UPC Celebrates 35th Anniversary
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Posted in: Barcodes
Happy Anniversary…to Us (Sort of)
There are a few of us pioneers still around who know that this is a big year for the barcode industry. Probably fewer who also remember it.
This year the UPC celebrates its 35th anniversary.
(http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=18972)
This is an especially meaningful anniversary celebration for Fotel because we imaged the film master that was used to make the offset printing plate that was used to print the barcode—on a pack of Wrigley chewing gum. That was back in the days of film-based pre-press, for those of you who don’t have any idea what I just said. Well, I guess if you didn’t understand that, my further explanation was not helpful, so I’ll just leave it there.
To say that barcode technology, or the larger automatic identification technology, have come a long way is like saying “humans have a fondness for oxygen.” The supply chain simply cannot function without the barcode. That is why it is a continuing mystery to me why barcode quality is not a part of most conversations about supply chain optimization. Well, maybe it’s not really that much of a mystery: barcode quality, which is THE issue in barcode performance, is not a sexy, high-technology, geeky subject that will dominate pub or patio conversations the way certain consumer electronic products do.
I recently heard someone question whether barcode quality was really an issue at all.
“Scanners are so sophisticated and aggressive these days,” my friend opined, “there really isn’t a need for verification anymore.”
After my blood pressure returned to normal I realized that there was some truth in this statement. Barcode Scanners are much more sophisticated and have continued to evolve, but Barcode Quality has taken on another identity besides the one that equates it to a break in the supply chain. At least one major retailer, for example, reports fines for poor-performing barcodes as revenue, growth revenue with a great future. This says more about driving the bottom line than about driving the supply chain.
But of course the world of barcodes is much broader than retail distribution and logistics. Now it includes pharmaceutical trace and track, security and access control, police evidence, personal identification—more applications than can be listed here, and more innovations virtually every day.
We are proud to have been among the pioneers in this fascinating and important technology. Happy Birthday to us all!
I wish they could define some UPC standards for 2D barcoding.
Posted by on 03/01 at 05:26 PMWe’ve already integrated UPC and 2D barcoding into our Courier Software