Application Description

In 2008, the USDA Country of Origin requirements expanded in scope. By March 31, 2009, food manufacturers and distributors need to clearly identify national origin for many products and provide corresponding recordkeeping documents with each shipment. Mishaps in this process can cost time, money, and even valued customers. Users can now streamline, error-proof, and cost reduce this process with Intermec’s Country of Origin Labeling solution.

The Challenge

Meeting the Country of Origin requirement commonly requires multiple steps: A thermal printer images the national origin information on a shipping label, meeting the identification portion of the standard. A separate printer, typically dot matrix or laser, creates the packing slip to meet recordkeeping requirements; this slip is usually folded multiple times and inserted into a packing slip sleeve. Finally, this sleeve is manually matched to the corresponding carton (introducing potential for error) and adhered for shipment.

Continue reading »

Industry Need

Labels are commonly used to convey important information about the products they mark. However, an important element of labeling has become more prevalent: concealing inaccurate or out-of-date information previously in place. These kinds of labels can clearly communicate changed pricing without drawing customer attention, or may enable use of re-tasked or inaccurate packaging. Intermec’s specially designed Duratran and Duratherm Block Out labels provide this important function, reducing costs and improving efficiency.

• • Retail/Price Markdowns – When retail items need to be price-adjusted or product information must be modified, relabeling with a material that obscures the original information saves time and maintains the integrity of the original packaging.

• • Pharmacy/Unit Level Dose – On prescription items, labels are commonly applied over original packaging for distribution to the customer/patient. It is often important that the original printing does not show through. For reliable retail barcode scanning, it is critical to eliminate interference from underlying codes.

• • Warehouse/Logistics – In shipping and receiving operations, labels are sometimes applied to materials that frequently go through multiple use cycles. Shipping containers arriving in a facility can be reused to send materials to another facility by applying a new label over the existing label on the container. Previous information must not be visible through the newly applied label, especially in automated handling systems where it could interfere with routing of the container or carton.

Continue reading »

A Strategic Solution for Law Enforcement Evidence Management

BarcodesInc offers an integrated enterprise mobility solution for governmental agencies evidence management environments. Barcodes Inc’s evidence Tracking With Information Solutions Technologies, or eTWIST, is a Windows Mobile based software, designed for the unobtrusive tracking of evidence. Our Evidence Tracking Software is perfect for law enforcement, military or private enterprise applications requiring the ability to facilitate Chain of Custody and “Protect the Truth”.

Our Evidence Tracking Software relieves resource-intensive tasks, improves accuracy and optimizes time. Using this technology for processing and collecting criminal evidence can enhance case clearance rates and potentially reduce crime rates. Many police officers are confined to a desk repeatedly entering data into back-end reporting systems or on paper, instead of out patrolling the streets. The average police agency receives about 100 cases per week; about 25 of those cases require evidence tracking, taking officers on average 2 hours to input the evidence information into back-end systems or to handwrite reports. Resulting in 50 man-hours each week, or one police officer per year, spent in front of a computer screen entering in repetitive data, often multiple times.

Continue reading »

Industry Need

With nearly 5 million Americans requiring blood transfusions annually, there is a tremendous need for blood products to supply these important therapies. Blood banks and collection centers require robust labels to reliably track blood from the donor to the final recipient; these labels need to survive multiple processing, testing, and storage steps through challenging environmental conditions. Intermec’s blood bag labeling product set enables durable, positive tracking of these critical components.

Bar coded blood bag labels enable the high degree of accuracy required for successful transfusion therapy. Clearly identified blood typing prevents serious complications that could result from donor type incompatibility. Different blood components and storage conditions yield varying shelf life; clear expiration date identification guarantees patients receive only safe, effective products. Formats configured in compliance with ISBT-128 standards provide interoperability with multiple collection centers, processing locations, and hospital systems.

In order for essential data to follow the contents of the blood bag, labels must endure a series of challenging conditions. Labels must maintain a strong bond to the flexible blood bag during centrifugation while whole blood is separated into components. Labels must remain positively attached during standard or cryogenic freezing (plasma and some red cells), refrigeration (red cells), or continuous shaking at room temperature (platelets). The bond must then be maintained during warming, which often includes immersion in a water bath.

Beyond the physical performance needs, blood bag labels must also meet regulatory requirements. The United States Food and Drug Administration mandates compliance with 21 CFR175.105 to increase safety should components of the adhesive migrate through the plastic into the blood bag.

Continue reading »

Question

I would like to start up an inventory business here in my country. I am looking at importing 4 hand held inventory machines that will enable us to carry-out inventory effectively.

I wouldn’t mind if I can get help in seeing how the hand held inventory machine works with RedBeam software.

Answer

RedBeam Inventory Tracking software with a Unitech PA500 can make a great entry level inventory system.

Contact us to find out exactly what software version and mobile computer would suit your specific needs.

We’ve put together a page of QuickBooks compatible hardware to make it easy to find products that will work with your system.

The page includes QuickBooks barcode scanners, QuickBooks receipt printers and more.

The Symbol LS2208 is one of the most popular handheld barcode scanners that we sell.

Follow the steps below to enable the LS2208 to send a Tab Key suffix after each barcode scan.

Print out and scan the programming barcodes below in the order listed

Continue reading »

Outsourcing continues to remain a dominant force throughout the pharmaceutical industry, as more companies than ever move to the “virtual world” of contract manufacturing. By incorporating outsourcing — a cost-effective, flexible approach to resource allocation and investment — into a company’s overall business strategy, pharmaceutical companies gain new opportunities to sustain long-term growth and competitive advantage. But the increasing globalization of the contract manufacturing market can lead to a rush to expand practices in low-cost countries, straining brand owners’ ability to manage and control their manufacturing, packaging and supply chain operations.

Despite outsourcing growth and the availability of Web-based tools, few manufacturing companies have successfully automated communications and operations to collaborate with suppliers, distributors and contract manufacturers. Instead, they still continue to rely on outdated processes that contribute to delays, errors and excessive inventory and costs.

To succeed with pharmaceutical outsourcing, a company must collaborate closely with partners. In order to succeed with collaboration, a company must have in place technologies and processes that improve control, visibility and velocity across the outsourced network — namely barcoding, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and track and trace capabilities.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range, high-frequency (13.56 MHz) wireless technology that allows for the exchange of data between two NFC-enabled devices, such as mobile phones, over a distance of a few centimeters. Among the applications enabled by NFC are contactless transactions for payment and transit ticketing, simple data transfers and access to online content. It’s one of the fastest-growing wireless technologies, and now a number of vendors are launching products that extend its capabilities.

In addition to mobile phones, a variety of devices and machines can be NFC-enabled, according to the NFC Forum, a Wakefield, Mass., organization formed in 2004 to advance the use of NFC technology, ensure interoperability among devices and services, and educate the market regarding NFC. These include cash registers or other point-of-sale (POS) equipment, vending machines, turnstiles, parking meters, ATMs and PCs. The technology can also be used with posters, street signs and other public points of interest, certificates, food packaging and other items.

The use of NFC technology is growing, says Peter Preuss, the NFC Forum’s marketing chair and a senior manager at Nokia. NFC devices are being used in more than 65 projects worldwide, he explains, enabling users to make payments and access bus gates. A 2008 study conducted by ABI Research found that more than 419 million NFC chipsets will be shipped by 2012, and that NFC chipset shipments and revenue will continue growing steadily over the next five years, as the market adapts to the new technology.

(Original article: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/purchase/4784)

Radio Frequency Identification, which is better known as RFID, can be translated as the use of radio frequencies to read and transmit information through the use of small devices called tags. These are currently being used by healthcare organizations in order to tackle new challenges.

Such challenges are “operational efficiency, patient safety, and improvement of the business processes”, declares one of the TechNavio experts. In fact, healthcare providers and payers, including patients, “are transforming the usage of RFID from technology that is used to reduce costs to facilitating, automating, and streamlining identification processes.”

Healthcare organizations, including hospitals, nursing homes, home healthcare facilities, health maintenance organizations, laboratories, clinics, physician offices, and pharmacies situated within hospitals, form the cumulative healthcare industry in the report, which has recently been published by TechNavio Insights.

According to the report “RFID in Healthcare industry 2008-2012, by 2012”, “the market for RFID tags in healthcare industry is expected to reach $153.2 million driven by the development of lower cost tags and installed infrastructure, which will enable high volumes of articles to be tagged.”

(Original article: http://marketpublishers.com/lists/4538/news.html)