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Barcodes Scanners

Barcodes Scanners

         The idea of ​​using a barcode to scan items is not new. Now are used lasers, but in 1949 when barcodes were invented, the inventorof barcodes, Norman Joseph Woodland, also developed a highly complex light-based system for scanning codes (a light box and a film projector put together , which was almost unusable.) This cumbersome scanning system kept barcodes in place for quite some time, although Woodland maintained an interest in them even after he started working for IBM. At the time no one but him had any interest in the development of the barcode. Only later, with the development of computers, will the barcode become interesting.

In the early 1970s, Computer Identics developed the bar code scanning technology that would change the world. It relied on lasers, which solved the problem of the impossible-to-use technology that Woodland had invented... but the lasers weren't much more efficient either. The public feared them and they did not do well in the market.

Until at a food show in 1971, RCA displayed an "ID scan" tool trick; customers who successfully scanned an RCA box with the ID scanner won a prize. It happened that IBM was also present at the exhibition, which noted the popularity of the tool. After the exhibition, IBM began to follow the growing interest in bar code technology – so they transferred Woodland and put him in charge of the bar code development team.

Then, a sequence of events followed that would lead barcode scanners to success:

  • 1972: RCA works with Kroger grocery stores on an 18-month test of the Bulls-Eye Code. The test shows that the printing process can sometimes smear the barcodes, which makes the codes unreadable.
  • 1972-1973: Woodland and his IBM team are working on a series of black bars that, even if the ink smears, would still show the same code. This is called the UPC (Universal Product Code), and it’s the system we all know and love today. The National Association of Food Chains accepted the UPC as the industry standard on April 3, 1973. The first UPC scanner  cost $300.000!
  • 1974: A packet of Wrigley’s gum is the first product scanned with a GS1 barcode. It’s scanned in a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
  • 1977: 200 stores use barcode scanner technology. Most companies weren’t buying in because barcodes were really, really expensive, but the stores that had implemented the technology had such overwhelming success that other companies were almost forced into making the change. Barcode scanners, alone, had a reported ROI of 41.5%. (Even now, barcodes are still incredibly time-saving and have an incredible ROI)
  • 1980: Over 8,000 US stores per year were converting to barcode technology because of its proven success. After which they captured the entire world map.

In 1948, when Norman Joseph Woodland pioneered barcodes, he most likely did not fully realize how much his technology would change the world. Today, for many companies, running their business without barcode scanners is unimaginable.

Total Technologies is proud to say that it has tremendously helped many companies work smarter and faster through barcode scanners. We sell a variety of barcode scanners, you can see them all on smartscan.ro or you can call our specialists who are always at your disposal, tel +40 372 317 714.