It’s a common scenario: you have a contractor who prints your barcodes. Let’s say it’s a prepaid gift card or a consumer product package. You’ve done your due diligence or so you think: the vendor knows they’re accountable for barcode quality: you require at least an ANSI C grade and you require periodic verification reports. All the bases are covered—so you think. Nevertheless, you’ve just been notified that your first-read rates are unacceptable and several retailers are very unhappy.

How can this happen?

Barcode Test Labs help you make sure your quality program is working correctly

There could be any number of causes. Maybe the vendor uses an out-of-calibration verifier or a gun-type verifier that doesn’t test print contrast or reflectivity. Maybe it’s some other hardware issue such as a verifier that isn’t ISO compliant. Maybe the problem is a faulty quality testing procedure. Periodic use of a barcode test lab would expose these problems.

Consider a recent encounter: the customer had state-of-the-art verifiers and an employee tasked to test barcode output according to a prescribed program. We were called by their customer. In spite of all these precautions, they had received a quality action from their customer, a major retailer. The problem? The quality guy thought his job was to scan—and scan, and scan and scan—each barcode until he got the grade his boss wanted. Then he saved that record and moved on to the next barcode and repeated the procedure. The boss was happy, life was good—up until now.

Now the whole job was in jeopardy, the customer’s confidence was mortally wounded and future business was in doubt. How could the situation be resolved?

Barcode Test Labs can ensure your verifiers are working properly

An independent auditor is the best immediate solution. The long-range solution, of course, is to retrain (or replace) the quality guy, but the quick, effective fix is to get unbiased, third-party testing in place, and fast.

Barcode test labs are neither exotic nor necessarily expensive. A good independent lab shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution. A good one will do as little or as much as necessary. Good test procedure includes pulling representative samples.

Barcode test lab services need not be long-term relationships. A good lab will work quickly and efficiently to establish a baseline, then help the everyone involved make sensible decisions about the vendor’s ability to produce an acceptable product. If the vendor is capable of meeting the quality specification, then the only remaining issue is whether or not they want to. There are no other excuses, and the source of the quality problem and their future relationship with the customer comes into a very clear focus.

At the 10,000 foot level this all seems obvious. You simply cannot conceal poor quality

Quality testing personnel must be trained properly. Test results must neither be optimistic (“…make the boss happy…”) nor pessimistic (“…make the boss look foolish…”). Testing must always reveal truth.

Barcode Test Labs can ensure your internal procedures ae working properly

Most people sincerely intend to do a good job and truly believe that they are doing a good job.  And their colleagues and supervisors also believe this—which makes it more difficult to detect and correct the problems they cause.

Independent testing and auditing services can help detect and even prevent this devastating scenario. Consider using a third-party lab to periodically validate that an in-house testing program is performing as it should.

Barcode test labs often offer training programs to help in-house quality personnel get up to speed and stay current on barcode quality procedures, and proper use of barcode verifiers and interpreting verifier output.

For information about barcode testing, auditing and quality training services, see https://barcode-test.com/staging

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3db Barcode Testimonial

Our company (an advanced software company) recently worked with Barcode Test to source a barcode verifier.  Not long ago, we were awarded a contract requiring products to be marked with IUIDs in accordance with MIL-STD-130.  For that standard, marking labels must pass a verification test that evaluates many variables (contrast, size, clarity, syntax, modularity, and more).  After a thorough search, we reduced our options to a select few.

In our search for a verifier, the Axicon line caught our attention.  Barcode Test is our regional reseller for this product.   From the beginning, they were very prompt with their responses.  We ended up having a quick call with John Nachtrieb to go over our needs.  John was extremely easy to work with and provided a lot of great information.  He was very knowledgeable on the matter and was quick to offer up a demo unit (free of charge).

Upon receiving the demo verifier and testing it, a few questions arose.  John joined a call with us and answered all our questions.  Ultimately, the Axicon verifier wasn’t the best fit for us, so we shipped the demo back.  John was completely understanding.  A few weeks later, Barcode Test reached back out with another possible verifier for us to try.  While they didn’t sell that brand, they just wanted to help us find the best option that met our needs. They even offered to send us the unit that they have in-house to see if it worked to our liking. 

Barcode Test is truly a great company to work with.  Their service and willingness to help the customer are far beyond what you typically get from other companies.  They are experts in barcode quality assurance and seem willing to help in any way they can (even if that means not getting a sale and recommending another option that better fits the customer’s needs).  If anyone is in the market for barcode verification/scanning services or products, I would highly recommend giving Barcode Test a call.

Regards,

Production Manager