Saturday, August 31, 2013

Bar Codes And More

By Keren Kipfer


In the United States, you can find bar codes printed in our food products when you look for them on the side of the packaging. They are usually located at the back side of a product. These bar codes are not placed just to make it easier for store checkers to easily add up the cost of your total grocery bill. They also have several other important purposes and let us discuss some of them.

UPC codes, which stand for Universal Product Code is another common name of bar codes. The Uniform Code Council or UCC was the group that set up this UPC system. The codes usually are labeled in a normal black bar on a white background print having several numbers found at the bottom. Some parts of the code can only be read with a specific machine or scanner, but the number portion provides a great deal of information that can be used either by the store selling the item or even by the consumer if you understand what these codes mean.

A manufacturer's identification number is found at a 12-digit code which is composed in a standard UPC code. The one who manufactured the product can be found at the first six digits of the code while the remaining next five digits of the code indicate the actual product. The check digit is the final number entered to all the previous numbers calculated together in a special mathematical formula. To avoid using the same code on more than one product and retire these codes as these products are removed from shelves, a UPC coordinator is required.

Basically, the numbers codes 0,1,6,7 and 8 represent most of the products in a grocery store that are manufactured elsewhere, such as soda, pasta, tomato sauce and the millions of other products we buy. A number 2 indicates items sold by weight, such as deli meat, cheese or produce. A 3 is for pharmaceutical items and the numbers 4, 5 and 9 are placed on different types of coupons.

You may notice on the packaging of different food products that bar codes are not the only ones printed. The batch number and expiration date are included and manufacturers print them also. They use a special kind of printer, an ID coder to do this. This machine also is called an ID printer. In the market you can find many brands of coders that are available such as Altima coders, Domino coders, Maxima coders, Imaje coders and many more. Expiration dates can help one determine if these products are safe for consumption or use and it should not be overlooked.

Special inks and make-up fluids are required in order for your ID coders or printers to function properly. It is recommended to use the best inks to avoid damaging to your machines. Manufacturers offer several inks or fluids and you can purchase them directly, but this is highly expensive. However, a product ID company will create Domino ink, Altima ink, Imaje ink and any other brand you need for much less money. These companies specialize in creating high quality generic versions of inks and fluids. They are much cheaper and effective from the ones sold from manufacturers without compromising their quality. These companies also sometimes sell parts and offer repair services for your id coder.




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