Best printer/setup for bar label stickers?

[Martin F]

Hi there,

We've been asked by a customer to print bar label stickers and attach to our product, according to a set of specifications they provide.
The labels have to be incl. a unique serial no for each product and all info is to be encrypted into a 2D bar code data matrix.

Two questions:
1) Do you have a good suggestion for a printer for bar labels? (46 mm x 21 mm)
2) Do any of you have suggestions for how to best manage the production of unique labels ala this at scale - do you script it, do it via Excel or something else?

Thanks a lot,
Martin

[woody]

I use a Brother PT-9700PC to generate labels with a QR code containing an URL and a serial number. That serial number is generated automatically when the labels are printed. This is scripted in the P-touch software.

It does barcodes in a lot of formats but I never used that. The P-touch software has a lot of nifty features to get data out of files into labels. Look at their website for an example: http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=3600eus&faqid=faqp00001040_003

AFAIK the maximum label height (tape width) is 36 mm, don't know if that is enough for your purposes.

[fcb]

I use a Brother QL-500 and P750W for labels.  Mainly because they've never failed me and the editor software is fairly powerful (generates labels from spreadsheets and databases) and seems easy to use.  But then I haven't used anything else in the last 10 years, so no idea what the competition is like.

When the QL-500 eventually fails (I bought it in 2008) then i'll just replace it with a new one - there seems to be about a half-dozen models to choose from.

And like woody, I use barcodes no problem.  Just tried the QR, MicroQR and Maxicode (for shipping) - all work fine.  There are 18 and 24mm TZe tapes available for the P750W, but no 21mm wide.

Avery make great labels, but I haven't tried their latest software (Design&Print) - but this might be do the 2D barcodes etc.. This will certainly be the cheapest way to mass produce these labels.

[Gribo]

What is the daily volume?