BBB4M

Our Changing World:The Bar Code

Today’s Learning Goals….

• analysing the business trend of product coding.

• verifying the impact of changing technology on the international business environment.

• see how globalization has created a need for standardized and ‘universal’ coding of products.

The Bar Code

• ‘machine readable’ information– from scanners and barcode

readers– to software and

smartphones

• First used to label railroad cars.

• Became commercially successful once they were used in supermarkets.

The ‘Universal’ Product Code

• Universal Product Codes (UPCs), made their first appearance on product packaging in 1974.

• The first item ever scanned was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum (now on display at the Smithsonian Museum. )

• Helped grocery stores to speed up the checkout process and keep better track of inventory

• the system quickly spread to all other retail products because it was so successful.

Why so popular?

Checkout Competition!

Benefits to business…..

• Faster Data Entry

• 10,000 times better accuracy– (person: 1 in 300 upc: 1 in 3 million)

• Reduced labour costs– (how many times faster?)

• Instantaneous inventory levels

• no need to label each item when:-stocking shelves-prices change

What if a business sold 1 million products in a year?…. and put items on sale twice a year?

Internationally….

• You can see the manufacturer identification number in any standard 12-digit UPC code. The UPC symbol has two parts:– The machine-readable

bar code– The human-readable

12-digit UPC number

• The last digit of the UPC code is called a check digit.

• Through a mathematical equation, this digit lets the scanner determine if it scanned the number correctly or not.

EAN

Careers?

• A person employed by the manufacturer is called the UPC coordinator.

• They are responsible for assigning item numbers to products, making sure the same code is not used on more than one product, retiring codes as products are removed from the product line, etc.

• In general, every item the manufacturer sells, as well as every size package and every repackaging of the item, needs a different item code. – EVERY item a company produces will have a

unique bar code. It is the job of the UPC coordinator to keep all of these numbers straight!

• The Uniform Code Council maintains UPC codes around the world to create uniformity.

• You must become a member of the UCC to get a UPC. (For the most part….)

• In Canada, to receive your unique Universal Product Code Identification Number you need to contact GS1 of Canada.

http://www.gs1ca.org/home.asp

Why not make my own UPC?

Read the following article online:

• http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3270764

A New Addition: QR Codes

QR

• Quick Response codes

• Developed by Toyota

• Higher capacity than regular bar codes

• supports:– numeric– alpha-numeric– binary– Japanese characters

Using QR codes for business…

Quick Response….

• In Print Ads• Put it on your luggage

– (containing your contact information)

• Send a Tweet– (scanning sends out a tweet)

• Scan dials the user’s phone – your number!• Scanning takes them to paypal to buy your item.• Scanning logs people in to your wi-fi account.

Generating your own QRhttp://www.qrstuff.com/

Activity…

• Find one of your favourite products online

• Get the URL of that product

• Generate the QR code & print it out

• Have at least two other students scan and verify your QR code

* If you are feeling adventurous, and would like to do a second one, try doing a tweet, a youtube video, a map location, or???

Mr. Alexander

Verification 1: ______________________________

Verification 2: ______________________________

Mrs. Langstaff