In the field of computing, a printer is considered a peripheral device that serves the purpose of creating a permanent representation of text or graphics, usually on paper. While the majority of outputs produced by printers are readable by humans, there are instances where barcode printers have found a utility beyond this traditional use. Different types of printers are available for use, including inkjet printers, thermal printers, laser printers, and 3D printers.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromagnetic interrogation pulse from a nearby RFID reader device, the tag transmits digital data, usually an identifying inventory number, back to the reader. This number can be used to track inventory goods.
A label is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed directly on a container or article can also be considered labelling.
Avery Dennison Corporation is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials, apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. The company is a member of the Fortune 500 and is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio.
A label printer is a computer printer that prints on self-adhesive label material and/or card-stock (tags). A label printer with built-in keyboard and display for stand-alone use is often called a label maker. Label printers are different from ordinary printers because they need to have special feed mechanisms to handle rolled stock, or tear sheet (fanfold) stock. Common connectivity for label printers include RS-232 serial, Universal Serial Bus (USB), parallel, Ethernet and various kinds of wireless. Label printers have a wide variety of applications, including supply chain management, retail price marking, packaging labels, blood and laboratory specimen marking, and fixed assets management.
Open XML Paper Specification is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format. Microsoft developed it as the XML Paper Specification (XPS). In June 2009, Ecma International adopted it as international standard ECMA-388.
In the distribution and logistics of many types of products, track and trace or tracking and tracing concerns a process of determining the current and past locations of a unique item or property. Mass serialization is the process that manufacturers go through to assign and mark each of their products with a unique identifier such as an Electronic Product Code (EPC) for track and trace purposes. The marking or "tagging" of products is usually completed within the manufacturing process through the use of various combinations of human readable or machine readable technologies such as DataMatrix barcodes or RFID.
Converting companies are companies that specialize in modifying or combining raw materials such as polyesters, adhesives, silicone, adhesive tapes, foams, plastics, felts, rubbers, liners and metals, as well as other materials, to create new products.
Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset lithography, and inkjet. By electronic-industry standards, these are low-cost processes. Electrically functional electronic or optical inks are deposited on the substrate, creating active or passive devices, such as thin film transistors; capacitors; coils; resistors. Some researchers expect printed electronics to facilitate widespread, very low-cost, low-performance electronics for applications such as flexible displays, smart labels, decorative and animated posters, and active clothing that do not require high performance.
Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) is an adhesive interconnect system that is commonly used in liquid crystal display manufacturing to make the electrical and mechanical connections from the driver electronics to the glass substrates of the LCD. The material is also available in a paste form referred to as anisotropic conductive paste (ACP), and both are grouped together as anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACAs). ACAs have more recently been used to perform the flex-to-board or flex-to-flex connections used in handheld electronic devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, or in the assembly of CMOS camera modules.
Smart Label, also called Smart Tag, is an extremely flat configured transponder under a conventional print-coded label, which includes chip, antenna and bonding wires as a so-called inlay. The labels, made of paper, fabric or plastics, are prepared as a paper roll with the inlays laminated between the rolled carrier and the label media for use in specially-designed printer units.
Hot stamping or foil stamping is a printing method of relief printing in which pre-dried ink or foils are transferred to a surface at high temperatures. The method has diversified since its rise to prominence in the 19th century to include a variety of processes. After the 1970s, hot stamping became one of the most important methods of decoration on the surface of plastic products.
Roll slitting is a shearing operation that cuts a large roll of material into narrower rolls. There are two types of slitting: log slitting and rewind slitting. In log slitting the roll of material is treated as a whole and one or more slices are taken from it without an unrolling/re-reeling process. In rewind slitting the web is unwound and run through the machine, passing through knives or lasers, before being rewound on one or more shafts to form narrower rolls. The multiple narrower strips of material may be known as mults or pancakes if their diameter is much more than their width. For rewind slitting the machine used is called a slitter rewinder, a slitter or a slitting machine – these names are used interchangeably for the same machines. For particularly narrow and thin products, the pancakes become unstable, and then the rewind may be onto a bobbin-wound reel: the rewind bobbins are much wider than the slit width and the web oscillates across the reel as it is rewound. Apart from the stability benefit it is also then possible to put very long lengths,, onto one bobbin.
Checkpoint Systems is an American company that specializes in loss prevention and merchandise visibility for retail companies. It makes products that allow retailers to check inventory, quicken the replenishment cycle, prevent out-of-stocks and reduce theft. Checkpoint offers Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) radio frequency solutions for retail, high-theft and loss-prevention solutions, RFID hardware, software, and labeling capabilities.
FLEXcon is a worldwide manufacturer of pressure-sensitive film products for applications that include indoor and outdoor advertising, product identification and safety/hazard labels, bar coded labels, primary labels and bonding/mounting. FLEXcon also develops custom solutions to meet unique converting or application needs. The company is headquartered in Spencer, Massachusetts, and has operations throughout North America and Europe, with distribution worldwide.
Produce traceability makes it possible to track produce from its point of origin to a retail location where it is purchased by consumers.
CYBRA Corporation is a software developer, publisher, and systems integrator in the IBM midrange market. CYBRA provides bar codes, RFID, and RTLS systems for IBM Power Systems and other server lines and other major computing platforms, bar code label and tag printing, and bar code scanning systems.
The ucode system is an identification number system that can be used to identify things in the real world uniquely. Digital information can be associated with objects and places, and the associated information can be retrieved by using ucode.
Pressure-sensitive tape or pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is an adhesive tape that will stick with application of pressure, without the need for a solvent or heat for activation. It is known also in various countries as self-stick tape, sticky tape, or just adhesive tape and tape, as well as genericized trademarks, such as Sellotape, Durex (tape), Scotch tape, etc.
Security tape is a type of adhesive tape used to help reduce shipping losses due to pilfering and theft. It helps reduce tampering or product adulteration. Often it is a pressure sensitive tape or label with special tamper resistant or tamper evident features. It can be used as a ‘’security seal’’ in addition to a container closure or can be used as a security label. They are sometimes used as or with authentication products and can be an anti-pilferage seal.
