As a nation we are all used to seeing barcodes in the retail sector. They have become a ubiquitous part of daily life.
A barcode is a form of data, which is readable by a machine, which provides information about the object to which it is attached. It is classically made up of varying widths and spacing of vertical lines, although recent evolutions include rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns.
In the retail sector many items now come with labels already containing the item’s barcode, but the uses of barcodes has extended far from groceries, reaching many new modern applications. Consequently the manner in which items are labelled with a barcode also evolves. In some of the new alternative uses, being able to use pre-printed barcodes can provide convenience and flexibility of use.
Pre-printed barcode labels can be used in many ways, including but by no means limited to the following areas:
• Relabeling previously barcoded items
• Medical care for patient identification (such as wrist bands, patient notes, report and records)
• Aviation for tracking items, such as baggage (or even passengers) through airport terminals
• Document management, for which the potential is endless