How the Barcode Came to Be

The creation of barcodes is attributed to Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in the year 1952. Barcodes are a method of automatically identifying products and gathering all the relevant information about them. The underlying concept used by them was to be able to classify articles and use the method of identifying patterns to read them.

This became the basis of barcodes which are essentially patterns of parallel lines of varying thickness. They have come a long ways since their first commercial application in 1966. However, a need was felt to have a certain specific standard for the entire industry. The resulting Universal Product Code or UPC transformed the world of retail and other fields where identification of products and services is required.

UPCs-Universal Product Codes
UPC helps the process of checking out at billing counters become much faster along with maintenance of inventory records. UPCs are linked to the Uniform Code Council that gives clearance to the user or manufacturer to enter the UPC system for a fee that must be paid annually. The manufacturer is then assigned a six-digit manufacturer identification number, which will form part of every barcode generated by the manufacturer.

The UPC code is a twelve-digit code with two parts, the machine readable barcode and the readable 12 digit UPC number. The last digit of the number is the check digit, which is based on the 11-digit number and can be calculated. Each time the barcode is scanned the check digit is calculated by following some mathematical calculations and if it matches with the check digit printed, then the barcode is considered correct or else it would have to be rescanned.

The Use of Symbologies
Symbologies literally mean the system of expression by the use of symbols. Symbology is simply a language used for creating barcodes. Barcodes are comprised of different lines or bars distinct from each other due to their width. The set of spaces and bars are combined to form a symbology. The UPC symbology is one created exclusively for creating barcodes that will identify retail merchandise. Some of the most commonly used barcode symbologies include Code-39, UPC-A and UPC-E, EAN-8/EAN-13 and Bookland, Codebar, Code 93 and 128, and Interleaved 2 of 5.

Barcode Scanners

A Barcode scanner is an electronic gadget that can read barcodes with the use of laser technology. The printed barcode can be read with the aid of circuit decoders that analyze the data collected from the barcode image. Scanners typically include a light source, a lens and a light sensor that helps to convert optical impulses into electrical ones. They could be hand held, pen-type or fixed base scanners using laser technology, or a set of light sensors called LED or camera images.

Advantages of Barcodes

Barcodes have not only hastened the speed of processing sales lists, they have also helped businesses keep track of their products and the speed at which they leave the shelves. Barcode technology thus helps in the following ways:

• Ensuring steady supply of fast selling items
• Keeping low inventories of items difficult to sell
• Keeping track of seasonal high demand items
• Ease in shipping
• Better inventory management
• High transactional speed
• Accuracy that is never possible manually
• Cost effective
• Reduced labor costs
• Faster information access
• Improved customer service

Thus barcodes may seem like patterns and lines of no significance to the layman but they hold a whole lot of information about the product on which they are attached. Barcodes help businesses stay competitive and successful by giving them the timing edge that might even be instrumental in raising the bottom line of the business.