Available with thermal transfer or hot foil printing technology, off-line BDSV Series features vacuum transport system, which handles wide range of cartons, sleeves, blister packs, and leaflets. Units can print batch and production codes, expiration and sell-by dates, logos, barcodes, and other graphics. Accommodating carton blanks from 3.5 x 3.2 in. to 12.4 x 12.4 in., coders operate at speeds up to 295 fpm, handling up to 160 cartons/min.

anuary 3, 2007 - Norwood Marking Systems / Allen Coding Systems introduces the versatile BDSV Family of Carton Coders. Available with either thermal transfer or hot foil printing technology, these off-line carton coders feature a vacuum transport system, which maximizes equipment flexibility by reliably handling a wide range of cartons, sleeves, blister packs and leaflets at high production speeds.

Unlike traditional off-line carton coding systems that use belt drives to transport product, the BDSV transports product from the hopper through the printhead with a vacuum drive. The vacuum transport system enables the BDSV to handle complex shapes, odd sizes and thinner material while achieving excellent registration. Unlike belt roller systems, which necessitate a “dead area” within the print area, the vacuum drive allows print anywhere within the capability of the print head.
The BDSV handles carton blanks from 3.5 x 3.2 inches (90 x 80 mm) up to 12.4 x 12.4 inches (315 x 315 mm) in size. If equipped with Norwood / Allen’s NX4 thermal transfer printer, the BDSV can achieve a print area as large as 4.20 x 3.54 inches (107 x 90 mm). If equipped with Norwood / Allen’s 60/35S hot stamp printer, the BDSV can produce a print area up to 2.4 x 1.4 inches (60 x 35 mm).

Rapid product changes can be accomplished quickly and easily with the BDSV’s adjustable feeder and position indicators. A product size change can be made in only two minutes with no tools and no change parts required. Machine parameters such as speed, index length and batch quantity are easily changed via the keypad.

The high speed BDSV operates at speeds of up to 295 feet (90 m) per minute, handling up to 160 cartons per minute. The BDSV can print batch and production codes, expiration and sell-by dates, logos, barcodes and other graphics, depending on the capabilities of the printhead that is integrated.

This compact off-line carton coder sits on castor wheels so it can be easily moved from one area to another. Manufactured from stainless steel and anodized aluminum, the BDSV meets the needs of the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and chemical industries. The system comes standard with a batch counter and low foil warning with auto stop.

Norwood / Allen can equip the BDSV Carton Coder with a wide range of options. Bar code

scanners/verifiers, blob detectors, vision inspection and print verification assure the highest quality product. The extra-long BDSVL can be fitted with multiple printheads so a single run on a four-printhead system achieves the same results as four passes on a single-printhead system.

About Norwood Marking Systems / Allen Coding Systems / Kingsley Machine Company

Norwood Marking Systems, a division of Illinois Tool Works, has been at the forefront of innovation since developing the world’s first hot stamp imprinters for the food industry over 45 years ago. Kingsley Machine Company has also led the way, having patented its first hot stamp imprinter in 1932. Joining the ITW family in 2006, Allen Coding Systems is a leading U.K. manufacturer of overprinting equipment. Today, Norwood, Allen and Kingsley continue as market leaders, designing and manufacturing a range of innovative thermal transfer printers, hot stamp imprinters as well as ink and embossing printers that code and mark for a wide variety of industrial markets worldwide.

Capable of reading 1D symbologies and PDF-417, PowerScan[R] 7000BT Standard Range Imaging (SRI) handheld scanner is suited for package handling and tracking, warehouse, shipping and receiving, manufacturing shop floor, and other applications. Ergonomic industrial design exhibits shock-resistance and is sealed against water and dust ingress. Cordless bar code scanner offers read rates to 500 scans/sec and has base station with multiple interface architecture.

EUGENE, Ore., Jan. 3 - PSC Inc., an international market leader in data-collection technology, is proud to announce the expansion of the successful PowerScan(R) industrial scanner series with the introduction of the PowerScan(R) 7000BT Standard Range Imaging (SRI) handheld scanner. This new cordless model builds upon the same reliable, industry leading technology used in the PowerScan(R) 7000 SRI scanner and the PowerScan(R) 7000 2D Imager, both announced earlier this year.

For industrial users who need a high performance, rugged and durable cordless handheld bar code scanner, the PSC PowerScan 7000BT standard range linear imaging scanner offers best-in-class performance and features. It is perfect for package handling and tracking, warehouse applications, shipping and receiving, manufacturing shop floor and other demanding applications - both indoors and out.

“With read rates of up to 500 scans per second, and industry leading standard range depth-of-field, the PowerScan 7000BT SRI scanner offers the improved snappiness, enhanced durability and extended reliability of a linear imaging scanner,” said Nick Tabet, PSC’s Vice President of Handheld Scanning. “With direct connectivity to a wide variety of devices using Bluetooth(R) wireless technology, this high performance scanner provides great application flexibility and unsurpassed value.”

Key product features include an ergonomic industrial design; industry leading shock-resistance, water and dust sealing; high performance reading of 1D symbologies and PDF-417; connectivity to a wide array of Bluetooth(R) wireless technology enabled devices; and a base station with multiple interface architecture.

About PSC Inc.

PSC Inc., a subsidiary of Datalogic S.p.A., is a global provider of automatic data-capture technology, products and services. PSC leads the market with flexible, responsive customer service and innovative equipment. PSC products and services support multiple industries throughout the supply chain/distribution channel including retail, manufacturing, transportation, logistics and warehousing sectors.

A fixed-mount bar code scanner takes the guesswork out of product setup with a pushbutton system. The MS-860’s button on the side of the unit saves time by automatically activating setup. The button can also be used to initiate user-definable features, including auto framing.

The 1,200-store Ritz Camera chain wants to let customers drop off film without having to slow down and thinks RFID-enabled contactless payments are picture perfect. With competitors including Wal-Mart moving in, this specialty retailer is stressing expertise and getting people in and out quickly.

Vice President of Information Systems Bob O’Hern (Ritz doesn’t have a CIO, but he acts in that capacity) said he likes the RFID capabilities within a contactless payment system, but doesn’t yet see its value in his supply chain.

Back-office use of RFID to track inventory “is still evolving, still several years away,” O’Hern said in an eWEEK.com interview. “We are still in a wait-and-see mode.”

But it’s a very different story with payment. The RFID functionality there is much more limited, with the wireless component acting as little more than as a translator. It wirelessly grabs payment data from a chip embedded into a credit card held six or fewer inches away. The reader then translates the data so that the chain’s traditional POS (point of sale) system is tricked into thinking it just scanned a bar code. After that, the POS transaction proceeds normally.

When the card data is seen by the reader, it still requires a clerk to take an action to charge the card, which is to prevent a charge against a RFID-enabled card that is accidentally seen by a reader. O’Hern said Ritz does not currently plan on deploying self-checkout lanes, so a clerk should always be there to prevent accidental charges.

Test trials have “gone well,” and the readers have proven “very accurate,” O’Hern said. “It’s really a nonissue from a systems standpoint. It appears the way it would if it had been swiped.”

Traditionally, contactless payment systems are used to accelerate payments by anywhere from 20 seconds to about a minute. That can make a huge difference for businesses where speed is critical—such as at a convenience store chain like 7-Eleven or a quick-service restaurant such as McDonald’s—but little difference at a clothing store or a car dealership where the actual swiping accounts for a minuscule portion of the transaction time.

Ritz customers, however, fall into two camps, and some of the larger Ritz stores even split those two camps into separate checkout lanes. The first camp is the one where customers just want to pick up new film or pick up or drop off developed pictures. The second camp purchases cameras and photographic equipment. Contactless payments are focused on the first group.

“In some of our stories, during peak seasons, the lines do get long,” O’Hern said. “Saving a few seconds on that does help.”

Like most specialty retailers today, Ritz has come under intense pressure from everyone from local family-owned camera stores to national electronics chains. Even supermarkets and the ever-present Wal-Mart are now selling and developing photos.

“We’re in a phenomenally competitive environment. Today, you can buy digital cameras anywhere,” O’Hern said. “We are a specialty retailer. We have to have the expertise, and we have to get people in and out quick.”

The major credit card companies have been aggressively pushing contactless payments as a way to differentiate themselves from each other—although, ironically, most are trying to differentiate themselves in seemingly identical ways—and to boost the size of typical purchases, which increases their fees.

American Express, for example, has been saying that average transactions are 30 percent larger with their contactless payment systems compared with cash purchases. But it is unclear how contactless payment system purchases compare with those from non-contactless credit cards, which would seem the more logical comparison.

Discover has also been working with contactless payments as well as some biometric options—fingerprint mostly—that try to achieve similarly convenient results. A finger scan is slightly more intrusive than a credit card scan, but a consumer doesn’t have to go into a pocket or purse to pull out a finger. It’s always—no pun intended—handy.

At Ritz, O’Hern has been working with American Express, Visa and MasterCard on various contactless payment trials for the last year. “To be honest, the credit card [firms] are moving in the direction of contactless payment,” he said. “We want to move with them.”

The American Express contactless payment system that Ritz is evaluating is called ExpressPay, and American Express officials are quick to point out that it adheres to ISO 14443, which is the interoperable standard that the major credit card firms have been using for contactless deployments. Beyond Ritz, ExpressPay is currently being evaluated by Fry’s (Kroger), Carl’s Jr., Blimpie Subs & Salads, Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery and Schlotzsky’s Deli, an American Express statement said.

Socket Communications Inc.’s Cordless Hand Scanner now supports Symbian OS Series 60 and 80 smartphones from Nokia. The scanner connects to the phones using Bluetooth wireless technology, and lets users scan bar code data directly into any application on the phone. The scanner features a Class 1 Bluetooth radio and a built-in touchscreen stylus tip to facilitate one-handed use.

Multiple laser, omni directional Axiom X(TM) reads high density bar codes at rates to 1,120 scans/sec. Bar code reader provides serial, Ethernet TCP/IP, UDP, and EtherNet/IP(TM) connectivity and can be networked using client/controller configuration. Installation is facilitated by utilizing modular scan head, wiring base, and parameter storage module, and included AXCESS(TM) software enables configuration and monitoring of readers from anywhere in facility.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (August 28, 2006) - AXIOM-X(TM), the most innovative and reliable bar code scanner, from Accu-Sort Systems is now available in a version that can read challenging high-density bar codes without the need for complex, time-consuming focusing steps. The decode software has also been improved to reduce the number of no reads, even in the most demanding applications.

The improved reading capacity and enhanced software allow AXIOM-X to be used in a broader range of applications and provide the highest read rates for all possible bar code densities. The improvements make AXIOM-X the most advanced omni directional laser bar code scanner available today while still providing the lowest total cost of ownership with a maintenance-free design.

AXIOM-X is a versatile, multiple laser, omni directional bar code reader providing the largest depth of field and transport coverage available in a single scanner. Its scan rate of 1120 scans/second ensures the highest possible read rates on both good and poor quality codes. Most applications require only a single scan head, saving the cost and complexity associated with a multiple scan head solution.

Suited for healthcare, warehousing, manufacturing, and back-end retail environments, Model LS3008 rugged handheld scanner includes multi-line rastering scan pattern that eliminates need for exact aim and positioning, enabling users to scan one-dimensional bar codes that are damaged, small, or poorly printed. It is sealed to IP53 standards to withstand rigors of everyday use, including frequent drops to concrete and exposure to water and dust.

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 8 // — Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:SBL), The Enterprise Mobility Company(TM), today introduced the LS3008 rugged handheld scanner designed for high-performance and reliability in healthcare, warehousing, manufacturing and back-end retail environments. Leveraging Symbol’s innovative design knowledge and boasting a small, ergonomic form factor, the LS3008 broadens Symbol’s rugged scanner portfolio to meet the needs of customers and markets where cost and ergonomics are critical factors for customers seeking real-time data capture capabilities.

Built to withstand the rigors of everyday use, including frequent drops to concrete and exposure to water and dust, Symbol’s new LS3008 rugged scanner is sealed to IP53 standards and provides optimized productivity while reducing the need for equipment repairs, ultimately lowering the total cost of ownership. The LS3008 scanner meets the varying demands of healthcare professionals seeking a reliable bar code capture tool for bedside and patient management; retailers needing a rugged, feature-rich scanner for back-end operations; warehouse workers responsible for shipping and receiving products in an efficient manner; and associates performing light assembly within a manufacturing environment.

Intermec, a UNOVA company (NYSE:UNA) (www.unova.com) and Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (RVSI) (Nasdaq:ROBV) today announced a strategic alliance to provide complete hardware, technology and integration services necessary for airlines, aircraft manufacturers, the military, and their suppliers, to comply with new ATA SPEC 2000 and ISO/ANSI MH10 initiatives.

Both the Air Transport Association and the Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced programs requiring permanent bar code identification on all line-replaceable parts installed in military and commercial aircraft. The overall scope of the implementation effort, aimed at improving air safety and reducing maintenance costs, is dramatic, potentially requiring billions of individual aircraft parts to either be direct marked with a 2-D Data Matrix symbol or labeled with a bar code.

Under terms of the agreement, Intermec and RVSI will work together to ensure interoperability between their respective technologies, providing aerospace and DoD customers with a single-source for technology and know-how for SPEC 2000 and MH10 requirements. Intermec will provide scanners, printers and wireless-network hardware, plus professional services and program management to customers. RVSI will provide specific expertise and technology, including hand-held and fixed-mount imagers, in the area of marking, mark verification and reading of parts that have been directly marked by laser, dot peen, inkjet, or chemical etch with a 2-D Data Matrix symbol.
“Critical performance aircraft parts, such as turbine blades, landing gear and wing surfaces, must be directly marked with lasers, chemical etching or other techniques, complementing the supply chain solutions provided by Intermec,” said Bill Baker, Senior Vice President and GM of RVSI Acuity CiMatrix’s 2-D Systems business unit. “Our expertise in direct parts reading, combined with our Symbology Research Center, our alliance partners for marking, and now Intermec, will provide customers with a complete turnkey solution utilizing the best-available technology to implement SPEC 2000 and MH10.”

Bar code technology innovations continue to drive the creation of more sophisticated automation systems and also promote more capable solutions to information management challenges. Records managers are familiar with this technology in their experiences with bar codes printed on the adhesive labels used to inventory and track documents. They have seen bar code labels on file folders, storage boxes, retail merchandise, purchase requisitions, shipping containers, and mail envelopes. These small repositories of information are commonly used to identify records that will be more completely indexed in a database management system. By using bar code labels as miniature data storage media, automation systems can expand both the quantity and quality of the data input and the information processed. “To many people, automated data collection is nearly synonymous with bar code. There are other methods of keyless data entry, but the sheer ubiquitousness of bar code is testimony to its success.”1

Without bar code technology many automated records management systems would be far less capable of providing cost effective aids to managing documents. A common component of the justification of most automation systems is the assumption that many more records will be processed. Even a casual observer of such systems will realize that such assumptions occur due to the considerable data entry labor savings realized by scanning bar codes for the entry of data. Employee badge numbers, document numbers, and other alphanumeric data scanned into a database with bar code technology are processed more quickly and accurately than when data must be entered by “keyboarding.” A good example of bar code technology is the PostNet bar code used by the U.S. Postal Service for delivering mail.

Universal bar-code system under development

PHILADELPHIA — A researcher working to devise a universal system to help recyclers separate post-consumer plastics says the work could have important implications for scrap metal sorting.

Researchers at Rutgers University are working to blend the different systems used throughout the world to classify plastics into one system using bar codes to identify the various resins.

Agreement on a single bar-code-based system for plastics could have implications in the metals field, according to Dr. Henry Frankel, assistant professor at Rutgers’ Center for Plastic Recycling Research and project manager of Sortation, Piscataway, N.J.

“The metals industry already has a uniform numbering code to identify any type of metal and alloy,” he said. “By placing this system in a bar code, it would provide more premium sorting than is being done at the present time,” he added.

“There could be a more precise discrimination of metals to get a better return,” he said, citing high-priced specialty alloys as an example.
“You could segregate them better that way. There hasn’t been the capability to separate metal to the degree we are talking about. The key to any recycling is being able to identify the material,” he said.

“You could reduce the possibility of contamination and increase the probability of having more-specialized grades that would be of premium-metal-containing materials.

The marking, particularly the bar code, could be very small, unlike the type seen on food products in supermarkets, Frankel said. “They were developed in 1973 and since then we have had a lot of development in electronics and the bar codes are now far more compact and much less error prone,” he added.

Identification of plastics is more complicated than that of metals, according to Frankel. “In the case of plastics, you have to identify not only the type of plastic but the grade, whether it’s used for blow molding, injection molding or compression molding; you also have to identify whether it has filler in it, reinforcements such as glass fiber, and whether it has flame retardants,” he explained.

“So plastics are much more complex, particularly those not used for rigid containers, but for automobiles, computer housings and refrigerators.”