DC Velocity - IdeaBook 2014

S lap a smudged bar-code label on a carton and the chances are pretty good that your customer will slap a fine on you. That’s the reality for many suppliers these days, particularly if they ship to large and medium-sized companies.

And it’s not just smudges suppliers have to worry about. Today’s buyers have become downright picky about the way their shipments are coded and labeled. Not only do they want their suppliers to use a certain type of bar-code symbol, which generally varies by industry, but they’re also likely to mandate a specific label format, type, and placement on a carton or pallet.

The penalties for failure to comply with the buyer’s specifications can be steep. Jack Householder, a partner in the firm Quad II Inc., says he knows of companies that have been hit with fines as high as $10,000.

As for why customers have become so fussy about
their bar codes, you can blame automation. More and
more companies are turning to automated receiving
systems, which typically operate within very strict tol-
erances when it comes to reading codes. For instance,
in order for a fixed-position scanner to read a bar code
on a carton traveling down a conveyor, the label has
to be in a certain spot and the image crisp and clear.
Anything less is bound to slow operations and cost the
receiver money.

“If the receiving side has an automated system in
place, [it will] just kick out the boxes [it] can’t read,”
says Householder. “They then have to put the infor-
mation in manually. That’s how charges can add up so
quickly.”
How do you avoid paying those fines? We asked
several experts for advice. What follows are their rec-
ommendations on ways to ensure bar-code compliance:

1 Know exactly what the customer requires. Industries uch as automotive, health care, and retail have adopted standardized symbologies for bar codes as well as standards regarding label size and placement. But that doesn’t mean suppliers can assume that meeting those standards equates to compliance. Many customers in those industries still have their own individual requirements for label format and placement, says Andy Verb, president of Bar Code Graphics Inc., a firm that specializes in bar-code products and compliance solutions.