Unique new free online barcode problem-solver from Sick UK

25 February 2013

Sick has launched CodeCalc, a unique new website and smartphone app to facilitate barcode identification and specification, helping to ensure users get the most from their barcode scanners and readers.

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CodeCalc provides a comprehensive and easy-to-use guide to ensuring users maximise the potential of their barcode applications.

By calculating the x-dimension accurately the correct scanner can be purchased.

“As one of the leading suppliers of barcode readers and scanners, Sick is often approached to solve problems related to ineffective or unreliable barcode systems,” says Tim Stokes, AutoIdent product specialist for SICK UK. “All too often when scanning errors occur, users struggle to work out why.

“The CodeCalc website is a simple, best-practice guide to barcodes, providing users with help to ensure code integrity as well as to buying the correct device for the barcodes they are using.”

CodeCalc provides a range of free help and support that, for example, can help users to identify their barcode type or spot simple faults in a barcode that can be put right quite easily. By solving the problem themselves, they could save the cost of an engineer callout or of buying an unnecessarily expensive scanner.

CodeCalc enables the user to make an accurate specification for the fixed scanning readers they need for their application, by providing a comprehensive guide to all code types. With the mobile phone app, users enter the number of dark bars and code length in mm. Codecalc tells you the minimum bar size (x dimension), essential for correctly specifying a suitable reader. Users can scan the barcode automatically to perform the cell size calculation needed to identify the correct code type. A brief explanation of the best applications for each code also helps the specifier to choose.

CodeCalc includes a list of the 10 most common mistakes that could save downtime or a call out, for example the lack of quiet zones on the barcodes, missing pixels that invalidate it, or poor product orientation. A number of short videos on the website demonstrate best practice in using and commissioning scanners.

Many queries about barcoding and scanning faults can be solved in minutes with CodeCalc. The app can be downloaded to any Android smartphone, so the program is available off-line in a factory environment.

To download the CodeCalc app visit http://codecalc.weebly.com

For more information on Sick barcode readers and scanners, please contact Andrea Hornby on 01727 831121 or email andrea.hornby@sick.co.uk.