Barcode on medicine package [SOLVED]

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Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
I see barcodes printed on the covers of household products like face creams, soaps etc. I don't understand how printing the barcode on the cover will benefit the product owner. If I'm making a my own product, what are the benefits of using a barcode? I think barcode can be used to find out who is the owner of the product and what are the specifications of the product. Example date, location

Edit : I have changed the thread title to get better answers
 
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zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
Barcodes are used extensively where I live (South Africa). They are scanned at check out at all major stores to price all your items. If you go to the till with a product without a barcode they can't tell you how much it costs. I don't know how it works in other countries. Years ago shopkeepers had to put price tags on everything, now they just use the barcodes.
 

Thread Starter

Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
Barcodes are used extensively where I live (South Africa). They are scanned at check out at all major stores to price all your items. If you go to the till with a product without a barcode they can't tell you how much it costs. I don't know how it works in other countries. Years ago shopkeepers had to put price tags on everything, now they just use the barcodes.
Where I live (India) , there are still price tags on the cover of the product. The shopkeeper gets to know the price of the product
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
The bar code is (was) the only easily computer read identification means. Now there is the QRR block, really, a square barcode, only more compact but holding more data.
So the purpose of that barcode is to allow rapid electronic reading of product information, useful for checkout and inventory purposes. It may include the identity of the producer of the item, but not the current owner.
And keep in mind that at least half of what you read on the internet is fiction, including yootoob and similar venues.
 

Thread Starter

Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
It may include the identity of the producer of the item, but not the current owner.
Suppose I manufacture 10 thousands chocolates daily in my factory, so I will need 10 thousands barcode

Does the bar code have to be registered in the government portal?
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Barcodes have plenty of uses even today. Years ago I wrote a program in VB6 (Visual Basic 6.0) Our Calibration lab supported several thousand pieces of TMDE (Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment). Each item had a unique bar code so all the calibration technician had to do was scan the item and their laptop would automatically bring up the correct calibration procedure and calibration checklist for data entry. All the data was uploaded to a server which was backed up. This all began with reading a simple bar code and doing a search function. I retired before QR codes became popular. Today I likely would have used the QR code rather than a bar code.

Today I went to the local super market. On checkout everything in my cart was quickly scanned, items all listed including cost in a matter of a few minuets. In that time 53 items were scanned and totalized. Also using that same data the super market knows exactly where their inventory is. If they had 200 1.5 Lb packages of the bacon I bought they know they now have three less or 197 packages. When that number gets to a pre programmed low level they will automatically order more for a restock. Inventory control all automatic.

You are using a label be it barcode or QR code as a gateway to the digital world. What you do with the data is entirely up to you.

Ron
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Suppose I manufacture 10 thousands chocolates daily in my factory, so I will need 10 thousands barcode

Does the bar code have to be registered in the government portal?
No, you only need a single barcode if all the chocolates are the same. For example 24 chocolates in a box all boxes the same you only need a single barcode. Now if you also manufacture the same chocolates but 12 to a box then a different bar code. So a 24 count box has a barcode and a 12 count box another barcode matters not how many boxes of each count.

No I do not know of any government requiring registered barcodes. The only control is making sure two commodities do not share the same barcode.

Ron
 

Thread Starter

Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
Barcodes have plenty of uses even today. Years ago I wrote a program in VB6 (Visual Basic 6.0) Our Calibration lab supported several thousand pieces of TMDE (Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment). Each item had a unique bar code so all the calibration technician had to do was scan the item and their laptop would automatically bring up the correct calibration procedure and calibration checklist for data entry. All the data was uploaded to a server which was backed up.
Ron
Hi Ron

It's great to hear that you have the knowledge of barcode. you've done the project with it.

1) If you know can you tell us how did you print the barcode ?

2) How did you check the printing quality of the barcode?

3) I am reading on internet that barcode should follow gs1 standard. did you follow the standard?
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
There are, or at least were, several different barcodes. I had a program that would print the one language of barcode using a standard dot matrix printer, not a high-definition printer. That is how most barcdes got printed. Now, probably they are done by a laser printer.
 

Thread Starter

Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
There are, or at least were, several different barcodes. I had a program that would print the one language of barcode using a standard dot matrix printer, not a high-definition printer. That is how most barcdes got printed. Now, probably they are done by a laser printer.
Got it, barcode printer is used to print barcodes. My question is that if I print barcode on label then how can i verify that barcode printed by me can be scanned by any scanner or its quality is good.
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
Got it, barcode printer is used to print barcodes. My question is that if I print barcode on label then how can i verify that barcode printed by me can be scanned by any scanner or its quality is good.
I have actually done it. Years ago I wrote a small little C program to print barcodes. I printed one out on a sticky label and took it with to a local store stuck it over a 5litre box of wine. It went thru the check out like a breeze. I ended up paying the price of a bottle for 5 litres. I only did it once just to see if I could. But I heard later that some people do it on a regular basis. If the person at the check out is not paying attention you can get away with it.
 

Thread Starter

Pushkar1

Joined Apr 5, 2021
416
I have actually done it. Years ago I wrote a small little C program to print barcodes. I printed one out on a sticky label
Just curious to know what printer you were using to print the barcode on the label?

I have seen some printers on the internet that have their own software to print bar codes.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Hi Ron

It's great to hear that you have the knowledge of barcode. you've done the project with it.

1) If you know can you tell us how did you print the barcode ?

2) How did you check the printing quality of the barcode?

3) I am reading on internet that barcode should follow gs1 standard. did you follow the standard?
I can share how I did things.

My protype scanner was a NuScan 3000u scanner. The manual has all the setup information and programming information. You choose a scanner type and method for the intended application. This nice handheld unit fit the ticket years ago for me. I still have the one I used for the prototype demonstration. :)

Next I used Avery Dennison software to print my barcode labels. Avery Dennison as well as a dozen other companies make software for printing the labels. I used these labels but any 0.5" X 1.750" labels would have done just fine. I am sure there are metric dimension labels available. Nice feature was 80 labels per sheet and I could increment the barcode numbers to start and stop where I wanted. There are lower cost labels but consideration to the environment some would be in. Factory floor, oil mist and other unfriendly atmosphere around some of the physical / dimensional measurement items. I also had the cal lab people place a light layer of transparent scotch tape over the labels once affixed.

Printing? Some were done on a LASER printer and others on a basic desktop printer. They all worked just fine. When I did this I don't think we even had any of the old dot matrix printers online. The only test of print quality was to scan a few on each batch. If I could scan them they were good.

You choose a barcode standard based on your application. This is a good read on the subject. Considering when I did this I have been retired over 8 years and wrote this stuff about 12 years before I retired I likely just used a standard suitable for inventory control.

If you have a scanner and want to experiment you can scan data into for example a Microsoft Excel spread sheet or on the free software side Open Office Calc should work. I know you can write a MACRO for Excel and assume there should be an equivalent. Scanning a barcode gives you data, that is all it does. What you do with that data is up to you. :)

Ron
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
The scanner merely scans barcodes. That's all it does and again maybe over the years they have improved but the unit I linked to did just fine for our application. I still have the one I used for the prototype work. Years ago, maybe 30 or more years ago I came into a wand type which the user would swipe over a bar code. Here in the US the old Radio Shack (Tandy Corporation) was giving them away as part of a promotion. I remember it was shaped like a cat. I tried a Google of Cat Shaped Barcode Scanner and sure enough it shows up. They used the RS232 port. The idea was people would participate in a program where they would scan the barcodes of groceries they bought and submit the data. The idea was all about marketing. The data was used to gather marketing data of who was buying what countrywide. This told manufacturers and distributors who was buying what and where. Much like how today fast food chains can tailor a menu by specific geographical areas.

As to quality of the barcode as printed? My experience has been that the print quality really is not that important unless of course you are using very small tiny print. Unless the ink is smudged or really poor quality the barcodes read fine. Quality of the print was never an issue for me. Also, keep in mind this was only to scan items in house and not being applied to a product we were marketing. :)

Ron
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
For your product you will somehow want to get a UPC (universal Product code that links to the description of your product. That would be a one-time action so that your product will have a unique ID. Then somehow it can have a SKU ( Stock Keeping Unit) code as well, no clue how those are assigned. But the UPC would be o every label for those products. Then the cashier will scan them and the store computer will tell the cash register what they charge for that item at that moment. So that is what the bar code is good for.
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
1636843251520.png
Show the flipping calendar pages, the autumn leaves then the snow being blown across the screen as the calendar pages flip over. The CueCat concept, which never took off is trying again but with some differences: Instead of scanning barcodes with a cat-shaped probe connected to a computer (every kitchen had one by then, remember?) QR codes are displayed on TV screens that can be snapped by cell phones to take the viewer to a specific web page or to provide feedback to the marketer.

CueCat is dead! Long live CueCat

I was impressed that the innards contained a photodiode inside a metal shield and an LM358. I could not get over a metal shield adding to the quality of an LM358's output.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
Show the flipping calendar pages, the autumn leaves then the snow being blown across the screen as the calendar pages flip over. The CueCat concept, which never took off is trying again but with some differences: Instead of scanning barcodes with a cat-shaped probe connected to a computer (every kitchen had one by then, remember?) QR codes are displayed on TV screens that can be snapped on cell phones to take the viewer to a specific web page or to provide feedback to the marketer.

The CueCat is dead! Long live CueCat

I was impressed that the innards contained a photodiode inside a metal shield and an LM358. I could not get over a metal shield adding to the quality of an LM358's output.
Probably the gain was quite high and the frequency response was set to deliver good square waves. So the metal shield was required to avoid a lot of noise pickup. consider that cheap plastic is not a very good shielding material.
 
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