Unfortunately, our client was made aware of this requirement about three weeks before the first store was scheduled to open.   They were steered to PaladinID by our good friends at Honeywell Imaging and Mobility.   Honeywell offers a product specifically designed for this application called the Image Kiosk 8560.  The 8560 is a Windows based terminal with an integrated bar code scanner the uses Adaptus Imaging Technology for reading 1D and 2D bar codes. 

    PaladinID then reached out to our partner PSS Products for the software link between the 8560 and the client’s POS application Island Pacific’s OnePointe.  PSS Products has a wealth of experience in dealing with Island Pacific software but also in implementing price look-up applications for other retail clients. 

    With the timely help of our distributor partner Scansource,  PaladinID was able to supply the 8560 to PSS Products who were able to load and test the software and deliver the finished product to our client in about a week!  If you are in the retail space and have a similar problem give us a call – because that’s what PaladinID does - solve problems!

Well, we have another client with a similar business problem – ensuring that the bar codes they print on their products are scannable by their end user customers.  However, this application differs in that the labels are printed in a peel and present mode and then manually applied to the product.  So, the after market Printronix device was not an appropriate solution. 

 We consulted with Bruce McDowell at Datamax who recommended the H class thermal transfer printer with an on-board linear scanning device option.  This high performance 300 DPI printer employs a CCD scanner to monitor bar code scannability as it is being printed.  The user can set a series of thresholds including bar code type, number of bar codes present or minimum number of good reads that must be met by the scanned bar code label.  If the bar code does not pass, the user also has a number of remedies to choose including re-printing the label or simply stopping the printer.     

While this solution does not provide true ANSI bar code verification it is about half the price of those devices and does provide simple bar code validation which is more than adequate in this and many other applications.  We will piloting this device with our client in a few weeks – so, more on this solution later.

We also got the opportunity to meet with Kathi Phelps at IIMAK, the ribbon manufacturer, who graciously took us to lunch.  PaladinID and IIMAK have a relationship that goes back to when Dana started the company.  We got an opportunity to tour the plant and meet the sales and marketing staff at headquarters in Amherst NY.   

We also met with Jeff Bertrand at JH Bertrand in Buffalo.  JH Bertrand is a manufacturer of expansion labels – they are the labels that attach to products and fold out to accommodate a lot of information.  We are excited about the prospects for this new product line as it should be a good fit for a number of our existing customers.

Then it was back to the Falls for Dana so he could continue his family vacation and 7 hours of windshield time for me back to Medfield on I-90.

     We were ably assisted by three of our reseller partners.  Neal Berenson of Datalogic served booth duty with us on Wednesday and took us to dinner at a great place called the Monument Grill located, of all places, in Leominster. Thanks Neal!  Ed Riley of Honeywell Imaging helped with demo gear and his affable presence on Thursday.  Thanks Ed!  And Jay Lauer from Opticon pitched in with some marketing funds.. Thanks Jay!  

     And lastly, thanks to Mike Moscato at our distribution partner Bluestar for making available a Datamax M class printer for display.