A layman’s guide to
how a barcode printer works
The technology of packaging has been taken to great heights with numerous innovations making the task easier and efficient. Barcodes are the symbols which define this generation. Whatever we buy in a packaged format can be found to have bars of black and white along with a few numbers which contains a lot of information which cannot be decoded by the human brain and mind. These are specially encrypted data which can be read using an optical reader which is a digital device able to decode these codes. These codes store a lot of vital information about the product which it is printed on to. These simple lines of black and white store name of the manufacturer, its manufacturing. And expiry dates, the cost of the article, etc.
When a barcode scanner is scanned over the barcode, it reads all the information and displays it on the scanner's screen and if the barcode scanner is connected to a pc, it displays it on the comp's monitor. Motorola are coming out with state of the art barcode scanners. There are different types of barcode printers available for various diff purposes and diff sizes. Handheld barcode printers are commonly used by the cops to book people who are not following the traffic rules.
Labelling is the primary purpose for which the barcode printers are used. In huge manuf. workshops, the finished product is packed in cartons compactly so that they endure their journey to the customers. Usually these packages are for distant countries and the packages could take months to reach the Destin. This is why the barcode is used to label information onto the cartons which is read universally through an optical barcode scanner. Often we see packages with a number of instructions on it to handle it with care. It also has a labelling done using the barcode printer which gives technical and other vital information about the product. There are two types of thermal printers which can be found in today's market. One is direct thermal printers which use the heat directly to the thermal paper which undergoes a chem. reaction to which causes the details to be printed. The other type is the thermal transfer printer which transfers the heat on to a ribbon which causes the details to be printed.
Thermal transfer printers are used for labelling articles which go on sale immediately as over time the details on the paper fade away. Zebra barcode printers are among the top brands to come out with efficient barcode printers. Others include Saito, wasp, etc., which also come with diff features and also vary in their prices. According to the need the barcode printers can be purchased. Using barcode printers negates the task of manually tagging every article and enters its details on to another for reference. The information is automatically stored to the printer itself or an external pc after it is programmed to the specification of the company which is packaging the product.
Author
Mr. Priyankar Baid the owner of the website www.smesauda.com, has all the latest technology which can make the work of a retailer easier, faster and efficient, they sell products such as IBM server and Billing Machine, which is a necessity these days.
Website: http://www.smesauda.com/billing-machine-cash-register