Although higher prices typically accompany greater intelligence, the return on investment renders the initial cost trivial. One of the most common problems that labs experience with bar coding equipment is a poor quality printout resulting in a low first-read rate. Check print quality before buying a printer. Thermal bar code printers are the most efficient for printing laboratory collection lists. These machines provide a higher quality bar code by heating sections of thermal labels to form black characters on label stock that is barrier coated to resist solvents and other liquids commonly found in the lab.
Thermal printers have relatively few moving parts and require no ribbon changes or toner additions.
Although they are typically more expensive, the advantages of thermal printers make them well worth the cost. If they are intelligent, they allow the printing of multiple symbologies on the same line of labels. Since only one of several bar code symbologies that an analyzer is capable of reading achieves the greatest read rate, labs can create the label that works best for each instrument. Wide-carriage printers also allow labs to custom design their own label format, an option that is especially important if future lab growth entails the addition of equipment that requires different label formats and layouts. Bar code readers play an important role in the overall efficiency of a system.