We have know about the importance of barcode verification. Many of the stories follow a similar path: verify and prevent problems—end of story. But in the real world that is not always the end of the story—it often is more interesting than that. Here is one such scenario.
XYZ Labels Inc. (not the actual company name) did business with a healthcare device manufacturer for many years. The barcoded labels were used on a packaging line. The label printer enjoyed a reputation as a quality shop and had a rude awakening with a batch of bad barcodes which they replaced at great expense. The seeds of loss, financial, reputational and self confidence, sprouted a new crop of self-examination and diligence around quality assurance, and the plant manager led the charge by buying verifiers for each press and training each press operator how to use them. Nothing looked any different from the outside, but over time, management at XYZ Labels Inc. noticed that barcode quality was a fluid thing, and the verifiers had given them eyeballs with which they could see when quality was approaching a problem, providing them a heads-up and time to make adjustments and get back on track. Their self-confidence was renewed and the program was embraced and formalized into a company-wide policy and procedures document.
Then it happened: another disaster. The owner’s phone rang; a distraught customer told him their barcodes were failing. As his stomach knotted his heart sank: how could this have happened? The plant manager was called to the office; the mood in the plant intensified. The documentation was brought out and the procedures were re-examined. Where were the holes? What did they miss? Here is where the story really gets interesting.
They couldn’t find any problems with the job documents or the procedures. Unless somebody was lying—a possibility nobody wanted to even think about—they couldn’t account for the complaint. The procedures had been followed, the verifier re-calibrations were all up-to-date; everything seemed to be working fine. The sales rep was ordered to contact the customer and ask them to send back samples. It was an awkward, contrite conversation. There was a lot on the line and she had only questions, no answers yet.
The overnight air express package arrived early the next morning. The conference room was ready with a verifier and worried plant manager. The first samples were OK—and the next ones too. Another verifier was brought in. Everything was testing fine and matched the archived verification records. The tension mounted as the owner, plant manager and sales rep began to fear that the verifiers were the culprit—how could all of them fail at once? Somebody opined that it didn’t make sense—and suddenly it dawned on them all. No, it didn’t make sense: call the customer.
The embarrassed label company owner admitted they had not found a cause of the problem, and diplomatically asked about the customer’s scanners: how old were they? Had they been recently serviced, moved or replaced? Had any changes been made recently? The customer’s impatient tone softened: as a matter of fact, the scanners were older lasers. Two of the three packaging lines were working but had been acting erratic lately; the scanner on one line was not working. The customer had concluded that the problem must have been marginal barcodes from the printer. With this new information, the problem was likely to be the scanners, which was later confirmed by hardware tech support. Both sides of the phone conversation breathed a sigh of relief. Apologies were expressed. Life returned to normal.
Stories like this happen all the time. They usually go unreported: important lessons are learned and relationships are strengthened. This story illustrates how quality is the best protection in a valuable business partnership.
