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Recently I ran across an excellent article* about Measurement Systems Analysis. The opening paragraph caught my attention: “Despite a persistent and incremental march toward automation, people [...]

Decodability is one of the graded ISO parameters that determine barcode quality. Why test and grade a barcode for quality? This is done to predict with reasonable accuracy that the barcode scans [...]

Bar width reduction or BWR is pre-press compensation for press gain. Ink spread is one of the most common causes of poor barcode performance. Bar Width Reduction is not just a setting Not all [...]

It all started in 1974 in an Ohio grocery store, scanning the first UPC symbol. Today there are dozens of different types of barcode symbols. Why is that? Why not just use the humble, reliable [...]

My mother used to say, “Two’s company, three’s a crowd.” I did not fully understand the saying until I had kids of my own. A kid with one friend could play well together, but add a third kid and [...]

Barcode scanning problems fall into two categories: the barcode does not scan at all, or it scans inconsistently. Non-scanning barcodes are the hardest to diagnose since the verifier is not [...]

When I met Jeff several years ago, he was a work in progress—and so was Barcode Test. His very life was an expression of his non-conformity. On the other hand, I had about 35 years of barcode [...]

Barcodes and laminates are like an arranged marriage. There is little natural initial affinity for each other but someone else has decided they will be together. With effort and adjustments, it [...]

The GS1 organization estimates that the worldwide average number of barcodes scanned each day is more than 5 billion. Without a doubt, this testifies to how relatively easy it is to print [...]

We run across some very interesting barcodes and probably every imaginable mistake, that leave you wondering, “How did they do that?” And some of the mistakes we encounter are so subtle, we [...]