You may have noticed these black & white barcodes popping up on print ads, billboards and products. What actually are they? These codes are called QR Codes – QR stands for Quick Reference.

They are a 2 dimensional matrix code which is essentially a 2 dimensional Barcode. Denso Wave created the codes in 1994 for  use in the Toyata car manufacturing plants.

QR Codes are scanned by a mobile smart phone and provide the user with a range of different information, this could be a link through to a website, phone number, product information, specials, nutritional information etc. These codes will bring changes to the way we shop and communicate in the future. Keep an eye out for them and have your smart phone ready!

To generate a QR Code visit: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Introducing the B-EX series – a premium range of industrial printers for a wide variety of applications with a mid-range price tag, enhanced performance, serviceability and truly green credentials. This is the replacement model for the B-SX4 printer

• Energy Star rated.
• Uses 40% less power in standby mode than existing Toshiba Printers.
• 200 DPI or 300DPI  models.
• Print speed up to 14 inches per second.
• USB and Lan connection as standard.
• Easy replacement, snap in and out Thermal Heads and Platen Rollers .

Download the latest brochure here: Toshiba B-EX4T1 or visit  Toshiba  for more details. We will have a  B-EX4T1 available for demo in the next few weeks, contact us to arrange a time to see this new printer.

Let’s say you had a pet Zebra that wandered into a wildlife refuge in Kenya. How would you be able to identify him from all the other zebras? Zebras all tend to look exactly the same. Thanks to Tanya Berger-Wolf at the University of Illinois-Chicago, your chances of finding your missing Zebra are now much better than you may have thought. It all comes down to their stripes:

Click here to see the video.

If you require your products to stand out from the rest. Talk to us today about barcoding your products, printing barcodes or scanning barcodes. We have have many different solutions for you.

 Active Labelling wishes you a happy New Year, we hope you have had a relaxing holiday break.

We are now open for 2011 and looking forward to working with you during the year. We hope 2011 is a prosperous year for all businesses and especially the businesses recovering from the Canterbury Earthquake.

If you have any questions in regards to your labelling requirements, talk to us today as we are always here to help.

TSC Printers have just announced the launch of their new site www.tscprinters.com.  You will find product information which has been helpfully arranged into industry sectors plus news, testimonals, downloads and much more.

Active Labelling is a direct importer of TSC printers and we have over 1000 TSC printers in operation throughout a wide range of industries, nationwide. They are a very cost effective and reliable print solution.

To see if a TSC printer is right for your labelling requirments, contact us today.

It is business as usual for Active Labelling. Our buildings, staff and families are okay. We hope all of our customers  have come through the quake as best as possible. Please talk to us today if there is anything we can help you with.

Our Label Bureau can help you with barcoding your retail products. If you require a GS1 EAN 13 for your actual product or a GS1 EAN 128 for your cartons, we can help.

If you are not already a member of GS1 New Zealand, this is where you will need to start, check out www.gs1nz.org for more information.

The next step is to supply us with your barcode numbers, a product description and you may want to include a price or any other information. We setup the barcodes on the actual labels and we then supply you with a proof and a verification report. This then goes to GS1 for approval and once approved we provide you with the required quantity of labels and then you are ready to dispatch your product. We provide a fast, cost efficient turn around and we aim to make this process as easy as possible for you.

If you are interested in our Label Bureau or if you require further information about barcoding or labelling, please contact us today, we are more than happy to help you.

GS1 Barcode Guide: http://www.gs1.org/barcodes/technical/bar_code_types#gallery

 Active has sponsored the team bibs for the Saracens Under 8 rugby team for the last 3 years. We wish the boys well for the 2010 season – give it heaps!

In John Key’s 2010 Budget, New Zealand GST (Goods & Service Tax) will be changing from 12.5% to 15% on the 1st October 2010. For all businesses with retail pricing this may mean you need to replace your pricing labels instore. 

 Contact us today to find out how we can help you with your re-labelling requirements.

We thought we would share some of the latest work that our Label Bureau has printed. World Cuisine came to Active Labelling needing food product labels for their new restaurant quality frozen meals. We have produced a product name label, with a description of the meal and a label with the nutrition information, ingredients and heating instructions.

World Cuisine’s meals  are prepared in small batches using traditional methods and fresh produce. Their meals are frozen so they don’t have to use preservatives. From traditional to modern fusion they select the best recipes to give you healthy balanced meals that are free of all additives, lower in fat, sugar and salt – the way we know food should be. For more information or to order these great meals visit www.worldcuisine.co.nz.

Stephen McCarthy from BDMD designed the brand and packaging for World Cuisine. For more information about BDMD visit www.bdmd.co.nz.

The labels were printed on a Toshiba B-SX5. For more information about this printer click here.

Many of our Label Bureau customers are food manufacturers. The Label Bureau service is ideal for food labels that have variable information, for example product name changes, nutritional information, product size, barcodes and ingredients. We can produce whatever quantity of labels you require so it is a very cost effective solution as press printing variable information can be costly.