The new year brings about an exciting January, filled with events for AIDC industry professionals, such as:

National Retail Federation (NRF) – Retail’s Big Show 2010
When: January 10-13, 2010
Where: Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY
Description: NRF will feature an array of mobile barcode scanning and computing solutions for retailers. Barcoding Inc. will be represented in booths 1623 (Motorola), 564 (Psion Teknologix) and 1803 (Honeywell). For more information, visit the NRF show website.

The Widest Range of Compact OEM 2D Imagers in the Market
When: January 15, 2010
Where: Podcast
Description: Intermec technologies will be hosting a podcast in order to introduce the EA21 and EA20X 2D barcode imagers and show how they can affect your business. Register here.

Total Asset Visibility (TAV) – 6th Total Asset Visibility for Defense
When: January 25-27, 2010,
Where: Sheraton National Hotel Arlington, Arlington, VA
Description: 6th Total Asset Visibility for Defense will discuss the technologies needed to meet the ever-changing challenges of DoD supply chain management. For more information, visit their website.

How Smart Printing Powers Profitability
When: January 29, 2010
Where: Podcast
Description: Intermec technologies is hosting a webinar in order to educate on smart barcode printers and their applications. Register here.

The LXE MX9 and MX9CS are ultra-rugged handheld computers designed for use in industrial and outdoor data collection environments. The MX9 boasts best-in-class performance with high reliability for a handheld computing solution. Some features of the MX9 include:

• GPS receivers for positional location applications
• Outdoor display
• Multiple scanning and imaging options
• Back-lit keypads
• 802.11 a/b/g, WWAN and Bluetooth connectivity options

The LXE MX9 also has an IP67 rating and rugged packaging specifically engineered for harsh outdoor environments. For cold environments, the MX9CS includes low-temperature batteries and built-in heater control capabilities. LXE Toughtalk technology, which allows for voice recognition, is also provided with both devices.

If you’ve used the LXE MX9 or MX9CS, how do you think it compares to other rugged devices?

Healthcare providers throughout the world have been implementing Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) systems in order to ensure traceability of their surgical instruments, improve patient safety and optimize asset management. An area of particular concern was the instrument reprocessing cycle, particularly to and from sterilization. Ultimately, the goal of the system is to save costs through a more efficient process and better asset management.

Healthcare providers have already started to implement two-dimensional barcodes directly on their surgical instruments. Because of this, the GS1 Healthcare established a group to develop appropriate industry standards, which underwent the GS1 Global Standards Management Process (GSMP) and Application Standards for Small Medical/Surgical Instrument Marking have now been established. The implementation of this standard is definitely a significant accomplishment towards the goal of improving patient safety.

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The United States Postal Service (USPS) Intelligent Mail Barcode is a relatively new symbology used to track and sort letters. It combines all of the information of POSTNET and PLANET sybmologies, in addition to allowing for additional information, all while maintaining the size of a standard POSTNET symbol. Thus, the Intelligent Mail barcode expands the ability to better track individual pieces of mail, providing customers with greater visibility.

How It Works
The Intelligent Mail barcode is a height-modulated, 31-digit barcode that uses four different types of vertical bars—full, tracker, ascender and descender.

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The National Guard has a Pre-Mobilization Training Assistance Element (PTAE) program for those alerted for active duty deployment in order to ensure soldiers are properly trained and equipped before going to war.

For years, the PTAE process was paper-based, requiring soldiers to complete a sign-in roster proving they were present for training. The date, task, evaluator, trainer, commander and soldier’s identification also had to be documented on paper. This generated over 900,000 pieces of paper for just one PTAE session. Once all of the data was gathered, it was logged into a Microsoft Excel document, which was a very time consuming and wasteful process.

Under the direction of The Arkansas Inspector General (IG), the Arkansas National Guard automated their documentation process by creating a Microsoft Excel Training Tracker Workbook and barcodes for tasks required for Pre-Mobilization. An in-house software system was developed to identify each task’s barcode and personal Common Access Card (CAC). Next, they looked for a mobile computer that would be able to survive in the field, have an efficient operating system, and could last throughout the day in order to meet all of their data capture needs.

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