This is some general information about commodity barcode for reference.
Universal Product Code (UPC)
• Incorporates numeric characters only.
• Usually includes 12 digits and allows bi-directional scanning.
• Zero-suppressed version is printed using seven digits.
• Check digit is incorporated into code.
• Quiet zone is nine times the narrow bar width on both the left and the right.
• At 100 percent magnification, required size for a 12-digit UPC with the quiet zone is approximately 1.5" horizontally and 1.0" vertically.
• EAN variations are used in Europe.
• Common applications include retail, packaging, counting and data processing.
When scanned, the UPC will be decoded as a 12-digit number. These 12 digits represent the following: digit 1 is the number system character; digits 2,3,4,5 and 6 make up the manufacturer’s ID number; digits 7,8,9,10 and 11 are the vendor’s item number(s); digit 12 is the check digit.
When scanned, the UPC zero-suppressed will be decoded as a 12-digit number. These 12 digits represent the following: digit 1 is the number system character, which is always zero when printing zero-suppressed UPCs; digits 2,3,4,5 and 6 make up the manufacturer’s ID number; digits 7,8,9,10 and 11 are the vendor’s item number(s); digit 12 is the check digit. However, only seven human-readable numbers appear when printing zero-suppressed UPCs
Interleaved 2 of 5 (“I” 2 of 5)
• Incorporates numeric characters only
• Can be of variable length, but must have an even number of characters.
• Common applications include warehousing, product/container identification, general industrial and automotive.
• Often used in UPC Shipping Container Code formats.
• Quiet zone is ten times the width of the narrow bar.
The Interleaved 2-of-5 bar code is a bi-directional, continuous, self-checking numeric bar code. It uses a series of wide and narrow bars or spaces to represent each character, and each symbol employs unique Start and Stop elements.
The symbology requires an even number of characters to be interleaved together. The bars represent data characters occupying the odd positions, and the spaces represent characters in the even positions. Additionally, each data character must be composed of five elements, two wide and three narrow. Character pairing begins with the most significant digit (left most digit) and continues two at a time until all characters are used. The Start element consist of two narrow bars while the Stop element combines a wide and narrow bar.
Code 39 (3 of 9)
• Incorporates alphanumeric characters.
• Can be of variable length.
• Check digit is optional but normally not used.
• Common applications include LOGMARS (Department of Defense), GSA, AIAG (automotive), general industrial and HIBCC (health industry).
• Quiet zone is 10 times the width of the narrow bar.
Code 39’s flexibility to encode both text and numbers has contributed to its widespread use.
Code 128
• Employs alphanumeric characters.
• Can be of variable length.
• Common applications include general industrial, inventory control and retail container marking.
• Often used in UCC/EAN Serial Shipping Container Code formats.
• Quiet zone is ten times the width of the narrow bar.
This code has 128 characters. Like Code 39, Code 128 offers variable-length symbols. But at the same time, Code 128 is more compact. Code 128 allows the user to encode any character found on a CRT keyboard, including the control characters. This gives the user more encoding versatility than previously possible in an industrial bar code.
PDF417
• Self-checking, two-dimensional bar code.
• Encodes up to 810,900 different character sets and/or interpretations, plus 256 international characters and binary data.
• Allows for bi-directional scanning.
• Symbology includes a Start/Stop pattern, left/right row indicators and data codewords.
• Quiet zones are two times the X-dimension.
PDF417 is a multi-row, continuous symbology capable of encoding large quantities of information. It’s just what its name suggests — a Portable Data File. Being one of the first two-dimensional bar codes, the symbology has not yet been standardized by any industry. However, it is being considered for coding shipping manifest information.
The symbology can vary in height and width because any number of rows of information (from 3-90) can be stacked vertically, plus a varying amount of data codewords (from 1-30) can make up the length. Each PDF417 bar code also incorporates two parity-check codewords, which act as the symbol’s error correction code. The codewords carry out the same functions as check digits in other bar codes.
PDF417 is able to condense so much information into such a small space that it could soon prove to be one of the most flexible bar code symbologies around.
The decision of whether to print bar-coded labels in-house or purchase them from an outside vendor involves reviewing several factors. The major considerations include the costs involved, your manufacturing process and any marketing concerns.
