The thermal based Barcode Label Printers, which seem to have been around for a very long time have been evolving and are providing many more functions at rates lower than they have ever been in the past. As a result, barcode labels can now be leveraged in many more applications. Major uses for heat based barcode label printing are Labeling of Compliance, Control of the Inventory and High Resolution Labeling, Identification of the Product, Pharmacy Labeling, Shipping & Receiving and Asset Tracking.
We will have a look at some of the main features of thermal barcode printers before we review some latest developments in the barcode label printer technology. The key features of printing of barcode label are as follows:
1) Print Technology designed especially for Barcode Printers: including direct heat based barcode label printers in comparison to printers that use heat based transfer barcode labels.
2) Typically, the common density of Printhead of the barcode label printers is 600, 300 and 200 dpi.
3) Typically 2”, 3”, 4”, 6”, and 8” are the highest width for printing of Barcode Labels.
4) Some accessories such as shears, rewinders, as well as peel/present mechanism are needed for Barcode Label Media management.
5) Some interfaces that can be used for Barcode Label Printer include serial, parallel, coaxial USB, wire-line as well as wireless based technologies.
Zebra 110Xilll thermal barcode printer is known for years as an effective machine for heat based barcode label printing in heavy applications. It is well known and established machinery for industrial printing of barcode labels. Zebra 110Xi4 printer for barcode label printing (launched in third quarter of 2010) as the latest model; it has been in existence for several years now. Enhanced barcode label print speeds up to 14”/356 per second for enhanced batch and print/apply productivity is a significant characteristic of this barcode. It also has 4” print width and 200, 300 and 600 dpi heat based printing alternatives. If we were to draw a comparison, the heavy duty barcode label printers few years back had a print speed of about 4-8 ips.
Latest versions of software for barcode label printing which include the most recent from Seagull Scientific are also available. Seagull Scientific BarTender (v9.2) provides support to printing of barcode labels with Microsoft’s Windows 7 and also support change control and latest and state-of-the-art print features also needs to be mentioned.
The marriage of Zebra 110Xi4 printer for barcode labels with Seagull Scientific software for barcode label printing can truly labelled one of the best combinations of barcode printer with software for barcode label printing. To add to this, this marriage of Zebra printers for barcode together with Seagull Scientific software for barcode label printing also supports RFID technology. Over and above this, there is a possibility of it being upgraded for printing RFID based barcode labels along with management of compliance application, including products like DOD Mil-STd-129.
