QR codes — the special bar codes that smartphones can read with a handy app — have been moving down the trendiness list recently in daily life. They were ubiquitous in magazines and on CPG packaging for a while, and then marketers got crazy and started putting them on totally impractical surfaces like banners in airports and billboards on highways.
When consumer use of QR codes topped out around 6%, they fell off the fad cliff and we don’t see them much any more.
Fortunately, they’re moving back into the Internet of Things, where they probably belong.
QR codes were originally designed to help factories label parts and packaging with machine-readable codes for tracking. As two-dimensional matrices of data, they’re able to hold about 200 times more information that the typical price tag barcode, and they quickly spread to everything from healthcare (tracking patients and their records) to boarding passes.
Some Rexroth machinery can now be set up with a smartphone and a QR code. The human operator clicks, the data is transferred to the drive, and everything is set — faster and with less human error. See a video.
QR codes aren’t fading away… they’re just coming home.
If you’re working with Rexroth legacy units, you may have components that have been working great since before there were any smartphones. We can support you with those legacy machines as well as with the newest tech. Go ahead and use the QR code at the top of this post to call us — or save our number, 479-42200390, so you’ll have quick access whenever you need us.