It’s National Barcode Day!
From Supermarket Dilemmas to High-Tech Innovations
Author: Scotty Lee, Seagull Scientific
The History of Barcodes
Idea to Innovation: Lines in the Sand to Enabling Global Supply Chains
Barcodes are now an extraordinary everyday part of our lives, usually working behind the scenes in enabling the world’s economy, but their origins trace back to a simple yet revolutionary idea. The concept of barcodes was first introduced by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in the late 1940s. Norman Woodland was sitting at a beach brainstorming on how to help a supermarket manager find a way to help shoppers get through his store more quickly. As he was brainstorming, he drew some lines in the sand when his knowledge of Morse Code, learned back from when he was in the Boy Scouts, triggered the epiphany of using these lines to encode a message. Woodland and Silver envisioned a method to encode product information into a pattern that could be easily read by a machine. They filed the first barcode patent in 1949, and it described a "Classifying Apparatus and Method," which used a pattern of concentric circles. This design was later refined into the linear barcode we are familiar with today. The first commercial use of barcodes didn't occur until the 1970s, when the Universal Product Code (UPC) was developed.
The First Product Scanned: Juicy Fruit Gum
The first product to ever be scanned with a barcode was a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. This historic event took place on June 26, 1974, at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. This seemingly mundane transaction was the beginning of a technological revolution in retail and inventory management. Barcodes quickly proved their worth, streamlining the checkout process at supermarkets, improving inventory management, and reducing human error. Since the original barcode, various barcode formats were developed to suit different needs - we now have QR codes, RFID tags, 1D barcodes, 2D barcodes, and numerous standards that industries follow to allow products to be easily processed throughout the supply chain. Based on the type of symbology used, barcodes can contain a plethora of information.
How Barcodes Transformed Various Industries
A New Standard: The Universal Product Code
The adoption of the Universal Product Code (UPC) in the 1970s revolutionized the retail industry by speeding up the checkout process using information being passed to the register using barcodes and scanners. This system also enabled real-time inventory management, allowing retailers to track stock levels and reorder products more efficiently. In the 1980s, Walmart became a pioneer in the use of barcodes to streamline its supply chain. By using barcodes, Walmart could track inventory with unprecedented accuracy, reduce stockouts, and manage its vast network of suppliers more effectively. This approach set a new standard for the retail industry, demonstrating the power of barcodes in achieving operational excellence. Today, Walmart’s labeling requirements set the standards that many suppliers follow simply due to the sheer volume that is supplied to the retailer.
Enhancing Healthcare: Safety First
The healthcare sector has also benefited significantly from using barcodes in various ways as well. If you have ever been admitted to a hospital bed, usually you are given a patient identification wristband with vital health-related information during your stay. Barcodes are used to supply and track medical supplies as well as provide the necessary information on all medications – ensuring that the right patients are receiving the right treatments. The use of barcodes within the healthcare field has made great improvements in overall patient safety and compliance with healthcare regulations.
A study published in Hospital Pharmacy showed that by scanning barcodes on patient wristbands and medication labels, healthcare providers can ensure that the right patient receives the right medication at the right dosage, greatly enhancing patient safety – reducing administration errors by 50% and serious errors by 25%.
Logistics and Transportation: Streamlined Delivery
In the logistics and transportation industry, barcodes have revolutionized the way goods are tracked and shipped. Supply chain visibility is what allows retailers to make informed decisions on ways to improve their processes and a way to provide real-time tracking for consumers. By adding barcodes to packages, pallets, and shipping containers, companies can track items in real-time, reducing the likelihood of lost or misplaced goods and ensuring timely deliveries.
FedEx was an early adopter of barcode technology in the 1980s, using it to enhance its package tracking system. This allowed customers to track their shipments in real-time, significantly improving customer satisfaction and setting a new standard for the logistics industry.
Libraries and Museums: Managing Collections
Remember going to the library and checking out a book to read on a long road trip, plane ride, or a leisurely weekend? Barcodes have helped these institutions manage their vast collections more efficiently. By cataloging books, artifacts, and exhibits with barcodes, libraries and museums can maintain accurate records, streamline checkouts, and enhance the overall experience for visitors and patrons.
The Library of Congress began using barcodes in the 1980s, greatly improving its ability to manage and track its extensive collection. This innovation has been adopted by libraries worldwide, making it easier for institutions to catalog, track, and manage their collections.
Regulatory Standards: Ensuring Consistency and Safety
The widespread adoption of barcode technology has led to the development of regulatory standards to ensure consistency and safety across industries. Organizations like GS1, a global standards body, have played a crucial role in developing and maintaining these standards.
GS1 is responsible for developing the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), a standard that uniquely identifies products worldwide. This standardization is essential for ensuring that barcodes can be scanned and interpreted consistently across different systems and countries. The GTIN’s international presence allows it to help facilitate global trade and commerce.
The Next Generation of Barcodes
The Evolution of Barcodes: From UPC to QR Codes
While the UPC barcode remains a staple in retail, barcode technology has continued to evolve. The introduction of two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, such as QR codes, has expanded the possibilities of what barcodes can do. QR codes can store much more information than traditional barcodes and can be scanned by smartphones, linking users to websites, videos, and other digital content.
QR codes have become particularly popular in marketing and advertising, allowing businesses to connect with consumers in new and interactive ways. By scanning a QR code, customers can access product information, promotional content, and special offers, creating a seamless user experience.
Return of RFID: Existing Technology with a New Use Case
Innovations such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology have been built on the foundation laid by barcodes, offering even more capabilities for tracking and data capture. While this technology has existed in various forms over the last several decades, the applications have evolved to include commercial use cases such as toll tracking systems, retail anti-theft systems, inventory management, animal tracking, item tracking, and more.
As RFID technology use cases evolve and increase, the technology as well as the systems that leverage RFID will be able to process and handle more data at a much faster rate – allowing for even more time savings and process improvements throughout supply chains. Using traditional scanners, each box within a pallet would have to be scanned to take inventory and check-in the products, however, with RFID, a single scan can pick up all of the nearby tags, making the entire inventory logging process much simpler. Retailers such as Walmart are starting to enforce RFID requirements from suppliers indicating that we should expect to see a new wave of RFID labels within the supply chain.