MICR Quality Meets the 21st Century

By Bill Faulkner

With end-users creating their own MICR encoded documents using laser printers, it is no wonder that banks are taking a closer look at MICR quality. In the past, traditional print technologies created consistent MICR characters and the occasional character dimension error, which was seldom a problem since most reader/sorter equipment is designed to read outside of the criteria established by the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) X9 standards. Today, many end users are quickly discovering that printing quality MICR document is a crucial step in their accounting processes. This end-user trend opens a window of opportunity for the savvy distributor that can provide support in this critical area.

Laser print is susceptible to dimension errors but many end-users and check printers don’t fully understand what they are and how to reduce them. While many check printers have a quality control process in place, end-users have not established such processes or are they aware that it is necessary. Banks, however, have realized that the increase in dimension errors from laser printers is a major contributor to the increase in MICR rejects. Therefore banks are placing a greater emphasis on MICR test equipment to ensure that documents conform to ANSI standards.

In the past, many banks used reader/sorter equipment such the IBM 3890 to test MICR documents. If there were no rejects, they passed. However, this testing procedure was based on the assumption that the MICR characters are consistent in dimension and spacing. With today’s laser printers, the dimension of a MICR character can easily change plus or minus several thousandths of an inch on the same document, creating characters that no longer conform to the ANSI X9 specification. A small test sample of these MICR documents may pass on a reader/sorter but they could have many dimension errors.

MICR documents that meet ANSI standards have an average a reject rate of approximately .04 percent or less, which is one document for every 2500 processed. However, five to ten small dimension errors can move this reject rate up to 5 percent and 10 percent, which is five to ten for every 100 documents processed. Since automated check processing equipment in the bank must not permit a misread of a MICR line, any doubt in reading a character will cause that document to be redirected to a reject pocket. These rejected documents must then be repaired and processed manually, which increases processing costs for the banks. In the banks’ endless effort to look for chargeable items, some banks are charging these costs back to the customer–anywhere from a $1 to $7 per rejected item.

Manually processed checks present a few problems, namely they may take a week to clear, and customer’s monthly statements could be missing information such as check serial numbers. Critical issues such as bank charges and service slowdowns are putting pressure on the printing industry to improve MICR quality and develop strict quality control methods to bring print quality within the ANSI standards.

So, What Is a Dimension Error?
An E13B MICR character is required to have vertical stroke widths of 13 thousandths (.013") of an inch plus or minus 3 thousandths (.003") of an inch, as seen in Figure 1. A laser printer must form each character and meet these strict standards, which is proving to be a difficult challenge.

Figure 1: This example from the ANSI X9.27 – 2000, specifies exact dimensions and tolerances of the E13B number three.

MICR font software defines each MICR character’s size and dimension, which is specific to each laser printer. Not only is the font size an issue but the process in the laser printer that transfers and fuses the toner can also affect the final dimensions. The fusing process also determines how well the toner adheres to the paper.

Bank reader/sorters create a difficult and demanding environment, exposing documents to heat and abrasion. Test documents are required to undergo a series of 20 successful passes through a reader/sorter based on set criteria. If the toner is not properly fused it may read fine initially but the heat and abrasion may eventually degrade the MICR characters until they become unreadable causing the document to be rejected. If it the fusing process in the laser printer is not hot enough, some of the toner can rub off which can cause smeared toner, character dimension errors and low MICR signal levels resulting in rejected documents.

Small particles of magnetic toner can also be scattered on the document during printing and become fused on the paper creating a problem known as extraneous ink/ toner. A particle as small as 4 thousandths (.004") of an inch within the clear band (5/8" from the bottom of the document) can cause a reject. In addition, any magnetic particles on the back of the document could possibly be read through the paper from the front.

Toner is not as reliable as traditional MICR ink in offering good MICR signal levels. Also, replacing the toner cartridge can create another problem, as some printers may not be able to produce quality MICR immediately after a new cartridge is installed. In some printers this may take 500 documents before the printer can meets proper specifications for signal level. If the bank charged customers $1.00 for each of those 500 documents that could equate to a very expensive toner cartridge replacement.

Character spacing is another issue that needs to be carefully monitored. The ANSI specification allows one eighth (0.125") of an inch plus or minus 10 thousandths (0.010) from the right edge of one character to the right edge of the next character. While this is a liberal variance, the 10 thousandths allowance, if added to each character will eventually move a character out of position on the MICR line. This could cause a format error.

Improving Quality Control
New technology can make analysis easier but a good quality control process is essential. Many check printers have MICR test equipment and they usually test MICR samples at the beginning and the end of a print run. Sometimes a report is printed for future reference. The focus of most earlier generation MICR testers was the signal strength of the MICR line, but dimensional errors are not being looked at.

Character dimensions are also ignored because they are too difficult and technical to understand. A "waveform" of a MICR character, printed from an analysis, as shown in Figure 2 can be confusing to understand. Based on the waveform shown, can you tell--?

• What MICR character is this?
• What is wrong with it?
• What is necessary to correct the problem?

Figure 2: MICR waveform analysis.

The Next Generation of MICR Test Equipment
New MICR test equipment uses a visual character representation. The ideal dimensions of the characters are represented in a table (as shown in Figure 3) and the actual dimensions from the MICR test are inserted into the table. Allowable ANSI specified tolerances are indicated and a variance + or – shows how much the dimension is out of specification.

In the On-Us symbol shown in Figure 4, the sample dimension "E" was read as being 33 thousandths of an inch. The ideal is 39 with an allowed variance of 36 to 42. This dimension is too narrow by 3 thousandths of an inch.

This representation helps to demystify the waveform analysis and easily understand the dimension problem. It has now become much easier to analyze and explain the problem so that the necessary adjustments can be made to widen this dimension and bring the character into ANSI specification.

Figure 4: "On-Us" symbol

These MICR test results can be automatically stored on a computer and filed for future reference. Detailed test data can be sent to an Access database to monitor the performance and accuracy of a MICR printer and this information can be used to decide if printer maintenance is required. Test files and detailed reports can also be e-mailed to banks for fast turn around of acceptance of MICR quality. The recall of these tests can assist with equipment maintenance and issues that may appear in the future from bank processing centers. Banks are anxious to work with and promote printers that have high quality control measures.

A quality control process for MICR printing is essential. Work with your manufacturer, your customer and the bank to obtain the right tools and data so you can test MICR properly. By working with your manufacturer, you can help improve their productivity by reducing costly check reruns. In addition, banks will promote your products and customer satisfaction will improve.

Bill Faulkner is the Business Development Manager for RDM Corporation, in Waterloo Ontario. He can be reached at 519-746-8483 x 337 or by email bfaulkner@rdmcorp.com.

For more information on the study, go to www.printimage.org.

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