As a specialist in customizing gift cards and loyalty cards for major retailers, SELP has been printing barcodes at high speeds for about twenty years. Jacques Frappier, Head of Quality, Safety, and Environment, discusses how the company has structured its barcode quality control over the years, with the support of CIPAM and OMRON LVS inspectors.
A demanding printing process
SELP customizes gift and loyalty cards in very large volumes for major retail chains, using a combination of inkjet and thermal transfer printing. On this type of production line, even the slightest printing deviation—a clogged nozzle, a fluctuating ink flow, or a change in the distance between the print head and the substrate—can be enough to produce defective barcodes. On a line capable of producing more than 20,000 cards per hour, an undetected deviation can quickly become catastrophic and force the entire batch to be reprinted.
From a simple spot check to a comprehensive quality initiative
About twenty years ago, when SELP began customizing barcodes, the company wasn’t even familiar with the relevant standard: quality control was limited to scanning the barcode with a handheld scanner to ensure it contained the correct data—without assessing its readability class or even always verifying that it was the correct type of barcode. This situation did not last long: SELP partnered with CIPAM to establish a reliable and repeatable quality control process.
“We place the product on a glass surface, which ensures that the sample being tested is always positioned in the same way and at the same distance from the camera. This ensures a certain degree of repeatability in the barcode testing method, something you don’t have when using manual scanning: by fiddling with it, you can alter the reading. Here, we place the sample on the screen and have no choice—the distance and position are always the same.”
— Jacques Frappier, Quality, Safety, and Environment Manager, SELP
Another advantage of this device—the LVS Integra, as it was called at the time—is its accompanying software: the rating and all criteria related to the standard are displayed directly, with the ability to zoom in on the image to understand the cause of a malfunction. The software even highlights defective areas on the barcode on the screen, a feature SELP did not have with its previous software. Thanks to this device, the company was able to enhance its expertise in barcode customization, better understand the causes of defects, and significantly improve its overall quality.
“We appreciate how easy it is to use. Personally, I’m very fond of this device.”
— Jacques Frappier, Quality, Safety, and Environment Manager, SELP
Compliance: A Business Prerequisite
The readability of barcodes is governed by a standard whose rating, formerly expressed as a letter (A through F), is now a numerical grade. Major international SELP clients regularly request barcode quality control certificates: OMRON LVS verifiers allow test reports to be generated directly and provided upon request.
“Not having a device like this would be grounds for exclusion in my view, because our customers would hold it against us if we weren’t able to provide monitoring.”
— Jacques Frappier, Quality, Safety, and Environment Manager, SELP
Intensive monitoring, as close as possible to each line
SELP has chosen to equip each of its four production lines with an OMRON LVS verifier, so that operators can easily perform self-checks at regular intervals—every 15 minutes—in addition to the on-machine camera inspections, which are less accurate due to the speed at which the cards pass by. Since the company operates on a three-shift, eight-hour schedule, this amounts to approximately 500 measurements per day per device: equipment that is in constant use.
This inspection significantly reduces the risk of scrap. If a defect is detected, production is halted until the cause is identified; depending on the severity, the batch is either approved with exceptions or scrapped.
The inspection also serves to ensure the proper start of each new production run: the first personalized card in a batch is systematically compared to a reference template (“approved for personalization”) validated by the customer, in order to verify that the correct barcode type has been used.
A Relationship Based on Trust with CIPAM
Beyond the performance of the equipment, Jacques Frappier emphasizes the quality of the long-standing relationship with CIPAM, with the same team managing the SELP account:
“The people handling our account are always the same; they’re very pleasant and truly dedicated to serving us. When we call, there’s no problem—we get an immediate response over the phone, which isn’t the case with other suppliers. We have a dedicated French contact person: we’re known and recognized at CIPAM. We have a wide variety of measuring instruments, and the only testing equipment supplier with whom I have this kind of direct relationship over the phone is CIPAM.”
— Jacques Frappier, Quality, Safety, and Environment Manager, SELP
Key Takeaways
- From a simple spot check with a handheld spray gun to a repeatable measurement (glass substrate, constant distance and position).
- Software that displays the rating, the standard’s criteria, and identifies the defective areas on the barcode.
- Certificates of compliance generated directly, as required by major clients.
- One inspector per line, a self-check every 15 minutes, 3 shifts of 8 hours each: approximately 500 measurements per day per machine.
- A check to ensure the correct barcode type is used at the start of each production run.
- A relationship built on trust with the same CIPAM team, which is praised for its responsiveness and close collaboration.
Do you also need to ensure that your mass-produced barcodes comply with ISO standards? Check out our OMRON LVS-9510 and LVS-9580 verifiers.