What could be mistaken for a creation of a mad scientist is actually an industry game-changer? At the Sandvik company Seco, the application of data matrix codes on its products is improving traceability and boosting sustainability goals.
At the Seco Innovation Laboratory in Fagersta, Sweden, R&D technician Jan Gravningsbråten, could easily be mistaken for a mad scientist, surrounded by blinking red lasers, trays of inserts under observation, diagnostic equipment, and countless other measuring devices, all in aid of his ongoing work with data matrix codes.
Gravningsbråten’s current work came out of a “eureka” moment three years ago, when he had the idea that if data matrix codes could be laser-etched onto every single insert and holding tool produced by Seco – 50 million or so a year – the advantages for the business would be incalculable in terms of traceability and sustainability throughout a product’s entire life cycle. Fast-forward three years and his idea has become reality for Seco’s popular Turbo 16 family of square holder cutters.
With the early support of Sina Vosough, Seco’s Vice President of R&D, who greenlighted Gravningsbråten’s idea, he and his R&D colleagues set to work developing a patented printable data matrix code to apply to the Turbo 16 square holder cutters. Additionally, the team developed internal and external smartphone apps to read these codes.
Like the more familiar QR code, a data matrix is a square two-dimensional code that, once it is etched onto a free surface on an insert or holding tool, is easily read by lasers and smartphone cameras. Unlike more traditional bar codes, data matrix codes are more versatile and can contain more pertinent information about the specific part.
Applying these codes onto inserts and tools was a trial-and-error process, Gravningsbråten admits, and he is careful not to reveal the now-patented “secret sauce” behind the process. But, he says, guaranteeing readability after normal wear and tear at a customer site was one of the challenges.
Gravningsbråten chose a series of 10 billion numbers to be represented by the codes. “That’s 120 years’ worth of production,” he says. Each number was assigned properties regarding material grades, which is important for recycling, as well as where, how and when the piece was manufactured.
