When it comes to proof of delivery (POD) documents, invoices, payment receipts, pick lists and other documents, choosing the right materials to print them on is of the utmost importance.

Direct thermal paper is much different than standard paper—it contains chemicals that allow the paper to produce an image once heat is applied, and there are many different formulations to choose from. While the materials may look the same, the chemical consistency of the material affects its resistance to external factors, such as moisture and heat. In fact, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration when choosing thermal paper to best suite your needs.

Heat
When temperatures exceed 140˚ F, direct thermal materials will chemically react and become unreadable. If documents are left in vehicles, where the internal temperature can reach 150˚F in the summer, special consideration needs to be taken. Some thermal materials are formulated to withstand higher temperatures, so think about how and where you will be using them before choosing.

Moisture
If your documents will be exposed to moisture, either because they are issued outdoors or will be stored in a humid area, it’s important to select paper with additional moisture resistance or a synthetic material.

Thickness
Thicker paper is generally more durable and perceived to be higher quality, but the thicker the material, the less of it there is per roll, resulting in fewer documents that can be printed before needing to change the roll. Consider how often staff will be able to take the time to change the roll vs. your desired level of thickness.

Archivability
If you are going to need to store and reference documents for a long period of time, you need to choose a durable paper and store it under the proper conditions.

Topcoating
While all thermal papers have a basecoat and a thermal coat, not all have a topcoat, which provides an extra layer of protection. They can even be formulated to provide protection against specific things, such as water, sunlight or humidity.

Once you decide where your document will need to be and what it will need to be exposed to, you can choose a material that will best suite your needs. Zebra Technologies offers a large selection of thermal materials, both paper and synthetic that will be able to support all of your documents’ needs. Learn more about their product offering.

Discover how an ID badge printer played a crucial role in the sport of dragon boat racing.

The International Dragon Boat Federation, the governing body for the team water sport of dragon boat racing, holds various races through the year. When competitors arrived at a race, they would receive a cardboard card with their name typed on it, and it often ended up falling in the water, being destroyed. Each championship had a different way of producing these name cards, using different databases.

The International Dragon Boat Federation needed a solution to track and identify competitors across all of their competitions. After hearing about Zebra Technologies, they contacted them for a solution. Zebra suggested their ZXP Series 3 Zebra Printer, a best-in-class thermal card printer.

After consolidating all of the databases into one, the International Dragon Boat Federation can now print a common card with competitors’ information, photo and even a PIN number that stays with them throughout their racing career. Best of all, since it’s plastic, it’s waterproof.

Dave Bangs, a dragon boat racing competitor, believes that the ID cards add professionalism to the sport, in addition for making it easier and saving time for boat marshals to check IDs.

Watch the video below to see the dragon boats—and the ID cards—in action.

You may not think of your barcode printer often—until it breaks down. When your barcode printer breaks down, it can have a sever impact on your throughput, potentially damaging your reputation.

Even if your barcode printer is still under warranty, it can take days—even weeks—to ship your barcode printer, have repairs done and get it back, leaving you without a barcode printer and out of luck.

Rather than take a risk, why wait? Did you know that Barcoding Inc. offers on-site barcode printer repair? Your barcode printer could be working the same day—no shipping or waiting necessary!

In addition to barcode printer repair, Barcoding Inc. also offers maintenance services, such as cleaning, diagnostics check and speed tests, to prevent printers from breaking down.

Don’t be caught without your barcode printer—contact us for more information on barcode printer repair and maintenance.

The manufacturing and materials handling industry demands harsh environments, mobility and little room for error or wasted time. Mobile barcode printers are key in the manufacturing and materials handling industry because printing barcode labels, rather than handwriting information, saves time and increases accuracy.

Using a barcode printer helps keep a better record to ensure products and materials get where they need to when they need to be there. In addition, keeping track of inventory on-the-go is crucial to accurate production cycles and manufacturing output.

Using barcode labels and a mobile barcode printer reduces error and offers a superior workflow to manual methods.

Learn about more manufacturing and materials handling solutions that can save time, money and increase overall efficiencies.

Intermec recently announced their latest barcode printers—the PC43d and PC43t desktop printers.

The PC43d is a 4-inch direct thermal printer, ideal for those in the transportation industry, designed for easy use at customer sites and for shipping labels.

The PC43t is a 4-inch thermal transfer printer and is ideal for those in the manufacturing industry, optimized for fast printing of work in process and shipping labels.

Both printers are easy to use, feature a color lcd, connectivity options, one-handed media loading and user-installable accessories.

Learn more about Intermec’s latest super printers.