Terminals,” states Mark Dunlop, Vice President of Sales for POS-X. “Leveraging the latest in tablet and touch technology, the ION TP5 is both modern looking and compact, with a price point that rivals entry level competitors.”

Perfect for all retail and hospitality POS applications, the ION TP5 supports Windows 8.1 and 10 and comes standard with POS-X’s industry leading free 3 year/2-day advance exchange warranty service.

The standard for mobile computers has followed the same general form factor since their inception. Essentially following the original PDT format, mobile computers may have added things like pistol grips but the scanner axis has been perpendicular to the display. With every scan you are always in a sequence of tilt-to-read the screen and tilt-to-scan motion. Though it may not seem significant, every tilt takes time and fatigues a user’s wrist.

Zebra is the only manufacturer to properly address the issue of wasted motion and needless fatigue while researching the mechanics of warehouse workflow. The TC8000’s  unique design is the fruit of this detailed investigation into improving the worker experience and their efficiency.

The TC8000 minimizes motion with an innovative scan angle that eliminates the thousands of times your workers need to tilt their device to see the screen. With the TC8000 you can always scan and view the screen at the same time. It’s also an amazing 33 percent lighter than the traditional device to help minimize fatigue.

With a large touchscreen, the user experience is similar to a smartphone that everyone is familiar with which makes the TC8000 very easy to integrate into any environment.

You may ask how much difference these differences actually make? On average, the TC8000 improves productivity by 14% per worker versus the traditional form factors. And it’s the only device on the market that simplifies it all, how your workers physically use the device and interact with your warehouse application.

Key Features

• Superior ergonomics for superior productivity and worker comfort
• Rugged and ready for your warehouse
• Enterprise-class android kitkat
• Triple-shift battery power and unsurpassed battery management
• Capture multiple barcodes and entire forms with a single scan with SimulScan
• Advanced touchscreen technology for flexible data input

Datalogic has announced that premium United Kingdom department store, House of Fraser, is using Skorpio X3 mobile computers to improve the price management processes.

House of Fraser, owned by Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store Co. Ltd., a leading chain of Chinese department stores, purchased 290 Skorpio X3 devices following an extensive pilot program run in its Glasgow and Bristol stores with Datalogic business partner Capgemini.

The primary function for the mobile computers is to aid and improve price management processes. Paired with a mobile label printer via the integrated Bluetooth communications on the Skorpio device, employees can price check items and then print accurate clearance labels on the shop floor, affixing them to items within seconds. “The ability to price check and print on the spot enables us to more accurately and efficiently prepare for sale periods and provides our customers with a clear and professional presentation of the item price that minimizes queries and reduces checkout times,” – Fred Jefferiss, Commercial Finance Controller at the House of Fraser.

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Elo has announced the availability of their newest additions to their Open-Frame line of touch displays with the 1590L, 1790L, 2293L, and 2294L. These new standard models are the next generation product replacements for the 1537L, 1739L, 2243L, and 2244L models.

All 90 Series open frames come standard with high quality LED panels, VGA, Display Port, USB touch, and on select models serial touch. Every model is designed with the same, height, width, and mounting locations as the existing versions you are buying today to make the transition as easy as possible. Each option provides stable “drift-free” operation with outstanding image clarity, resolution and light transmission – for an accurate touch response and vivid images. The 90 Series open frames are an ideal solution for many public applications including gaming, self-service kiosks, gift registry, food ordering, and airline check-in.

Elo open-frame touch displays have a long product life because the enclosure specifications are controlled directly by Elo. This makes future panel improvements easier to implement without having to make external dimensional changes.

All of the new 90-series displays are also backed by a three-year standard warranty.

Moscow’s Gorky Park has recently deployed a wireless network solution from Zebra to enable thousands of visitors to the park to simultaneously access wireless connectivity for a first-class visitor experience. The new Wi-Fi infrastructure replaces a legacy network which was failing to meet the latest requirements across the parterre section of the Park and cope with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) demand. The new wireless network provides robust security and delivers reliable, seamless coverage of the 68.9 hectare park.

Utilizing AP6562 access points across outdoor and indoor locations in the park, Zebra WiNG architecture was installed to provide a quality Wi-Fi service based on the number of mobile clients in different areas across the park. The design support for thousands of mobile devices allows visitors to use enterprise-grade Wi-Fi at an almost unlimited speed in both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands through a distributed WiNG architecture which prevents bottlenecks or connection losses. Visitors experience seamless high-speed Wi-Fi roaming on a secure network that protects their devices and the entire network from hacking. As a result, visitors to the Gorky Park can use a variety of online resources and social media as well as high-bandwidth applications like YouTube and Skype with confidence.

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With the ever changing needs and demands of healthcare providers, clinicians need a device that provides seamless mobile access to clinical systems, vital patient data and connectivity to care teams. Honeywell’s CT50h has been designed to support the most advanced connected mobile user experiences, the latest mobile EMR and nursing applications, and secure care team communication, so workers can more effectively manage a wide variety of tasks throughout their many workflows. Allowing clinicians to be connected while mobile improves the clinical workflow and allows real-time management of alarms or access to patient vitals from anywhere in the hospital.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository is a nonprofit food distribution and training center that provides food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our local communities. The depository makes a daily impact across Cook County with a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, mobile programs, children’s programs, older adult programs and innovative responses that address the root causes of hunger.

Barcodes Inc recently came out to the GCFD warehouse to lend a helping hand with their food repacking. Much of the donations that come into the depository are in large palette-sized containers that need to be repacked into smaller boxes to be easily distributed to food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters throughout Cook County.

During the few hours spent there, the Barcodes Inc group was able to repack 11,650 lbs of cabbage for easy delivery to our communities.

You can find more information on how to volunteer to help stamp our hunger in the Chicagoland area at the GCFD website.

In their continued efforts to improve on their industry leading label design software, Seagull Scientific has just made the BarTender R2 update available for download.

The update adds several improvement to BarTender 2016:

• Integration Builder actions can now be executed conditionally
• Bug fixes in response to customer feedback
• Performance enhancements

All BarTender 2016 users are encouraged to update to R2 and access the download here.