There was a barcode in 1997, and the barcode was born as early as 1948.
Barcoding technology first emerged in the 20th century, born in Westinghouse's laboratory. At that time, every idea about the application of electronic technology was very novel. His idea was to label envelopes with a barcode, where the information in the barcode would be the recipient's address, much like today's postal code.
In the mid-1980s, some colleges and universities, scientific research departments and some export enterprises in my country gradually put the research, promotion and application of bar code technology on their agenda. Some industries, such as libraries, post and telecommunications, material management departments and foreign trade departments, have also begun to use bar code technology.
The history of barcodes
In 1949, the omnidirectional barcode symbol invented by Norm Woodland and Bernard Silver was recorded for the first time in patent documents. There was no record of barcode technology in the patent documents before this, and there was no precedent for its practical application.
In 1970, the U.S. Supermarket Committee developed the Universal Product Code (UPC), and many groups also proposed various barcode symbologies.
UPC codes were first tried out in the grocery retail industry, which laid the foundation for the unification and widespread adoption of barcodes in the future. The following year, Blaisi Company developed the Blaisi code and the corresponding automatic identification system for inventory verification. This is the first practical application of barcode technology in a warehouse management system.
In 1974, the first UPC barcode system commonly used today was installed in a supermarket in Ohio, USA, and the first product to pass was a ten-pack of Yellow Arrow chewing gum. Today, barcoding and automatic identification systems and data collection technologies still play a vital role around the world.