Verifying Bar Codes on the Packaging Line

In-line bar code verification to ISO standards may soon be feasible for typical blister packaging lines. At a recent bar coding conference in Philadelphia organized by Barnett International, Webscan Inc. (Brentwood, NY) demonstrated an engineering prototype for verifying Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) and Composite bar codes printed on unit-dose blister packaging. 

�Customers using our off-line systems have been asking us to devise a system for use on the packaging line,� explains Webscan president Glenn Spitz. �We have been working on such a system, one that will address verifying all cells of a blister package.�

For in-line verification to work, Spitz says that new technology is in order. �To move from off-line to in-line verification, we need to be able to capture the image of a fast-moving package, process it, and get ready for the next image. It requires new software and hardware, including technology that precisely controls the optical arrangement of illumination, lens, and camera.� 

Spitz reports that the system will enter beta testing in September on a blister packaging line currently in operation at a Webscan customer facility.