ISO conformance is not something everybody holds in high regard in barcode quality—and elsewhere. I find this to be mystifying, but at the same time, I’ve heard this opinion expressed numerous times.

This I know: if one of my customers was unhappy with a barcode I had made, I’d want an ISO conforming verifier to test it. It stands to reason: if someone is questioning my measurements, I’d be sure to use a benchmarked ruler.

ISO conformance is a legitimate problem with barcode verifier for the very simple reason that manufacturers of ISO conformal devices insist the devices be returned to the factory for testing and re-certification. That means expensive packaging, insuring and shipping of a delicate and expensive instrument—not to mention being without that mission-critical instrument for what could be weeks.

Resellers are quick to recommend that you buy back-up unit(s) for exactly this reason but at $3K to upwards of $10K or more for a single verifier, that’s an option more interesting to the reseller than to the end user.

ISO conformance recertification of an Axicon verifier —whether linear or 2D—doesn’t share this problem with its competitors. Axicon’s Performance Quality Test Kit for linear and 2D verifiers gives the user all the tools necessary to field-check the performance of their verifier. When the verifier passes all the tests, the user can re-certify it themselves.

ISO conformance recertification: do it yourself

Does this violate the ISO requirement for independent, third-party testing? Don’t forget, the entire ISO certification program for barcodes is and always been a voluntary certification initiative, never a requirement. This alone makes the objections to the ISO program rather meaningless.

ISO conformance with the Axicon Performance Qualification Test Kit (PQTK) is a simple step-by-step procedure, guided by the included protocol document. Re-certification of a model 6015 verifier, for example, should take a first-time user about an hour. After that, perhaps 45 minutes.

Of course a user could already be doing this with a GS1 Certified Conformance Test Card for whatever symbology they wish to test—UPC/EAN for example; as long as they know the manufacturer’s specifications and tolerance for verifier performance on the various test parameters—modulation, symbol contrast and decodability, for example.

ISO conformance recert with Axicon is better than GS1 recertification

But the beauty of the PQTK isn’t just the time and money saved: the PQTK does a better job of testing the verifier than the GS1 Certified Calibrated Conformance Test Card or CCSTC, which, for UPC, only tests the verifier’s performance in a small area in the center of the scan range.  

Users who verify UPC symbols often test symbols of various sizes, including larger magnifications that utilize a wider scan path than that of the test symbol on the CCSTC. What good is a re-certification based on a 100% CCSTC symbol if the actual, real-world symbol is a 150%?

Axicon’s Performance Qualification Test Kit tests and re-certifies the entire width of the verifier’s scan window. This is a vastly superior method of re-certifying and gives the user the assurance that the verifier is ISO compliant to test whatever the user needs to verify.

ISO conformance recertification–better, faster, cheaper with Axicon

Need to be ISO compliant in your barcode quality program? Axicon gives you all the benefits with none of the trade-offs.

John Nachtrieb

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.