Home | Encode EPC onto RFID Tag – BarTender Instructions
Print or Email this article

Encode EPC onto RFID Tag – BarTender Instructions

Target Audience: Basic User, Advanced User, IT Manager
Article #: 12970

Summary

Electronic Product Codes (EPC) encoded on an RFID tag makes it easy to track inventory and other assets throughout the system. Using BarTender to encode EPC onto an RFID tag allows you to specify which value and which data format you want to use. Follow these instructions to get the desired information onto your RFID tag.

Preparation

You will need:

  • An understanding of which type of value to encode onto the RFID tag. BarTender natively supports numerous formats.
  • An RFID-capable printer.
  • The appropriate BarTender printer driver so that RFID encoder objects can appear.
  • Confirm that a valid 14-character Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is available for the product.
  • Know which filter value is to be used to calculate the EPC.

Instructions

  1. Open BanrTeder Designer
  2. In the Create menu, select Encoder.
    NOTE: This option will not appear without an RFID-enabled BarTender printer driver installed.
  1. You will presented with a choice between encoding for RAIN RFID-EPC or UCODE EPC 1.19. Select the option based on the labels you are using.
  1. An encode object is now added to the label template. Right-click on this object to select the properties to encode on the tag. In the image, below, SGTIN-96 is used for the data type.
  1. The data sources part of the RFID encoder contains the parts needed to create a valid EPC.

    Use the EPC encoder on the GS1 website to place values for a specific GS1 key to create a valid EPC. Both the Transforms feature (in the Transforms tab) and VBSCripts will parse the GTIN into appropriate data sources.
  1. A Global Data Field for the serial number will share this number across multiple templates and save it upon a print job.

Outside Sources and Helpful Links

GS1’s Guide to labeling and tagging items with GS1 barcodes and RFID (opens in new tab)

GS1 Organization’s EPC Encoder/Decoder (opens in new tab)

EPC-RFID Guide to Sequential Global Trade Identification Number (SGTIN) filter values (opens in new tab)

Additional Comments

Tested using Bartender 2022 Enterprise Edition and Intermec PM43 printer.

If you need further assistance, please contact us.

Author

Ben Podesta

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles