Barcode label materials

Barcode labels are not always manufactured using the same materials. In fact, many industries have special requirements for this specific issue. Some companies need labels with auto adhesives, other need more durable labels, other need labels resistant to hot temperatures and high humidity factors, the list never ends. This is why manufacturing companies of barcode labels often supply a huge variety of models and materials to satisfy the needs of their customers. Among all this plethora of models we can classify the labels into two broad categories or groups. This is just a very large classification mostly based on the printing technology used on the labels, rather than other minor characteristics. First of all, direct thermal barcode labels are made of a special paper that turns black upon contact with heat, thus creating barcodes in this manner, resembling a fax machine. This technology does not use ink or ribbon to print the barcodes, so this is why it is the cheaper when compared with the former. The drawback for this type of labels is that the printing data on them is not very durable, so industries which need the information to last for more than six months could find problems when trying to read the barcode labels after this time has passed. The other large group of labels uses the so called thermal transfer technology, which uses both ink and ribbon to print the characters onto the labels. Heat is used to transfer the ink onto the paper material. Of course this technology is more expensive than the first because of greater maintenance costs. However, barcode labels printed this way are the most durable on the market today. It is highly recommended for industries that need to store materials for a very long time or in environments subject to hard environmental conditions.