Everything you need to know about barcodes

Origins of barcodes

According to the legend, Norman Jospeh Woodland invented the barcode by drawing morse code in the sand of a Miami Beach... He sold in 1952 for 15000 dollars the patent which, 20 years later revolutionized the large retailers. Although new technologies arrived such as RFID or NFC, the barcode managed to stay on top, particularly thanks to the miniaturization of cameras, increasing the quantity of information within a barcode in two dimensions. SIM uses in any case most of the existing marking technologies.

Why use barcoding ?

You can use the labels of products from your suppliers, or print your own labels at the entrance or exit of your stocks.
You also can use the labels as on the storage bins or delivery packaging. With SIM, you can print barcode labels without to put on your records.
In general, use is the minimum information on the label (the SIM reference and a possible serial No), and it refers to a centralized database for details of the product.

EAN13 or Gencode

The standard in Europe: 3 digits for the country, a manufacturer number and a product numbern, unique in the universe.

Code 128

Used without any specific rules in the industry, it allows to adopt conventions on labels of your choice.

Code 39

Recognizable by its regularity, with a limited set of characters, the old code 39 is readable under the most difficult conditions.

Datamatrix

It can store more than 3000 characters and can therefore embark entire history of your product! Like all 2D codes, it requires a player to 2D camera, more expensive than a conventional drive.

QR Code

Very popular with smart-phones because it enables to write a complete URL, the QR Code has been invented to Toyota to write more than 200 characters...

Barcode readers

Simple and economical

Wired Handshower

If your products can be moved close to the PC, use a wired USB scanner. Readability, comfort and durability depend on the quality of the scanner. Do not underestimate the fun that operators can find with a nice reader!

Pocket scanner

5000 labels in the volume of a lighter ...

This batch reader combines many advantages for less than 3x6cm!
Without keyboard and without screen, it is however restricted to relatively simple applications: entering the user card, the customer account or quantity must be from coded values barcode on boards.
Simply attached with the keys of your storage rooms, it makes things simple and natural for everybody ...

Print labels

Everything is possible !

SIM is completely independent of hardware, you can print labels with any desktop printer and adhesive A5 sheets.
This is laborious and poor quality but it works, especially when you work with barcodes in a product list book.