Zooming Toward Quality

A laser scanner typically provides scans .01à wide, and can only perform five scans, or .05à of a 1à bar code, at a web speed of 500 fpm, he explains. ANSI guidelines recommend a minimum of 10 equally spaced scans per bar code.

Package printers can expect next-generation, automatic bar code monitoring systems to grade all nine ANSI attributes, at speeds of 100 bar codes per minute, reports Eddie Engledow, product manager, Fife. Here, Engledow cites a sampling of automatic scans these systems provide, along with the defects that will earn a failing grade in each scan.