How to Improve Product Barcode Printing Quality (I)

I. Overview

Product barcodes appear to be common in appearance, but their quality requirements in terms of size and optical properties cannot be ignored. Printing companies should strengthen the management of the bar code printing quality of goods, and effectively control the quality of bar codes, which will not lead to a large amount of waste products due to blind printing, thereby avoiding serious losses to printing companies. Barcode printing quality control see Figure 1. Printing companies that print product barcodes should strengthen the management and control of product bar code quality from the following aspects.

Figure 1 barcode printing quality control reference block diagram

Second, quality management measures 1. Actively apply for product bar code printing qualifications The purpose of China's product bar code printing qualification certification work is to: improve the printing company's bar code printing quality level, from the source to eliminate the goods with unqualified bar code into the market. Through this work, it can help printing companies solve the quality problems that appear in the bar code printing process, improve bar code printing quality control and management, and improve the company's bar code printing quality. At the same time, the printing companies that have obtained the “Certificate Certificate” shall expand the business volume of the certified company through the promotion of the center and its branches and the enterprise to the system members and bar code users so as to increase the market competitiveness of the enterprise and thus increase the economic benefits for the enterprise. Therefore, bar code printing companies should actively apply for bar code printing qualifications.
2. Develop the necessary bar code quality control rules and regulations (1) Barcode Printing Verification System
It is stipulated that when undertaking the bar code printing business, the business personnel must obtain the relevant certification documents from the entrusting unit, verify the validity of the certification, and provide the procedures for the registration of the certification documents to ensure that the company’s contracted services are legitimate and effective.
(2) Bar Code Design Review System
Procedures and methods for reviewing design manuscripts prior to bar code printing to prevent unsatisfactory manuscripts from entering platemaking.
(3) "Barcode print, printing plate, film management system"
Clearly specify the bar code printing qualified products, non-conforming products, defective products, printing plates, film storage, storage, transfer, supervision and sales procedures and responsible personnel, to ensure that the company's bar code printing the entire process of effective control.
(4) "Barcode Print Quality Inspection System"
Clearly stipulate the responsibilities of each process quality inspector and test the qualified release procedure to ensure that only the tested product can be put into use or processed, and the unintended use or delivery of the nonconforming product is eliminated.
The above rules and regulations can be formulated separately according to the specific conditions of the company, or they can be incorporated into the company's "Handbook on Quality Assurance of Product Bar Code Printing" as a part of the manual. The corporate product barcode responsibility system is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Reference Diagram of the Responsibility of the Main Departments of Product Barcode Quality

3. Strengthen technical training and improve the quality of employees

In-house training of bar code knowledge, organization of relevant personnel to learn technical codes related to bar codes, and bar code expertise. Through training, relevant personnel understand the importance of bar code quality and understand bar code technology and regulatory requirements related to their own work. Guarantee the quality of barcode printing.

Third, the bar code design link quality control

Product packaging design is an important part of controlling the quality of barcodes. This link is also the most fundamental, most direct and most economical control link for controlling the quality of barcodes. Personnel engaged in product packaging and product bar code design should be familiar with and understand the national laws and regulations concerning product bar codes and related national standards, and ensure product bar code design quality from the following aspects.

1. The uniqueness of commodity codes In commodity barcode application systems, the differences in commodity and commodity prices are identified by different commodity codes. If two different commodities are identified by the same code, the computer system treats it as the same product, causing errors in scanning and settlement. Therefore, when designing a product barcode, it is first necessary to check whether the barcode of the product conforms to the uniqueness of the commodity code, and if it does not meet the requirements, it should be promptly corrected.

2. Magnification factor Magnification factor actually refers to the size of a product's barcode. Too large a product's barcode will occupy too much space for packaging patterns or printed text, and it is not practical. Too small a product may cause difficulties in printing and reading. Therefore, the size of the bar code should be appropriate, usually based on the size of the outer packaging of the product and the area allowed for printing, the magnification factor of the bar code on the outer package of the goods should be within the range of 0.8 to 2.0, and the general amplification factor should be 0.9 to 1.2, for the 0.8 to 0.9 bar code symbol, quality control is more difficult, and should be carefully selected to use.

3. Empty color match The empty color match means whether the contrast between the color of the bar code bar and the substrate color is in line with the standard. The bar code of a commodity is identified by a dedicated reading device relying on distinguishing the lightness, darkness, and width of the bar. Therefore, the greater the contrast between the bar and the empty bar, the better. In general, white is the bottom and black is the most ideal and safe color combination. Because the color itself can have a variety of changes, so in the choice of empty color match should grasp a principle: the empty color as bright as possible, the color as far as possible no blue, black ingredients; bar color as deep as possible, the color should contain blue or black .

4. The printing position of the product barcode The position of the barcode of the commodity should be based on the principle that the barcode symbol is not deformed and is easy to read. The greater the change in the position of the product's barcode on the product package, the slower the rate at which the cashier looks for the bar code and settles through the scanner, and the lower the retail efficiency. Therefore, the printing position of commodity barcodes should be standardized as much as possible. In order to facilitate the scanning and settlement, the bar code of the product should normally be printed on the "natural" underside of the outer package or in a place that is easy to scan and read.

5. The fact that the bar height is truncated to any degree in the height of the bar code symbol of the product will affect the scanning and reading of the bar code. Therefore, the height of the product bar code symbol must not be shortened in principle.

6. The size of the left and right blank area of ​​the blank area product barcode symbol should be enough for the correct reading of the scanning equipment. It should be ensured that there are no characters, graphics, perforations, scratches, etc. in the left and right blank areas of the product barcode. At the same time, the printing position of the product barcode should be far from the edge of the outer packaging of the product to meet the requirements for the blank area of ​​the barcode.