Quality in a square: the QR Code

At present, many enterprises are in the process of discovering the QR Code: the square, two-dimensional symbol started to appear on countless packages or posters recently. QR codes permit rapid access to supplementary information about the product via internet. To this effect, the user directs the cellular phone towards the code, photographs it, the cellular phone decodes the message and connects to the appropriate website. With the printer m600 advanced made by Wolke Inks & Printers, QR codes can be printed on packaging directly.

Wolke has established itself as a specialist for track & trace in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. The market leader for maintenance-free coding systems with HP technology constantly continues to develop its products and has now included the QR code into the range of the printing system m600 advanced. Wolke is presenting the application at the Technopharm Fair to be held in Nuremberg from 11 to 13 October. The company has already recorded enormous interest in the innovation in the run-up to the event.

Entire industries are enthusiastic about the innumerable options of innovative symbol. In the food industry, the QR code is especially popular, primarily to communicate further information about products. Thus, the discounter Aldi Süd will be printing the code on pork specialities as of January 2012. This is to give the customer information about the product history, because according to Aldi, ”Buying meat is a matter of trust”. Thus, the QR code is intended to provide transparency about the way from the farm to the POS for the customer.

The coding system Wolke m600 advanced prints QR codes directly on packages or other suitable substrates such as labels. The print system is a multi-talent. The print heads are available in various models to suit the various assembly and space requirements. To date, the variable data which can be printed have included the best-before date, barcodes, 2D Datamatrix codes, logos and batch numbers.

The creative deployment of QR codes can give rise to spectacular success: Thus, for example, the British supermarket chain Tesco has replicated a virtual supermarket in a South Korean tube station. There, the QR codes of the goods can be scanned using the smartphone, and placed in a virtual shopping cart. The purchased goods are delivered home by the evening. Since the beginning of this campaign, the number of registered users in the provider’s webshop has increased 120 percent.

QR stands for “quick response“, which makes the code so popular. The symbol can be read with all commercially available mobile phones and PDAs which integrate a camera and software which enables reading of QR codes.

For the user, the QR code is the access to a new world. Useful and exciting supplementary information can be retrieved at no cost, flexibly and as quick as lightning. Completely variable media contents can be connected to the code. Regional railway schedules or film trailers – many applications are feasible and are already used with success today.

Source: Wolke Inks & Printers GmbH


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