The ubiquitous bar code label is a necessity for distributors' portfolios.
While bar-coded labels are a small segment of manufacturers' bottom lines, it is important that they are not overlooked by distributors.
"Bar codes are a low percentage of overall sales, but their contribution to profit is higher," said John Shanley, president of Labels West, Woodinville, Wash. As interest in the product grows and equipment prices plummet, manufacturers are seeing a spike in on-demand bar coded labels.
"Today a great deal of variable printing is done by the end-user," said John Strecker, vice president of sales and marketing for Data Label, Terre Haute, Ind. He noted that low cost, speed and flexibility are driving this need.
But end-user production doesn't necessarily mean label producers have seen sales drop so much as shift, Shanley remarked.
"The availability of inexpensive label printers, bar-coding software and scanners has made it easier for smaller companies to justify the investment," he explained. "The boom for us is in blank label stock and special applications that are more difficult to do on-demand such as protective varnishes and laminates."
The Need to Know
Distributors need to know the desired symbology and other data to properly specify a bar code order. Necessary information includes: the type of bar code, whether it is produced vertically (picket fence) or horizontally (ladder), whether it will be paper or film stock, the number of digits encoded, the height and width of the code, the number of times the label will be printed on, the numbering sequence, the bar code size and position, whether check digits are required and whether a human-readable code must be included.
"We will adjust the speed of the printer accordingly," Strecker explained. "The picket fence can be produced faster than a ladder on a thermal printer and still maintain accurate width and space since any bleed occurs at the top and bottom of the bars".
Consecutively-numbered bar codes are typically produced off-line, manufacturers say; static bar codes can be done on press. "The only problem is maintaining quality at press speeds," Strecker said. "Many times, we can produce comparable quality offline rather than slowing the press run."
Also, know if the label will be exposed to weather, chemicals and humid or freezing conditions in a warehouse. "You need to know what you're sticking the label on and what happens after it's on," Shanley said.
In addition, distributors must know the type of scanner which will be used to read the bar code. The final application may dictate the scanner; i.e., will the bar-coded item be on a conveyor belt going under a stationary unit, scanned on a shelf by a hand-held unit or across a warehouse by an infrared beam?
John Fortner, dealer sales manager at Bernadette Business Forms, Hazelwood, Mo., advised finding out the expected useful life of the bar code. Short-lived bar codes can be produced by direct thermal printers; those that need to stick around for a longer time should be done on thermal-transfer printers.
"We're starting to notice a lot of thermal-transfer application moving to less expensive direct thermal because the life of the code is measured in days rather than months," said Strecker. Because the direct thermal method uses no ribbons, it is also simpler for an end-user to produce.
Verification is another issue to consider, said Mike Vejar, vice president of sales and marketing for Discount Labels, New Albany, Ind. "Distributors should find out what the liability is on failed bar codes," he said. Some major retailers require 100 percent accuracy and fine suppliers for every non-compliant code. In addition, added Vejar, if a spot check on a case of product turns up a failed code, every item in the case is marked as failed.
Equipment for verification is expensive, so most manufacturers do spot checks throughout the run, Strecker said, although Data Labels verifies every bar code. Bernadette's customers are more concerned that "we don't duplicate a bar code," Fortner said.
Pour on the Color
Although bar codes are typically black and white, Vejar said, "We are seeing color in bar codes, especially on health and beauty products." Although contrast is still important, many dark colors are successfully used instead of black, he said.
Strecker agreed that retailers have the most appetite for color bar codes and noted that label manufacturers are offering more solid tinted label stock for bar codes since the color can be identified more easily from a distance.
Shanley observed that for some products, such as cellophane-wrapped candles, the bar code is relegated to the bottom. "It's more expensive to have two labels, but in retail, it's important how it looks on the shelf next to the competitor," he said.
Fortner said some customers have gotten creative with stock to obtain marketing effects for their bar codes. "We've had some use kraft stock. For direct mail or product packaging, customers want to make it as appealing to the eye as they can," he added.
Improved scanner technology allows for such creative ideas, manufacturers say. It also facilitates the use of smaller bar codes or faster scanning. "There's been a push in the market to provide higher density codes read at greater speed and a greater distance," Strecker said. "That's driven the ID market to thermal-transfer, with very smooth coated paper and good contrast."
Run Lengths
Volumes vary tremendously. Bernadette's typical bar code order runs from 5,000 to 25,000, although one customer's job requires several hundred thousand labels. The value-added printer usually runs preprinted forms through a digital press to add bar codes.
Discount Labels' usual run is 10,000 to 20,000, although Vejar noted that volumes can go up to one million. Labels West has a niche in medium runs of 50,000 to 100,000.
Manufacturers agree that bar-coded label use is growing and applications abound. Strecker described municipal users who sell bar coded labels for trash bags. Haulers scan the labels to ascertain that pickup is paid for.
"If the bag doesn't have a label, they don't pick it up. It's part of their overall solid waste management," Strecker said, adding that the order has been repeating for seven years.
Shanley has seen creative bar coded labels used for a direct mail piece inviting trade show attendees to an organization's booth. "They scanned the label at the booth to see if it was one of the prize-winning numbers posted there," he said.
Fortner noted that the use of bar codes pervades the printing industry itself. "Printers will assign a job number and a bar code to an order. Then, as it moves through the process, that process code is scanned for order tracking. It helps provide more realistic job costs and job evaluations."
Discount Labels has been tracking its orders by bar code since 1985, Vejar said. "We have more than 2,500 orders a day and their bar codes contain every piece of information imaginable about the order."
Delivery services—UPS, Fed-Ex, the Post Office and others—capture as much information as possible on a bar code to offer customers the most reliable updates on packages in transit.
More Applications
Demanding applications are on the rise, Strecker said. For example, customers may e-mail a database of variable information which the manufacturer converts to its software, then produces and ships stock labels virtually overnight.
"The need is so great for speed and the penalty is so great for not being timely," he said, "that both manufacturers and distributors need to be nimble."
Speed, aesthetics, detailed information and accuracy—whatever your customers' priority, bar-coded labels can meet the need.
By Janet R. Gross
- Categories:
- Labels
