Third-Party Barcode Test Labs: Independent Barcode Evaluation
Friday, June 13, 2008
Posted in: Barcodes
What are the Benefits of Barcode Verification?
Discussions about barcode verification usually trigger two strongly held positions:
1- “What is it” is usually a monolog about what it is not: it is not validation.
2- “How not to do it” is usually a monolog about verifiers versus scanners and how the latter is not the former.
Discussions of barcode verification often contain a third stealth agenda item:
3- Convincing you that I’m smart.
Barcode Verification is Risk Management
Given these subtle limitations the fact remains, verification does much to optimize supply chain performance and manage vendor risk from retailer fines. Barcode Verification doesn’t do everything but it does a lot. A more helpful next question is, are there alternative ways of getting it done? The answer is independent barcode testing.
Third-party or Indepentant barcode test labs can be an invaluable source of information and insight into barcode quality and performance. On the surface, it appears that an independant barcode test lab doesn’t do anything more than what you yourself can do with a high-quality barcode verifier. This is in fact true, if you can extrapolate from verifier test results what is occurring in a print process and to make accurate and realistic recommendations for how to improve symbol performance in that print process.
Third-party barcode test labs test thousands of barcodes reproduced by every conceivable print method on every conceivable substrate and subject to every conceivable process variable. And as barcode experts, an independant test lab must stay current with a constantly evolving body of specifications and attributes that comprise barcode structure and applications that are every bit as critical to barcode performance as decodability, modulation and symbol contrast. In this way, independent barcode test labs have the breadth of generalists and the depth of engineers.
Third-Party Barcode Test Labs are Unbiased
Third-party barcode test labs are often employed as dispute resolvers—the ones who have final say about “who is right and who is wrong.” While this isn’t incorrect, neither is it complete. Third party labs can provide an unbiased, outside check on internal quality procedures where those internal processes are mission-critical (and where aren’t they?). Barcode labs can help solidify vendor-customer relationships by helping everybody achieve and maintain credibility more quickly. Barcode labs can help avoid problems and when problems arise, to resolve them more quickly, drawing on their years of experience and body of knowledge.
Finally, an independent barcode test lab can be a cost-effective alternative to an expensive on-site verifier. Think of it as buying a service such as lawn care or house cleaning. Sure you can purchase the equipment but then you have to know how to use it, maintain it and eventually replace it. You can purchase a lot of lab time for the cost of an entry-level verifier. Sure, it’s an ongoing expense but that’s good news if you intend to run an ongoing business. That is the goal, right?
Do you know of a highly qualified Third-Party Barcode Test Center? Now, you do!
