The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni, is now shipping as a production unit for customer delivery. Originally previewed at AIM Expo in Chicago in November 2010, it is the most powerful commercial ANSI and ISO/IEC-compliant bar code verifier ever offered. With an available 5 megapixel CCD imager focused to provide an “Extra Large” 120 mm x 153 mm (4.5 in. x 6 in.) field of view, the TruCheck Omni is unrivaled, with resolution sufficient to accurately grade multiple linear and/or 2D symbols—simultaneously, all on the same label—down to a 7 mil (0.007 in.) x-dimension.

The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni is the most powerful barcode verifier ever offered

Until now, verifiers have been built around camera sensors with a resolution of nominally 1 or 2 megapixels (Mp) so a 5 Mp verifier is something to crow about. And the technology is impressive. The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni has several unique features not offered by competitive brands.

 The first thing an experienced uses notices, besides the compact flat-bed form factor – which is new for Webscan and unmatched by anyone else, is the absence of bright white halogen lights as used by a chief competitor. Instead, Omni uses narrow band 660 nanometer (red) LEDs that should never have to be replaced. And, unlike white halogen lights, the Omni red LEDs are “green”. They’re powered only in “Live” mode and turn off automatically, conserving energy and maximizing their life.

The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni has several features unavailable from competitive brands

Another convenient and unique Omni feature this user likes is the hinged cover, which blocks extraneous ambient light and holds labels (or hospital unit dose blister packs or other components) flat and firmly in place for precise verification results. And it protects the high-quality Gorilla^® Glass imaging surface from scratches, finger prints and smudges when not in use.

The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni is not just packed with advanced hardware. The heart and soul of this new machine is Webscan’s proven verification software. Webscan pioneered true, high performance 10-scan average ANSI and ISO/IEC-compliant bar code verification in both in-line (TruSpec™) and table-top (TruCheck™) applications. Its products are renowned for their superior accuracy, repeatability and ease of use. From the first generation of stand-alone series 101, 201 and 401 TruChecks, with their comprehensive, first-of-a-kind, IQ/OQ validation protocols, to the current family of TruCheck USB laser and camera models, Webscan software has always offered a simple, uncluttered, intuitive and easy to understand user interface and report format.

 But don’t confuse simple with simplistic or lacking in features.  Like its siblings, the Webscan TruCheck™ Omni offers verification of a wide range of popular linear, stacked linear and 2D matrix symbologies (including Data Matrix, QR, Aztec, UPS’s Maxicode, USPS PostNET and 4-State)—all in a single unit. With its 5 megapixel camera and extra large field of view (FOV) TruCheck Omni sets the new industry benchmark with its ability to grade multiple symbols accurately and simultaneously anywhere in its field of view. Whether it’s several distinct 20-mil x-dimension GS1-128 bar codes on a 4” x 6” shipping container label or 10 identical 10 mil GS1 DataBar symbols on a hospital unit dose (HUD) blister card or some combination in between, Omni can handle it.

The Webscan TruCheck™ Omni is not just advanced hardware

 In addition to clearly reporting all stipulated ISO/IEC grading parameters, the Webscan TruCheck™ Omni can parse the encoded data and validate it for conformance to the GS1 General Specifications or another specified application standard. Even the complex GS1 DataBar coupon codes are parsed and validated, with each constituent element broken out and defined.

The TruCheck software we received with the Webscan TruCheck™ Omni unit produced a few glitches during our initial review but the Webscan tech support team was readily available to assist and the problems were identified and resolved quickly. Still, it will be several months before Omni offers all of the additional features some users would like to have, some of which are already available on competitors 1 and 2 megapixel models. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and text field validation and OCR/bar code data matching are a couple of especially desirable features this reviewer would like to see; and the ability to “flip” the image orientation on the screen to suit the user’s preference is another. These features are already offered by the competition. But Webscan is quick to fix reported bugs and to respond to customer requests for additional features and promises availability of these features in short order. We know from years of experience using Webscan verifiers that new TruCheck software releases come regularly and, whenever necessary, an updated IQ/OQ validation protocol is produced and released.

All in all, the 5 megapixel Webscan TruCheck™ Omni is a quality assurance device sure to please even the most demanding bar code maven. At $9,995 it’s not cheap and it’s not for casual use. But it’s this pro’s choice for 2011 pacesetter and it’s destined to take its place as the pinnacle of verification excellence.

 

George Wright IV, New York, NY – 01 August 2011

Guest Author George Wright IV – Biography

George Wright IV is Vice-president of Business Development at Product Identification & Processing Systems, Inc. (PIPS) a 30-year old New Yorkfirm specializing in bar code print quality verification solutions featuring all major brands of ISO/IEC-compliant verifiers. He is chairman of AIM’s Technical Symbology Committee (TSC); subject matter expert and editor of “HDMA Guidelines for Bar Coding in the Pharmaceutical Products Supply Chain” and its forthcoming revision; and an active member of several GS1, GS1-US, ISO and other technical committees. Certified as a Bar Code Consultant in the GS1-US Solution Partner program, George serves as an educator and consultant to numerous corporate clients. He is a frequent author of technical articles on bar code standards for Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News; helped develop and wrote the SISAC “Serial Item Identification: Bar Code Symbol Implementation Guidelines”, the global bar code standard used to uniquely identify each issue of scientific, technical and medical journals; and is co-inventor of four U.S. patents covering bar code printing and verification.

 

 

 

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