Barcodes, Compliance Labeling and NiceLabel
The installation of NiceLabel comes with many different compliance label templates that address your printing application needs in a fast and effective way. This Sales Tip will explain some of the compliance labels, introduce some standard barcodes used in compliance templates, show what they are used for, and provide an introduction on how they are designed in NiceLabel.
There are hundreds of compliance labels and barcodes out there. For this particular Sales Tip, the three examples we chose to cover are as follows:
- SSCC
- DoD
- AIAG
SSCC
SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) is a common barcode that is used to identify items that are shipped. The SSCC barcode is typically a GS1-128 barcode that contains an application identifier of (00). The data in the barcode is comprised of three separate values that equal a total length of 17 digits. The total length of the data in the barcode (including the check digit) cannot be longer than 18 digits. The fields in the barcode are encoded in the order below:
- Shipping Container Type (Numeric Format – 1 digit – fixed length)
- UCC/EAN Manufacturer ID Number (Numeric Format - 15 digits MAX)
- Serial Number(Numeric Format - 15 digits MAX)
Typically, when a SSCC barcode is required for a label design, the label template will be designed to match a specific standard unique to a particular customer and not a national or international organization. Since SSCC is specific to a barcode standard and not a labeling standard, the label can be designed to match any customer's specific need.
DoD
DoD (Department of Defense) has many different rules and regulations on how to label items; however, the complexity is not the design of the label template. The complexity is found in the way the data is encoded in the barcode. Most of the DoD label templates use standard barcode types such as:
- Linear Barcodes
- Code39 Full ASCII
- Code128
- Two Dimensional Barcodes
- DataMatrix
Within these standard barcodes, the data is formulated in a specific way so that DoD proprietary applications can read them quickly and efficiently. Not only is the person designing the labels conforming to the very specific requirements put in place by the Department of Defense, they also have to conform to the rules and regulations put in place for each barcode format. This ensures that the data intended to be used is the correct data allowed for the specified barcode type.
AIAG
AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group) is an organization that created a standard of labeling centered on quality in the North American Automotive Industry. The AIAG standard has put into place rules that explain very specifically how labels are to be applied to parts that are sent to automotive manufacturers.
A typical AIAG label contains barcodes that use the Code39 barcode standard. Also, each value represented by a barcode on the label has a specific prefix that is applied. This prefix allows any AIAG specific application to easily and quickly recognize what the field scanned is. As an example, the "Quantity" field on the label template has a human readable value of '600000'; however, the barcode is encoded as 'Q600000'. This system of prefixes ensures that there will be no other field on the label that will have a 'Q' as a prefix except the Quantity field.
For more information about the AIAG standard and how to use NiceLabel to design and print these labels, click here.
Conclusion
As you can see, NiceLabel provides the user was a starting point to easily accomplish compliance labeling requirements. There are many more compliance label templates out there that offer a good starting point for your label design projects. Contact Niceware International today to see how we can help you get started!
Version 5 Brochures and Flyers
Download brochures and flyers to learn more about the NiceLabel software or forward the .PDF files to your customers.Standard Series
- Brochure: NiceLabel Standard Series-Overview Brochure
- Sell Sheets (flyers): NiceLabel Suite, NiceLabel Pro, NiceLabel Express, Pocket NiceLabel, NiceLabel RFID, Integrating Label Printing with NiceLabel, NiceLabel Standard Series-Technical Specifications, NiceLabel Product Family
- ZIP file (all in one): NiceLabel Single Flyers v5 (.ZIP file)
Enterprise Series
- Brochure: NiceLabel Enterprise Series-Overview Brochure
- Sell Sheets (flyers): NL Print Center flyer, NWatch Enterprise flyer
- ZIP file (all in one): NiceLabel Enterprise Series Brochures and Flyers (.ZIP file)
