MSM Solutions has launched PortalTrack Print IQ™, software that turns industrial label printers into inspection stations at the point of print. The platform pairs Zebra Technologies' fixed industrial scanners with MSM's existing PortalTrack™ software, checking every label as it comes off the printer instead of relying on sampling or scanning further down the line. MSM says the goal is to close what it calls "a critical gap in healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics production labeling," stopping unreadable barcodes before they enter the supply chain.
The system runs Zebra's AI-powered anomaly detection and AI-OCR tools against every label, verifying that 1D and 2D barcodes scan correctly and that the human-readable text on a label matches the data encoded in its barcode. If either check fails, PortalTrack Print IQ triggers an instant printer interlock, stopping the job before a bad label leaves the machine. For QA teams that currently catch mislabeled product through spot-checks or downstream scanning, that moves detection to the earliest possible point, before a bad barcode ever reaches a pallet.
MSM is tying the launch to a compliance deadline. GS1's Sunrise 2027 initiative will require expanded 2D barcodes carrying more product data across retail and healthcare supply chains, and Digital Product Passport rules are adding similar pressure in the EU. PortalTrack Print IQ includes dedicated validation support for healthcare, manufacturing, and EPC compliance standards, and exposes what MSM calls "robust APIs" for feeding real-time validation data, print metrics, and compliance logs into a plant's ERP or warehouse management system.
Kern Young, machine vision and fixed industrial scanning system engineer at MSM Solutions, said the company has already run the system on its own lines. "We have deployed PortalTrack PrintIQ internally in our service bureau running 40,000 labels a day and have customers currently running pilot validations in their own facilities," Young said.
