Why Barcode Label Quality Matters

Nobody likes a phone call with lots of background noise or a line that is cutting in and out. Information is lost, you’re constantly repeating yourself, and the entire experience is frustrating. In our busy day-to-day lives, we have little time and patience for poor-quality calls.

Labels as a Conversation

A label is a conversation between two parties. A sender and a receiver. The label contains valuable information about the source, destination, and handling requirements. It also provides information to assist the receiver with compliance reporting, like batch and lot number, shipper, and expiration date. Depending on the information on the label, the receiving party can take the appropriate action with the incoming box. Without a label, the receiver is uncertain of where the box is supposed to go.

Thinking of a label as a conversation, what happens if the communication is garbled? Like a phone call, either the information must be repeated many times trying to get the information, a backup method is tried, or the communication is abandoned.   In the label world, that means that either the receiver tries, again and again, to get a good read using their scanners, all the information is read from the text and manually entered, or the box is returned. As the receiving location gets busier, garbled labels become more problematic. 

Labels as a Roadblock

A car broken down on a freeway in the middle of the day with relatively light traffic will create a minor inconvenience as drivers shift lanes to get around it. As the freeway traffic nears capacity during rush hour, the situation escalates with one broken-down car creating a massive traffic jam and hours of delay to numerous motorists. One car out of roughly 10,000 motorists causes a major inconvenience. 

The same is true for warehouse receiving locations. If the warehouse load is light, the unreadable label causes a minor inconvenience. In a busy distribution center, a single pallet can have a huge impact, slowing unloading, impacting the truck’s ability to move on to the next delivery, and impacting the arrival rate of incoming goods which could further impact the manufacturing chain. It takes only a fraction of incoming shipments to start creating issues as the incoming traffic approaches the warehouse capacity.

Effects on the Supply Chain

With current labor shortages in the supply chain, capacity constraints are being easily felt. The one pallet with unreadable labels is escalating the issue as warehouses struggle with reduced capacity.

One way warehouses are addressing labor shortages is with the use of robotics. This only makes the label quality issue more dire. Robots rely on barcodes to receive the necessary information to act. If the label is garbled or the barcode unreadable, the robot may require direct intervention, slowing or halting an entire chain of actions.

High-Impact ODV-2D Barcode Inspection Label Solutions

As the sender, what can you do to help optimize supply chain operations, avoid delays, and avoid potential penalties? The simplest solution is to inspect the label before it is shipped. 

We offer several high-quality industrial printers with ODV-2D barcode validation and verification. It’s quick, automated, and requires no operator intervention. Our T8000 industrial printer, available in 4-inch and 6-inch widths, is robust, high-quality, and high performing. It has a color display with multi-connectivity capabilities. The award-winning T6000e 4-inch industrial printer is another surefire option. Combined with the fully integrated ODV-2D solution the ability to print, verify, and validate 1D and 2D barcodes is ideal for manufacturing as well as shipping and logistics.

Remember the quality of your labels can have a major impact. You can help improve supply chain efficiencies, eliminate any fines or chargebacks, and reduce the exposure of returned shipments by inspecting your labels as you print them. Explore our ODV-2D barcode  inspection solutions for your enterprise. Click here or contact your local sales representative to get started today.