"We are impressed by the professionalism of ZEBEX sales representative. He bothered to come to our factory, closely observed our work procedure and gave really helpful advice. With experienced staff and reliable products, ZEBEX is for sure the trustworthy auto ID solution provider."

Release Date : 2011

The Z-5151 Series is ZEBEX newly released laser scan module, Based on the optical structure of A-51M, the Z-5151 Series utilizes ZEBEX unique omnidirectional technology to transform 7 laser lines into one, offering a stunning speed of 500 scans per second. Yet it is upgraded with 32 bit MPU to support more barcode types, more interfaces options and more firmware modification possibilities.

This powerful scanner is efficient, accurate and durable, perfect for a variety of different industrial applications. One of our customers in Taiwan, for example, is in the electronics manufacturing service industry (EMS), providing PCB surface mounting technology (SMT) service. It has successfully made the best use of Z-5151 to realize factory automation.

The Background & Need
SMT is a method of mounting components on the surface of printed circuit board (PCB) to construct electronic circuits. Since PCBs are inexpensive and reliable, they are used in almost every electronic device and the demand for SMT service is high. Taiwan, as the crucial electronic manufacturing base in the world, has many SMT factories and this customer is just one of them.

During the process of SMT, PCBs are put on conveyor belt to go through different machines (work stations). The basic idea is to apply solder paste on PCB, put components on solder paste, and then melt the solder paste with heat to bond the components to the PCB. The manufacturing procedure will be recorded by scanning the barcode on PCBs at each work station. These data is useful for quality management and production analysis.

The Solution
To record the production procedure, the customer originally had employees standing at each station to scan barcodes on PCBs with handheld laser scanners. The scanners were of one major international brand and were too costly so they contacted ZEBEX for alternatives—what they wanted was a less expensive handheld scanner.

However, after on-site observation, our sales representative noticed the barcodes were of the same size, put on same location, and heading for the same direction on a conveyor; a fixed position high-speed laser scanner was actually a better solution.

The Benefit 
The SMT factory took our advice and applied Z-5151 on each station to replace their operators. They therefore cut personnel cost; each scanner cost no more than a quarter of an operator's monthly salary. While operator had to lift a scanner, aim at the barcode and pull the trigger, the high-speed scan scanner could detect and automatically read the barcode entering its scan range at a speed of 500 times a second. Work efficiency was truly improved and human errors were prevented.

When it comes to industrial applications, the Z-5151 Series is an ideal option for its superb scan performance and die-casting waterproof dustproof housing. For small barcodes on tiny objects, we offer Z-5151HD which is able to read 3mil barcodes.

The Z-5151 can be used as a fixed scanner or as an embedded scan module, certainly a great tool for industries such as electronic manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory and food processing.