Barcoding News

On October 7, Google replaced the logo on its home page with a barcode that had “GOOGLE” encoded in it.

The barcode logo generated a lot of press coverage and a lot of traffic to the BarcodesInc free barcode generator, which has now generated over 42 million barcodes!

Star Micronics America Announces Printer Compatibility with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Star Micronics America is proud to announce that its lines of single and multifunction printers are compatible with the latest Mac Operating System-Snow Leopard. Star is currently supporting customers who have upgraded their Mac operating systems.

“Star Micronics is one of the few printer companies to embrace the Mac community and has always played a pivotal role in the Mac POS market. Making sure we were ready to support customers for Snow Leopard, at its release time, is the most recent example of that role,” said David Salisbury, Product Manager of Star Micronics America. “Star Micronics is pleased to announce that the current version of the Mac CUPS drivers (3.0) are fully compatible with what will no doubt be a popular operating system.”

Star Micronics’ technical support department has already developed numerous application notes to assist users who are upgrading to Snow Leopard. The application notes discuss topics including:

• How to install a Star USB printer on Snow Leopard
• How to install a Star Ethernet printer on Snow Leopard
• How to install the Star TSP100/TSP100GT printers on Snow LeopardRequests for the application notes may be sent to [email protected].

Zebra’s G-Series desktop printers are now available with an expanded 64 MB Flash memory option.

Available on the GX420d, GX420t, GX430t models, the factory-installed option can store large graphics detailed logos, and formats.

The memory adds support for large fonts, like the Andale® WorldType® series fonts, and offers quicker processing speeds.

If your business requires high-performance printing, Zebra’s next generation of Xi series printers are your smartest investment. Xi4 printers ensure lower total cost ownership—first, by delivering the hallmarks of Zebra’s legendary built-to-last, all-metal Xi series:

• trouble-free, 24/7 operation for reduced downtime and maintenance costs;
• fast print speeds for greater productivity;
• and consistently outstanding print quality, delivered over the long life of the printer via Zebra’s durable metal print mechanism.

Second, Xi4 printers build upon this legacy with new advanced and flexible features that make them faster and easier to operate, customize, maintain, and integrate than previous Xi generations.

• Up to 40 percent faster print speeds on the 110Xi4 and the 140Xi4 improve batch printing and print-and-apply productivity. At 14″/356 mm per second, they provide one of the fastest technologies on the market.
• Larger, brighter, easier-to-read LCD offers an option for customizing menu content to your needs. With support for a wide variety of languages, the Xi4 is easy to use around the world.
• Xi4 printers offer versatile connectivity choices for easy integration, such as included internal ZebraNet®10/100 PrintServer (Ethernet) with faster data transfer rates.
• Advanced ribbon- and media-low alerts help keep your printers printing with maximum productivity.

All these Xi4 features help you stay focused on your business, not your printers.

Tuck the ultra-compact 2824 Plus desktop printer into your tightest work spaces and print 2-inch-wide labels or receipts easily and quickly with best-in-class print speed. The LP 2824 Plusâ„¢/TLP 2824 Plusâ„¢ offers new and more powerful features than its predecessors, yet is every bit as affordable and easy to use.

• New Zebra Setup Utilities, for instance, guide you through simple setup steps so you can get up and running quickly.
• Increase your printing productivity and capabilities with the robust 32-bit processor and large 8 MB SDRAM, 4 MB Flash memory and 64 MB Flash with real-time clock option.
• With co-resident EPLâ„¢ and ZPL programming languages, the 2824 Plus works seamlessly with other Zebra printers, while serial/parallel/USB connectivity and 10/100 Ethernet option ease system integration.

The LP 2824 Plus and TLP 2824 Plus combine the EPL capability of the LP 2824 and TLP 2824 with the ZPL capability of the LP 2824-Z and TLP 2824-Z.

The 2824 Plus is easy for anyone to use, with OpenACCESSâ„¢ design and clear media window for simple media loading and monitoring, color-coded user guide points, and a new instant reset button to retain your customized settings after accidental power loss.

Viking Direct is a provider of office supplies, based in Germany, which serves the entire European market. It promotes its products through catalogs and the majority of its customers are small and medium sized companies. The company has 600 employees in the German cities of Großostheim and Munich. A third office is scheduled to open in Hamburg later this year. Due to the bar code labeling of products, Viking has been able to meet its ambitious service objectives by delivering products within 24 hours of having received the order.

Previously at Viking
Frank Frost is the IT team leader who provides technical support on a local basis and supervises the work of his six-member team based in Germany, Holland and Belgium. His responsibilities include training employees to manage IT issues and to resolve any problems that may arise locally.

“Viking used to experience difficulties with the bar code printers that were previously in use,” comments Frost. “This was mainly related to the layouts of labels, insufficient print speeds and weak networking capabilities. To add to the matter, all of Viking Direct’s printers are linked to the AS/400 platform, a link that often proved to be difficult to manage.”

Selection Process
“We started looking for a more effective solution. We sought expert opinion at various trade fair exhibitions and via the Internet,” Frost explains. “One of the most critical issues that we faced was how to access our printers in other regions of Europe or even the world. After all, we were looking to establish one consistent printing environment,” he adds. “Ideally, the new printers that Viking required would have to provide high printing speeds, ease of use and allow operators to enter commands in their own language in order to overcome any possible language barriers.”

After reviewing many different printers, Viking Direct chose Zebra’s 140XiIII printers because they fulfilled the criteria that Viking required. The integrated Ethernet adapter and user specific selection of languages were particular bonuses. The printers can easily be installed over the Internet and, therefore, be moved from one location to the next without difficulty. They are controlled through the AS/400, whereby label content is generated as a spool file directly from within the platform, forwarded to the printer and then printed on location. In order to reduce network traffic, logos are generally stored locally in each printer and then printed as part of each label.

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Highlights

• Forklift-mounted mobile printers cut travel time, reduced labeling errors, and increased throughput in the DC.
• Updated printing operations lowered supply costs.
• Driven natively from within PeopleSoft and other leading ERP software packages, Zebra printers’ ease of integration saves considerable time and costs.
• Four different types of Zebra printers are now used to handle various tasks through- out the company, all sharing a common printer language for ease of support and to share label formats.
• Zebra’s rugged and reliable printers support the broadest range of wireless security standards.

Challenge
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was named one of America’s “100 Fastest-Growing Small Companies” by FORTUNE Small Business in 2006. The company was growing fast, but its main distribution center in Waterbury, Vt., was not. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters expected the facility to meet its needs for at least six years after it was built, but after three the DC was running at full capacity. The company needed to seek out new ways to make the distribution center more efficient, and to get more out of the capacity it had. Mobile printing was one of the answers to these challenges, making a key process more efficient to help Green Mountain keep up with its growing business.

Green Mountain coffee grew from a local favorite to a successful national brand through its mail-order catalog and Web site. More success followed. Green Mountain coffee is sold nationally under the famous Newman’s Own® Organics brands, and is served in McDonald’s restaurants throughout the Northeast. The company boasts more than 7,000 wholesale customers, was one of the first coffee companies to offer a successful Fair Trade Certified® product line, and ranked No. 1 on Business Ethics magazine’s list of “100 Best Corporate Citizens.”

In short, Green Mountain coffee is hot. Workload at its central distribution center was overheating. The facility runs three shifts and operates 24 hours a day to ship orders to customers and other distribution centers. The company needed to find new ways to keep up with the growing demand.

Solution
To support the output it needed, Green Mountain decided to increase automation at its main distribution center in Waterbury, Vt. Products are stored in aisles that are each 60 yards long. Material handling systems specialist Diamond Phoenix was contracted to develop a customized warehouse control system (WCS) to integrate with Green Mountain’s legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from PeopleSoft. A Zebra Technologies Premier Partner, recommended new bar code label printers and processes to provide more time savings and efficiency gains.

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Zebra’s new Xi4 Series offers faster print speed, outstanding print quality and unparalleled reliability

Zebra Technologies Corporation, a global leader in specialty printing and automatic identification solutions, announces the Xi4 Tabletop Printer Series, an all-metal line that offers rugged durability, outstanding print quality, fast print speed, long life and unparalleled reliability. The Zebra Xi4 Series is designed for applications with high duty cycles in harsh environments and improves on Zebra’s previous line of XiIIIPlus™ tabletop printers.

Zebra’s Xi Series high-performance printers have earned a reputation of standing up to the most demanding applications and delivering the power and reliability expected of a premium performance printer. The new Xi4 series builds on that heritage with four different models that include:

• 110Xi4: Zebra’s flagship printer, the 110Xi4 now delivers faster 14 ips print speeds and is designed for applications with high duty cycles in harsh environments.
• 140Xi4: The faster, durable, and reliable, 140Xi4 combines a 14 ips speed with ease of integration and mission-critical reliability.
• 170Xi4: Zebra’s high-performance, compliance-labeling solution, the 170Xi4 is ideal for AIAG, ODETTE, and UCC/EAN-128 labeling on demand or in batches.
• 220Xi4: The reliable 220Xi4 with advanced printer management tools is perfect for chemical-drum, banner-size, and other wide-label applications

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Intermec today announced the launch of the SD61, a multiport wireless base station that provides a secure connection (ISCP protocol) between multiple Intermec industrial scanners – including the SF51 and SR61B, and the host device. The SD61 allows up to seven Intermec Bluetooth-equipped scanners to operate in the same work area, connected wirelessly to the same mobile cart solution, PC or Intermec printer. By reducing the number of hosts, the SD61 delivers a quick ROI and a less cluttered work environment.

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New, improved firmware for the Honeywell 3800g and 3800gHD linear imagers is now available.

The firmware has all the same functionality as previous firmware and delivers additional benefits including improved ability to scan poor quality bar codes.

The prevalence of poor quality bar codes initiated the need for Honeywell to enhance the 3800g decoder by improving performance on poor quality without increasing the incidences of misreads and compromising the integrity of encoded data. Tests performed with the improved decoder show the 3800g is one of the top performers of reads vs no-reads, with virtually no misreads, thereby ensuring the reliability of the bar code symbol data.

Upgrades for scanners manufactured prior to October 5, 2009 can be downloaded for free from the Honeywell Scanning & Mobility website.