How Thermal Transfer Printers Work?

November 13th, 2010 at 04:00pm Under Forum

How Thermal Transfer Printers Work?

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How Barcodes And Label Printers Changed The Face Of The Retail Industry

September 10th, 2010 at 12:41pm Under Articles

How Barcodes And Label Printers Changed The Face Of The Retail Industry

Ever wondered when the first barcode was put to use? Have you ever questioned how long we have been using the barcode as a security tool in the consumer/retail industry? Barcodes are an essential part of securing and identifying a product, since its first uses their appearance and functions have not changed a great deal. However, they have become furthermore secure, with retail industries clamping down on anti-theft crime.

Specialised label printers were built to print the barcodes out making it easier to attach them to the products. They were also used to print onto the packaging, which can be an expensive process. Barcodes made it easier for retail shop owners to monitor how much stock they had left and reduced the number hours spent on keeping track of how much was sold. This also provided a more accurate way of monitoring shoplifters.

History

Before the invention of label printers, barcodes and scanners, shopkeepers of the 1930s had no choice but to spend at least once a month counting up all bags, cans, packets of goods making a note of how much was sold and calculating the figures in correspondence to the stock numbers. This was a cumbersome job and often shopkeepers would estimate the number of stock available.

This was of course inaccurate crude judgement; therefore, a desperate need for a new system was in demand. Wallace Flint, a business student at Harvard University of 1932, wrote a master’s thesis, which described a new system whereby customers selected their products from a catalogue that had hole-punched cards beside them, which they could tear out to take to the till. They would then insert the card into a specially designed reader machine, which would then produce the products to the customer through a conveyer belt system.

However, this system was flawed, as the machinery itself was extremely expensive and difficult to build. In theory, the system would have worked, but the truth of the matter was that no retail business could afford this equipment. Therefore, the first steps towards barcodes finally came to action in 1948.

The head of the food industry had pleaded with the dean of Philadelphia’s Drexel Institute of Technology to undergo research in automatically reading product information through the checkout. Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland, graduate students at Drexel, began working various prototype codes and labelling.

The main problems of coming up with a solution was expense, materials and installation. During the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s several formats of the barcode was invented which included the numeral code and bulls-eye code. It would not be until 1973 that the industry standard codes were chosen, UPC. This was implemented in all retail stores, thus popularising the barcode system.

Today with the advancement of computer technology and the invention ofimproved label printers, the barcode is a prevalent source in almost all retail stores. These are also applied to military and industrial applications. Many companies have developed and generated software that can manipulate bar coding. With this in mind the bar coding system will one day be replaced as technology further advances, but for now they remain the primary use for the retail industry.

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IT services provider enables in-cab receipt and invoice printing with its Advantage LX barcode printers

August 28th, 2010 at 12:43am Under Articles

IT services provider enables in-cab receipt and invoice printing with its Advantage LX barcode printers

Today, specialist IT provider Maxatec announces that TouchStar technologies has selected its Advantage LX barcode printer product for their TouchPC range of mobile IT systems, provided to the fuel distribution, transport, retail and manufacturing industries. The printer is used to issue payment and invoice receipts in-cab and on-board transport systems.

With clients including BP, Total Gaz and AFS at Heathrow Airport, Manchester-based TouchStar delivers robust touch-screen computers to businesses requiring field automation, such as on-board sales on airlines and trains, van sales and field service organisations. Technologies include bespoke software and a range of integrated peripherals such as scanners, printers and credit card readers that are designed to increase productivity, improve accuracy, and save time for companies.

Maxatec’s Advantage LX printer is fitted in many of the 25,000+ mobile commerce systems and is interfaced with TouchStar’s range of TouchPC mobile computers. These communicate with each other in real time to print invoices and receipts for customers.

The four-inch direct thermal label printers are packed with features and specially designed for small areas. They allow large-volume printing and also provide the capability to continue to print even if the computer network fails.

Chris Edwards, marketing manager at TouchStar said: “Maxatec provides solid barcode printers with the reliability to meet our needs. With TouchPC, TouchStar effectively eliminates all paperwork, such as delivery or despatch sheets that would previously be created in vehicles. Now everything is on the GPS-enabled IT system and Maxatec allows printing when needed. It adds the final touch to a fully mobile payment system.”

Andrea Percival, managing director of Maxatec said: “This is a significant deployment of the Advantage LX printer. A company like TouchStar requires systems that are reliable and durable enough to keep functioning while on the road and we are pleased to be able to provide this to the leader in the field of mobile computing.”

About TouchStar Technologies

TouchStar’s range of TouchPC touch-screen computers are used in businesses and industries requiring robust field automation, including fuel distribution, on-board sales on airlines and trains, van sales and field service organisations. The solutions, which incorporate both standard and bespoke software and a range of integrated peripherals such as scanners, printers and credit card readers are designed to increase productivity, improve accuracy, and save time for companies.

TouchStar has its headquarters in Manchester, from which it supplies and services its own range of TouchPC rugged, hand-held computers and application software to business usersaround the world. TouchStar’s sales base extends principally across five worldwide locations, including the UK, USA, mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Current users benefiting from TouchStar solutions include BP, Shell, Total, Air Products, Gate Gourmet, Eurostar and over 40% of the world’s airlines including Lufthansa, Swissair, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Britannia Airways.

About Maxatec

Maxatec is an ISO 9001:2008 certified, Value Added Supplier of Specialist IT Hardware and Services to the Auto ID, POS and Mobile markets. As well as offering own brand products, Maxatec’s product portfolio includes CognitiveTPG point of sale and bar code label printers, Barcode & Label Printers NCR POS terminals, Extech portable receipt printers, TSC industrial label printers, Zebex bar code scanners, MMF cash drawers, FlexPOS POS terminals, and Firich (FEC) Touch screens and SAMMI mobile computing devices. Maxatec also offers software and services including NiceLabel label design package, and a wide range of consumables (paper, labels, ribbons), spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities. The Maxatec brand is synonymous with high standards of service as well as high performance, high quality products.

For more information about Maxatec:
Tel: +44 (0) 161 942 7850
Fax +44 (0) 161 927 7664
info@maxatec-europe.com

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Getting to Understand the Barcode Printers

July 26th, 2010 at 12:42am Under Articles

Getting to Understand the Barcode Printers

You must have seen small printed portions on different products, which have a pattern of parallel lines of different widths and numbers below or above them. This is known as a barcode, which is read by the barcode scanners or barcode readers. It contains important information about the product.

You can notice that any type of material products have a barcode; be it electronic items, cosmetics or any other product which you come across in houses or stores. Barcode printer is used to print different types of barcodes that can in the form of label or case tags.

The numbers and parallel lines contain the information in a particular manner, to indicate the product type and price. Whenever this barcode is scanned at the cash counter, the scanner automatically gathers the information about the product.

The price and item information is then sent to the computer or cash register. In the same way your other purchases are scanned by the scanner for barcode reading. Currently, it is very easy for any company to use barcode printer to print barcodes for their products, as lightweight, handy and user friendly barcode printers are available in the market.

There are two types of barcode printers available in the market; one is thermal transfer printer and second is direct thermal printer. The print head of thermal printer produces heat which in turn initiates reaction on the thermal paper. This reaction results in changes in the color of the thermal paper. It turns to black color in selected areas and produces the barcode. In thermal transfer printers, no chemical reaction takes place in spite of heat production which tends to melt the chemical on the ribbon. Then the ribbon slides over the paper, and ink is spread on the paper or label.

There are wide varieties of barcode printers available into the market, which are designed as per the requirements. There are large industrial barcode printers, which are used for manufacturing units or wholesalers companies that need a large amount of barcodes to be printed in short duration. Such printers operate faster and can be used for continuous work. These printers can print on larger scale.

Barcode printers which are used by small offices or retailers, as they cannot print on large sheets. They do not have much space to use larger sheets bigger than regular size. Bulk printing is not possible with these printers.

A lot of varieties of barcode printers are available in market in wide price range that is based upon the models, output quality, and services conditions like warranties or after–sales as required by you. If you are looking for barcode printer with advanced features, you have to spend more than what you need to pay for small barcode printer which can be easily placed on your desktop. Barcode printer proves to be helpful for businesses in many ways like distribution or inventory management, or keeping thetrack for sales and purchase and more.

You must seek professional advice before purchasing any barcode printer as they will help you to gauge your needs and help you to find the exact barcode printer that meets you requirements within budget. It must be kept in mind that there different warranties and after-sales services which are available on different models.

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Barcodes Printers Evolve The World Of The Consumer Industry

July 9th, 2010 at 12:42am Under Articles

Barcodes Printers Evolve The World Of The Consumer Industry

The invention of barcode printers evolve the world of the consumer industry by making product monitoring and inventory quick, easy and convenient as well as acting as a security device that gives an accurate way of monitoring shoplifting.

Did you ever wonder how long we have been utilizing the barcode printer in the consumer industry? Regarded as consumer industry’s security device, barcode printers share an indispensable fraction of protecting and classifying tangible merchandise.

Standard barcodes are composed of information readable by machine, having printed parallel lines with numbers found beneath them. Barcode readers or scanners read Barcodes. Barcode printers are computerized tool that is exploited for printing barcode tags or labels. They normally feature a handy and lightweight design. Barcode printers are also employed to print onto the product packaging, which is a costly process. A printed barcode tag can be attached to tangible items like retail and delivery merchandise. Every product that you’ll find in a retail shop these days features a barcode. This series of numbers, together with its price is utilized to identify the merchandise. Store cashiers commonly scan the barcode, which instantly rings up the price of the product and lets them to proceed to the succeeding products without delay. Barcodes makes it easier for retail store managers to keep track of how much supplies are left and eliminates the hours used for monitoring how much was already sold. This too gives a more precise method of monitoring shoplifting.

Prior to the discovery of barcode printers and scanners, store owners of the 1930s spent no less than once a month calculating all products-cans, cartons and packages of items-figuring out how much was sold as well as computing the figures in equivalence to the stock numbers. This was a burdensome task for the storeowners.

Hence, a serious need for a new method was a challenge. A Harvard University’s business student, Wallace Flint, created a thesis in early 1930′s illustrating a new method in which consumers chose their merchandise from a catalogue with puncture punched cards alongside them, which they could rip to take to the till. The card would be placed into a custom-made reader machine, which would deliver the merchandise to the consumer by means of a conveyor belt method. But, the system was a fiasco since the machine was hard to assemble and very pricey. The method would have succeeded theoretically, however in reality consumer business could not meet the expense of the device. As a result, in 1948 the initial stages towards barcodes ultimately began. Philadelphia’s Drexel Institute of Technology’s graduate students, Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver, started to experiment with different sample codes and labeling. During the span of 1940s until 1960s, numerous formats of the barcode were created including the numeralcode. And it was in 1973 that the standard codes for the industry were decided on, UPC. It was instigated in every retail shops, making the barcode system prevalent.

With the progression of computer technology and the development of enhanced barcode printers in our present day, barcodes are popular basis in nearly every retail outlets. Barcodes are also employed to industrial and military-related applications. Countless firms have built up and spawned software to control bar coding. For now the system of bar coding and the utilization of barcode printers remain to be pivotal and will continue to evolve the world of the consumer industry.

RedLaser – UPC/Barcode Scanner for iPhone 3G It fetches the cheapest prices on the web from the barcode using Google Product Search.

Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Managing Inventory Through Mobile Computers and Barcode Printers

July 1st, 2010 at 12:42pm Under Articles

Managing Inventory Through Mobile Computers and Barcode Printers

Inventory management is necessary for every business that wants to maintain a stocking service for quick turnaround to ensure total customer satisfaction. Inventory is managed by analyzing the future requirements of the customer. Managing inventory manually is a huge task for management. How better you serve you customers depends on how efficient your inventory is managed.

Inventory management using mobile computers and barcode printers
Inventory management by using mobile computers and barcode printers improves the accuracy of records and labor productivity. Managing inventory with mobile computers and barcode printers is easy and inexpensive to operate. Utilizing mobile computers and barcode printers helps in fulfilling the expectation of customers, quickly and efficiently.

How mobile computers can help you: Mobile computers can do inventory tracking, order receiving, and picking. Computers track the problematic areas in managing the inventory and help in solving it. When an order is received, the computer tracks the customer information and description of product ordered.

What barcode printers can do: Bar codes make the whole process more accurate and eliminate errors.  The barcode printer can quickly prepare receipts which are accurate and concise. The resulting barcode label generated by the barcode printer enables the process of verifying stock to become simpler and more accurate.

Mobile computers and barcode printers can create direct receipts, labels, and invoices quickly and accurately and which can be used as proof of delivery any future references. They use a variety of label formats, sizes in barcode printing and labeling, provides accurate information and appropriate labels for different products.

The Result:
They provide real time information for the order such as, when the order is placed and when to dispatch it.  This helps in managing business efficiently and improving customer service by providing on time delivery. They can also help in reducing capital expenditure by managing the stock and time spent on managing inventory. As a whole, using mobile computers and barcode printers enhances the productivity by recording and presenting accurate inventory information.

Mobile computers and barcode readers are very useful especially in the competitive global business environment, which is using technology as a driver. The work, which is done manually with huge effort, can easily be done now using mobile computers and barcode readers with accuracy.

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How can I link my new laptop with my desktop and printers, etc.?

March 8th, 2008 at 07:47pm Under Forum

How can I link my new laptop with my desktop and printers, etc.?
I was able to connect my wireless router with the DSL connection to both but I can’t seem to be able to link my printer, copier, scanner, etc. I’d like to be able to do all this wireless. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best answer:

There are a few Ways of doing this
If your running Windows Xp
1st Set up a home network Once setup find your printer In the control panel right click on it go to share follow what it tells you then restart your computer.
2nd Buy a wireless printer Access Point

If you Get stuck Go to your help and support

To connect to a printer on a network
Open Printers and Faxes.
Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer to open the Add Printer Wizard, and then click Next.
Click A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer, and then click Next.
Connect to the desired printer using one of the following three methods. Click a method for instructions.
Search for it in Active Directory.

This method is available if you are logged on to a Windows domain running Active Directory.

Click Find a printer in the directory, and then click Next.
Click the Browse button to the right of Location, click the printer location, and then click OK.
Click Find Now.
Click the printer you want to connect to, and then click OK.
Type the printer name or browse for it.

Click Connect to this printer.
Do one of the following:
Type the printer name using the following format:
\printserver_name\share_name

Browse for it on the network. Click Next, click the printer in Shared printers.
Click Next.
Connect to an Internet or intranet printer.

Using a printer’s URL allows you to connect to a printer across the Internet, provided you have permission to use that printer. If you cannot connect to the printer using the general URL format below, please see your printer’s documentation or contact your network administrator.

Click Connect to a printer on the Internet or on your intranet.
Type the URL to the printer using the following format:
printserver_name/Printers/share_name/.printer

Follow the instructions on the screen to finish connecting to the network printer.
Notes

To open Printers and Faxes, click Start, click Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Printers and Faxes.
You can also connect to a printer by dragging the printer from the Printers folder on the print server and dropping it into your Printers folder, or by right-clicking the icon and then clicking Connect.
Another way to add a printer is to double-click Add Printer. This option is available only if folders are set to the Windows XP classic folder look, and if a printer is not currently selected.
After you have connected to a shared printer on the network, you can use it as if it were attached to your computer.

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Are there home networks available that work with all-in-one printers?

February 15th, 2008 at 10:31am Under Forum

Are there home networks available that work with all-in-one printers?
I’m looking for a home network, which has extra data storage capacity, the capability to both print and save data using a wireless router (Verizon), that will allow me to use my all-in-one OfficeJet 6110 and not interfere with my ability to copy, print, scan, and send and receive faxes. If no such thing exists, does one exist for any all-in-one printer/fax/scanner/copier on the market? (I’m not actually networking two or more computers; I just want to be able to print and save onto an external hard drive using the wireless router I bought a Western Digital NetCenter and a very experienced computer user, who was certain he could get it working, attempted to install it and could not get it to work despite WD and HP support And so I am ready to trash both the NetCenter and my HP all-in-one for a system that allows me to do what I want if such a thing exists.)

Best answer:

The one I use is the D-Link DPR-1260 (see link below). It’s a four-port print server you can either use wired or wirelessly (though I use it wired, I can’t vouch for its wireless performance). Their website reports compatibility with the OfficeJet 6110. Rather than using the scanner as a local device, you use a Web browser to interact with the scanner through the print server.

The vast majority of print servers, whether they’re standalone units or built into something else as is the case with your Western Digital Netcenter, are only designed to understand printing and don’t have the ability to recognize or serve the other capabilities of a multifunction unit. There are, however a few devices out there that support multifunction units. Iogear also makes a print server that supports multifunction units, and Lexmark does as well, that I know of.

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Want 2 replace my olde Canon BJC1000 Bubble Jet printer with an upgrade, but know nothing about printers.?

November 18th, 2007 at 09:02pm Under Forum

Want 2 replace my olde Canon BJC1000 Bubble Jet printer with an upgrade, but know nothing about printers.?
Hi…

As an ex-paratrooper and disabled Vietnam-era vet w/only a 0 a month VA disability pension to live off of, I can’t afford something too expensive—or features I don’t need.

Not a cheapskate, don’t like “cheapiness”…but don’t need to be wasteful and unnecessarily extravagant either.

I want a unit that prints, makes xerox copies and is a FAX machine. Am writer, not into photography and don’t see need for scanner (whatever that is and why).

I want a unit that’s truly solid, really rugged, long-lasting, of reliable quality, with excellent warranty and customer service backup….no mickey mouse stuff.

Figure laser is good, as I need to send quality compositions around—same with the FAX capability—but don’t want to buy a cheap replacement laser every year, either.

Don’t want smudgy/limp FAXes or xeroxes, either.

I’ll spend up to 0 for it. My understanding: HP or EPSON is perfect. I would appreciate recommendations/model #s, etc.

Gratefully……

Best answer:

Try going to wal mart they usually have decent 3 in 1 or 4 in 1 printers.

The quality in printers and how good they are goes in the following order from low to high: 1. dot-matrix printers 2. bubble jet printers 3. ink jet printers 4. laser jet printers.

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Is there a print server that can be used to share two printers and a scanner? Can be wired or wireless.?

October 18th, 2007 at 12:19am Under Forum

Is there a print server that can be used to share two printers and a scanner? Can be wired or wireless.?
Printers are
1. Brother HL-1240
2. HP InkJet 960c

The scanner is a Canon

Best answer:

The new Belkin 802.11g 2-port USB Wireless Print Server.
This useful little device can support two USB printers on either a wired or wireless network (but not both, more on this later). This is a dedicated print server, not a router with some extra functionality. It’s intended for small office environments and comes equipped with WEP encryption to safeguard the privacy of your documents (and your ink) when then are transmitted over a 54Mbps 802.11g connection

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