What is Barcode and How it works – Best Guide 2024

What is barcode and how does this work, you must have probably thought about it at some point or the other. Whenever you have gone to a mall or any shop and if you have bought any goods, then some dark black straight lines must have come in your eyes.

This question must have come in your mind that what are these strange looking lines? You must have also seen that when the people of that shop do the stuff they do, they keep some machine above those lines for some time and then finally we get our bill. Now it comes to what those lines are and what is their work.

To clear these doubts, today I thought why not give you complete information about these lines which are also called Barcode. So that you can understand what exactly this barcode is and how it works. Whenever we buy something, it is inadvertently right but we definitely come across these barcodes.

Then what is the delay, let us know what is Barcode and how this work works.

What is Barcode

If we talk about what is barcode the actual definition of Barcode, then we can say that it is a machine readable code which is in the format of numbers and lines, these lines are mainly parallel and they are printed on the back side of any product. it happens.

But in reality there is more than this Barcode Systems prove to be very helpful in any business. With the help of these big companies can track their products. You can easily know about their Prices and Stocks Level. By using this company in its Computer Centralized System can increase its productivity and efficiency.

The lines which we get so upset seeing, they show nothing but numbers and data. Which can be easily read with a Barcode Scanner and that data can be easily inserted into the computer. This saves both time and physical exertion. And the chances of making a mistake in this are also very less.

When first Barcodes came in the market then it was only 1 – Dimensional design which had only Black lines and which can be read very easily with the help of Barcode Scanner. But with the passage of time, their pattern has also changed a lot. Nowadays it is available in many shapes and sizes and which can also be read from our mobile phone.

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History of Barcode

You must have understood what is barcode, so let’s move on. The history of Barcode is very long and very interesting. This has been invented 70 years ago from today. As the technology is changing, so too many changes are being seen in it.

Our scientists are thinking of giving more and more information in this machine readable code. If we talk about the story behind it, then you will be surprised that it was invented in 1949 near a beach.

When Joseph Woodland, who was a Mechanical Engineer, first made some parallel lines at Drexel University, which were very similar to Morse Code. A friend of his, Bernard Silver, asked him to find a solution to a question. And that’s what Woodland was thinking about.

Silver had heard somewhere that a shop owner had asked the Dean of Drexel University to design a system so that Grocery Checkout could be done automatically. While looking for a solution to this problem, both of them first invented Barcode. Due to which a patent was made in his name in 1952. He named his method “Classifying Appratus and Method”.

Gradually people liked this new technology very much. Inspired by which many companies worked on Barcode Technology. Many could not even succeed in using it. But the biggest achievement came when the National Association of Food Chains (NAFC) used this technology in an automated checkout system in 1966.

In the mid 1970’s NAFC established the U.S Supermarket Ad Hoc Committee on top of the Uniform Grocery Product Code. Who further developed the barcode and standardized the 11 digit code to identify a product.

After all, the day will come when the first barcode was scanned for the first time in the world on 26th June 1974 in Troy, Ohio. And with the passage of time there were many changes in the technology of barcode and new new features were also added so that these more Just got better and easier to use.

How to make barcode?

If you are reading this post then it is fair that you also want to get Barcode made for yourself or any of your shops. This is very easy to do and you can get the barcode made in just a few seconds.

For your information, let me tell you that there are many such online options from where you can create barcodes for free. Below I have provided information about this.

• To make it, you have to first visit the official website of making barcode https://barcode.tec-it.com/en.
• After visiting this website, you will get the option of Online Barcode Generator.
• Below that there will be options like Linear Codes, Postal codes, 2D codes, Banking and Payments Codes, such options will be there, select the work for which you want to create the structure.
• Whatever option comes, fill it with correct information and submit and click on generate code.
• After that you can download your generated structure.

Types Of Barcode

If we talk about different types of Barcode, it is mainly of two types 1D and 2D.

1D Barcode

Linear or 1D barcode stores only text information. A Linear Barcode Scanner cannot read 2D barcode, for this you will need an image scanner. The most recognizable of these is the UPC (Universal Product Code) which is a 1D Barcode. These are two parts of UPC, first is Barcode and second is 12 digit UPC number.

The first 6 digit number is Manufacturer’s Identification number. The next five digit represents its item number. And the last digit is the check digit that tells the scanner whether the scanning was done properly or not.

2D Barcode

2D barcode stores text information and many other information like price, quantity, web address or image. The device coming in our use like Mobile Phone in which Camera is available, we can read this 2D barcode. Right now 2D barcode has developed a lot. Nowadays they are storing even more information. And as SmartPhone users are increasing, their use is also increasing a lot.

How Barcodes Work

Works by using a combination of Barcode symbology and Scanner. First of all, Scanner is used to read any barcode, which understands the symbols of those barcodes and converts them into useful information.

This information mainly contains information about the origin, price, type and location of an item. When this Scanner reads the data, then it automatically saves those information in the system.

Big companies have benefited a lot by using this system. Everything about them can be tracked and with the help of which those things can be managed well.

How Barcode is used in Industry

So far we have understood that we can use Barcode in many places, so let us know how they are used in the industry.

• To track inventory. There are many products in an inventory and it is not possible in favor of any one to keep track of all the things, but with the help of barcode, we can keep track of those things properly.
• Can track the assets of the company. In any business, no matter how big or small it is, everyone’s asset (things) remains fixed. And if we attach barcode tags to those assets, then we will be able to track them easily. Along with that our accountability will also increase.
• We can also use it in return mail. All we have to do is add the barcode to the return mail registration post card and if it matches then we can easily track it, along with this, customers do not need to remember more numbers.
• If a company is hosting an event, then we just need to add a barcode to the RSVP card, so it will be known whether who participated in that event or not.
• If we add the barcode to the invoices then the customer account can be located very easily, this reduces the issue of payment being applied to the incorrect customer account.

Uses of Barcode

1. It is used in Consumer Retail Goods.
2. In Manufacturing Process Tracking (MPT), where light and heavy equipment and vehicles are assembled.
3. Movement of Products in the supply chain.
4. Access Control of all things like buildings, events, concerts, trains, ships, planes etc where barcode is used a lot in the movement.
5. They are used extensively in Coupons, Gift Cards, Driving License, Package Tracking.
   To track Speed ​​Post in Postal Office.
6. To prevent anti-counterfeiting and expiring systems in medicine manufacturing.
   In Asset Tracking System such as in any school, colleges, hospitals where there is a system of Check-in / Check out.
7. In electronic record storage and retrieval.
8. In lifecycle identification, in any assembly lines where critical parts are assemble

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