Varioprinting leverages Dynamsoft Barcode Reader to reduce barcode decoding time to under 35ms

Technology Requirements

Varioprinting is on a mission to deliver on-demand, high-quality, and low-cost inline envelope printing solutions. The solution enables the printing of variable data and graphics on blank envelopes.

When the operator starts the line, the inserter starts, and the printer waits for the envelopes. A barcode reader recognizes the mailpiece.

Based on this information, the printer prints the proper design on the envelope according to the mailpiece ID. This task is called ‘pre-print’ reading. After the design is printed, the envelope passes through under the ‘post-print’ camera, which saves the proof images and verifies the design between the mailpiece ID and the printed ID.

Varioprinting faced a time problem while decoding the barcodes. The printer has a short space to decide whether the envelope was correctly printed. There is a bin that follows the printer that lets the envelopes convey and diverts the envelopes with any errors. This decision is also part of the verification process to detect any artifacts or misprints on the envelopes. The system has only milliseconds for verification, so they needed a barcode reader to reduce the decoding time to under 35 ms.

In addition, they had a lot of other software components to develop, and creating an app from scratch was impossible. Besides that, Varioprinting needed an SDK that works in an offline environment and has a C/C++ library. Many SDKs do not have C or C++.

Varioprinting used various SDKs parallel to Dynamsoft Barcode Reader but now uses DBR alone. DBR provided them with a quicker barcode reading solution.

Getting Going with A Solution

The barcode reader is part of their Vision System software. The Vision System software, in turn, is part of Ophrys Iricolor's software architecture. They worked on this sub-project with four members: the product owner, a developer, and two testers.

The DBR SDK was easy to integrate and had great flexibility in fine-tuning the configuration to reach a breakneck decoding speed.

Dynamsoft supported Varioprinting with many tests and results during the development stage. This helped them while integrating the DBR library. The whole development took around 2 years before the on-site tests. The integration of barcode reading took about 2-3 months.

Return on Investment

With the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK, they achieved their most important goal: decoding under 35 milliseconds. DBR also presented them with the possibility of offline licensing and operation. Now, Varioprinting provides a perpetual license agreement per printer.

Varioprinting also found Dynamsoft’s support to be 10/10. It proved to be quite crucial during the development and greatly helped them.