Barcode tags in Kenya

On anodised aluminium the barcode is printed into the anodised layer and sealed, not printed on top of it, which is why it cannot be rubbed off the way a thermal-transfer label can. That distinction is the whole reason a KSh 50 tag outlasts a KSh 10 one by eight years.

If you have already chosen anodised aluminium, go straight to our aluminium barcode asset tags. If your engineers ask for metal labels by name, see our metallic barcode labels.

This is where most barcode tag orders go wrong, and it is worth two minutes of your attention.

A linear barcode needs physical width to be scannable. Squeeze a 12-character Code 128 onto a 39 × 13 mm tag and the bars become narrow enough that an ageing scanner, poor light or a slight smudge will defeat it. The tag looks fine; it just does not read, and you discover that halfway through a count.

Three practical rules:

Keep asset numbers short. Six to ten characters is comfortable. A prefix plus a sequential number, NT-0001 or ICT-00342, beats a long compound code every time. If you need more information, it belongs in the register, not on the tag.

Match tag size to code length. For numbers up to eight characters, 39 × 13 mm is fine. Beyond that, move to 50 × 20 mm. For scanning at distance, overhead racking, high-mounted plant, go to 50 × 30 mm so the bars are wide enough to read from a metre away.

Leave the quiet zone alone. A barcode needs clear space either side to be recognised. We build this into every layout, which is one reason we do not recommend printing your own tags on an office label printer.

We verify readability on every production run before the tags ship. If a code will not scan reliably at the size you have ordered, we tell you before we print rather than after you have fixed a thousand tags to equipment.