Posted by Katie Breton on under Labels

STEP 1: Get a GS1 Identification for your Company
This is the first thing you must do when trying to create barcodes for your organization. GS1 identification numbers are special numbers designated by GS1 US for your products and your organization.  These are used to create exclusive numbers for your various products, and your company itself.
STEP 2: Assign your Numbers
After you have established your GS1 Company Prefix, your organization now must decide where your exclusive numbers will be placed.  You will now have GS1 numbers for your business location, the company itself, individual company items, returnable items and logistics units.  Contact Whitlam Group today to find out how we can help make this a simple task.
STEP 3: Decided on a Printing Method for your Barcodes
Next, you need to decide if you will use static or dynamic barcodes and what actual products will need barcodes.  Static barcodes are the barcodes you see on boxes of crackers in the supermarket.  Dynamic barcodes are unique labels, printed for unique reasons.  Whitlam Group recommends contacting their team to find out which barcode is best designed for you.
STEP 4: Select your Principal Scanning Environment
There are four different basic scanning environments used for scanning your products. The specifications of your barcodes all depend upon where your barcode will be scanned.  Contact Whitlam Group to find out which of the scanning environment scenarios (listed below) are best for you and your trade items.
–    Scanned in a general distribution fashion, much like a warehouse
–    Scanned special environments, such as devices used in the medical field
–    Scanned at retail POS (point of sale)
–    Scanned at POS and in distribution
STEP 5: Selecting a Barcode
The next thing you need to do is to decide which barcode is best for your products.  There are a few technical details which must be added to your barcodes, depending on what they will be used for. Each barcode must be accompanied with a specific symbol, based upon how they will be scanned and distributed.  Whitlam Group would love to hear from you, and would love to assist you with the technical issues to select the best barcode for your products.
STEP 6: Selecting the Size for your Barcode
After you have implemented the barcode symbols within your products, the next thing to do is to design the size of your barcodes. As we stated earlier, specific symbols are designated for each type of barcode, the size of this symbol will depend upon the specific symbol, where the symbol is used and how it will be printed.
STEP 7: Formatting Barcode Text
The numbers located below a barcode are very important. They’re important because if the barcode is damaged, or is of bad quality, then these numbers are used as a back-up. These are commonly referred to as Human Readable Interpretation.  These letters, or numbers, can be of any font or size as long as they are readable.  Contact Whitlam Group for assistance with the layout and placement of the Human Readable Interpretation text.
STEP 8: Barcode Color
The most common color configuration for barcodes is black bars with a white background. Other colors and combinations are available, but they are not as common.  Whitlam Group strongly encourages you to contact them to let them help you to establish what color scheme is best for you.
STEP 9: Placement of Barcode
The packaging process is something you need to understand before you decide to place your barcode.  Whitlam Group would be honored to help you with this process, contact them today!
STEP 10: Establish a Quality Plan
If barcodes are used properly, it’s smart to track the information of your items and the products which are associated with your product market. Whitlam Group has ways to help you monitor and observe the quality of your products barcodes. Contact Whitalm Group today to see how we can help with you with everything related to barcodes.