INTRODUCTION
We live in an information age characterized by rapid change. Today's world moves faster than earlier eras, and the pace continues to speed up. Continuous developments with computer technology in manufacturing, distribution, communications, transportation, healthcare and other sectors have played, and continue to play, a large part in accelerating change.
For any business in this fast changing world, the importance of collecting and processing information on a timely basis is essential. Managers must act quickly to be effective to initiate changes in manufacturing or distribution, or to otherwise respond to new customer requirements. Doing so requires reliable information in real time or as close to it as possible.
As computers have proliferated and data processing has become more powerful, the data collection function on which processing depends has not kept pace. Acquiring the fastest, most effective computer hardware and software available makes little sense if the system cannot acquire data accurately and expeditiously. A data collection gap, the difference between data processing and data collection, has been the result. Narrowing this data collection gap promises to improve the quality of information that serves as the basis for management decisions affecting production, productivity, and profitability.
Automation of the data collection function offers the only practical way to bring the pace of data collection more closely in line with data processing. Many manual methods, such as keyboard entry, are considered too slow, costly and error-prone to satisfy modern criteria. That is why automated data collection technology has expanded rapidly worldwide.
The automated data collection process has three phases:
Automatic identification is the essential first step, accomplished by attaching a bar code label to a part, document, package, personal identification badge or some other item to be tracked.
The data collection phase occurs when a part moves in or out of inventory, a work piece comes in or out of a given stage in the manufacturing process, and/or an employee checks in or out of work. These actions are instantly and accurately captured by scanning the bar code label. Scanners can read information far faster than humans can write or type, and they are far more accurate. Compared to the average human-transcription error rate of one per 300 characters, the automated error rate is in the range of one per 3 million.
Compiling and computer system input occurs when scanned data is compiled into a central point and manipulated into a form appropriate to the data stream of a host computer. The upshot is accurate data automatically captured as each event occurs, thus permitting management decisions based on solid, current information.
Automated data collection is seen as the key to improving control and providing management with more timely, more accurate, and therefore more valuable information. Increased productivity and reduced costs are the key benefits of automated data collection. The return on investment for automated data collection is typically one year, and often substantially less.
BARCODE
In a simplest form, barcode is a set of bars and spaces representing alphabet and numeric data for identification of a particular product, service or a process.
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally, barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional (1D). Later they evolved into rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns in 2 dimensions (2D). Although 2D systems use a variety of symbols, they are generally referred to as barcodes as well. Barcodes originally were scanned by special–optical scanners called barcode readers, scanners and interpretive software are available on devices including desktop printers and smartphones.
A bar code is simply a series of stripes (usually black) on a light background (usually white) that can be scanned and read directly into a computer. They are interpreted virtually instantaneously and without errors by a bar code reading system. The elements (bars and spaces) in a bar code symbol must be of a consistent, proportional thickness and thinness. The widest element could be as thick as a pencil or as thin as a business card, as long as the corresponding thin bars and spaces in the bar code remain proportionally thin.
Bar codes are read the same way that people read text from a page; the reflectance and absorption of light. A light of a given wavelength is beamed and moved across a bar code at a consistent speed. The reflected light is measured with a photoreceptor, tuned to look for light of the given wavelength. The off- and- on (white and black) pattern of the bar code creates an electrical wave that is sent on to a computer chip called a “ decoder.” The decoder then deciphers the signal into something the waiting computer understands.
The first use of barcodes was to label railroad cars, but they were not commercially successful until they were used to automate supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal. Their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC). The very first scanning of the now ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974.
Other systems have made inroads in the AIDC market, but the simplicity, universality and low cost of barcodes has limited the role of these other systems until the first decade of the 21st century over 40 years after the introduction of the commercial barcode. It costs under 0.5¢ (U.S.) to provide a barcode. It was not until late 2008 when the barcode began getting its first significant challenge in the retail industry from radio frequency identification or RFID specifically passive Radio Frequency Identification RFID in 2011 costs about 5¢ to 15¢ per tag.RFID is seen as the clear replacement to bar code since it is an order of magnitude more productive allowing scans of thousands at a time. In 2010 a Korean company successfully printed a chip and inlay onto paper substrate and predicted a 3 cent tag by 2012.
Barcode technology is the best-known and most widely used method of Automatic Identification. Automatic Identification or “Auto ID” encompasses the automatic recognition and recording of data, most commonly through the printing and reading of information encoded in barcodes thereby eliminating risk of human error.
Early applications of barcode scanning, which included retail point of sale, item tracking and inventory control, have been expanded to include more advanced applications such as time and attendance, work-in-process, quality control, sorting, order entry, document tracking, shipping and receiving, and controlling access to secure areas.
Barcodes have been instrumental in revolutionizing, and significantly increasing efficiency and productivity across the entire supply chain from manufacturers to distributors to retailers worldwide. The packet of Wrigley’s chewing gum was the firs-ever product to be barcoded and scanned at Marsh’s supermarket in Troy.
HISTROY OF BARCODE
The industrial use of barcodes can be traced back as far as the 1960s, in some cases as a means to identify railroad cars. Common linear barcodes started appearing on grocery shelves in the early 1970s as the UPC barcode to automate the process of identifying grocery items. Today, barcodes are just about everywhere and are used for identification in almost all fields of business. When barcode technology is utilized in business processes, procedures are automated to increase productivity and reduce human error. Barcoding should be used whenever there is a need to accurately identify or track something.
In 1948 Bernard Silver, a graduate student at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA overheard the president of the local food chain, Food Fair, asking one of the deans to research a system to automatically read product information during checkout. Silver told his friend Norman Joseph Woodland about the request, and they started working on a variety of systems. Their first working system used ultraviolet ink, but this proved too subject to fading and was fairly expensive.
Convinced that the system was workable with further development, Woodland left Drexel, moved into his father's apartment in Florida, and continued working on the system. His next inspiration came from Morse code, and he formed his first barcode from sand on the beach. "I just extended the dots and dashes downwards and made narrow lines and wide lines out of them." To read them, he adapted technology from optical soundtracks in movies, using a 500-watt light bulb shining through the paper onto an RCA935 photomultiplier tube (from a movie projector) on the far side. He later decided that the system would work better if it were printed as a circle instead of a line, allowing it to be scanned in any direction.
On 20 October 1949 Woodland and Silver filed a patent application for "Classifying Apparatus and Method", in which they described both the linear and bullseye printing patterns, as well as the mechanical and electronic systems needed to read the code. The patent was issued on 7 October 1952 as US Patent 2,612,994. In 1951, Woodland moved to IBM and continually tried to interest IBM in developing the system. The company eventually commissioned a report on the idea, which concluded that it was both feasible and interesting, but that processing the resulting information would require equipment that was some time off in the future.
Collins at Sylvania
During his time as an undergraduate, David Collins worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad and became aware of the need to automatically identify train cars. Immediately after receiving his master's degree from MIT in 1959, he started work at GTE Sylvania and began addressing the problem. He developed a system called KarTrak using blue and yellow reflective stripes attached to the side of the cars, encoding a six-digit company identifier and a four-digit car number. Light reflected off the stripes was fed into one of two photomultipliers, filtered for blue or yellow.
The Boston and Maine Railroad tested the KarTrak system on their gravel cars in 1961. The tests continued until 1967, when the Association of American Railroads (AAR) selected it as a standard, Automatic Car Identification, across the entire North American fleet. The installations began on October 10, 1967. However, the economic downturn and rash of bankruptcies in the industry in the early 1970s greatly slowed the rollout, and it was not until 1974 that 95% of the fleet was labeled. To add to its woes, the system was found to be easily fooled by dirt in certain applications, and greatly affected accuracy. The AAR abandoned the system in the late 1970s, and it was not until the mid-1980s that they introduced a similar system, this time based on radio tags.
The railway project had failed, but a toll bridge in New Jersey requested a similar system so that it could quickly scan for cars that had purchased a monthly pass. Then the U.S. Post Office requested a system to track trucks entering and leaving their facilities. These applications required special retroreflective labels. Finally, KalKan asked the Sylvania team for a simpler (and cheaper) version which they could put on cases of pet food for inventory control. This, in turn, interested the grocery industry.
Computer Identics Corporation
In 1967, with the railway system maturing, Collins went to management looking for funding for a project to develop a black and white version of the code for other industries. They declined, saying that the railway project was large enough and they saw no need to branch out so quickly.
Collins then quit Sylvania and formed Computer Identics Corporation. Computer Identics started working with helium-neon lasers in place of light bulbs, scanning with a mirror to locate the barcode anywhere up to several feet in front of the scanner. This made the entire process much simpler and more reliable, as well as allowing it to deal with damaged labels by reading the intact portions.
Computer Identics Corporation installed one of its first two scanning system in the spring of 1969 at a General Motors (Buick) factory in Flint, Michigan. The system was used to identify a dozen types of transmissions moving on an overhead conveyor from production to shipping. The other scanning system was installed at General Trading Company's distribution center in Carlsbad, New Jersey to direct shipments to the proper loading bay.
WHY USE BARCODES?
The use of barcode technology in an industrial setting can be traced back as far as the 1960s, with some early implementations to identify railroad cars. Common barcodes began appearing on grocery store shelves in the early 1970s as the UPC code to automate the process of identifying grocery items. Today, barcodes are just about everywhere and are used for identification in almost all areas of business. When barcodes are implemented in business processes, procedures can be automated to reduce human error and increase productivity. Barcoding should be considered whenever there is a need to accurately identify or track something.
BARCODE TECHNOLOGY
As changes in the world of commerce happen faster and faster, business owners have to scramble at an ever increasing pace just to keep up. Day to day office tasks such as stock control, asset management, and other chores can be performed much more productively because of the advances in computer technology.
These developments have given us the gift of barcode technology. However, it used to be that only big businesses could afford the large monetary outlay needed to purchase such a gift. However, this is no longer the case, as smaller companies can now purchase specially designed systems that will allow them to flourish in their areas of expertise with increased productivity and a better bottom line. While the systems have been modified, they still deliver the punch of those designed for much larger companies. If that weren't enough, they come ready to use, right out of the packaging.
You might think that only grocery stores make use of barcode technology, but look again. Everything from warehousing and distribution, manufacturing, government, retail stores, health care facilities and places of learning, use these products. A list of all the vast uses and advantages of barcodes and barcode scanners, would take up far too much space, so here are just some of the major points that might be of use to your company.
Barcode scanners can be put to use in all sorts of facilities, not just retail outlets. With Bluetooth and wireless capability these handheld scanners can give the user free access to all areas of a warehouse or office building or medical facility. This way inventories can be tracked from anywhere. Many hospitals use them to inventory their stocks of medicine, equipment, and to keep track of patients. In a manufacturing plant it is possible to follow raw material inventory, right to when it emerges as finished goods.
Keeping customers happy and getting them the items they have ordered on time is a very essential part of doing business. Old methods of obtaining jobs, creating invoices and work orders and sending them in the mail, or by courier, is old and out-dated. Barcode scanners and printers make it easy to take orders directly and fulfill them. From start to finish there is virtually no chance that a mistake will occur because everything is coded and can be tracked or traced all along the production line.
Barcode technology can help advertise and promote a business in amazing new ways. Try using a barcode on the products you produce instead of merely printing your website address on them. When this barcode is scanned by a camera phone, your customers will have instant access to the appropriate wireless-enabled website. This way you can promote special new products, upcoming sales, concerts, or open houses. Imagine the possibilities you can make happen with relatively simple, easily implemented barcode technology. This, in effect, turns what you produce into little ambassadors, or an unpaid sales force, working for you twenty four hours a day.
Law firms can really use barcode technology in this day and age as well. With a huge client database and an even bigger amount of transcripts and documents, something simple is required to keep track of all this data. A simple solution is to barcode each client file. It can even be time-coded so CCD scanners enable administrators to see how much time each lawyer spends interacting with each of their clients. It makes billing and all aspects of office administration much simpler.
The era of barcodes is here to stay, and the sooner a small to medium-sized business, or department of a large corporation embraces this technology, the more efficiently it will perform on a day to day basis. Then when year-end comes around, the bottom line will be better too.