Bar Code Uses

Although the first commercial implementation of bar coding was for grocery distribution in 1970, the use of bar codes has grown enormously since.

We now see many stores across the world using bar codes at the checkout, and also throughout their distribution chain. Inter-company and intra-company distribution outside of the retail arena also uses bar coding. Bar codes are used in vehicle manufacture, document tracking, data input for domestic video recorders, time control, security access, in some hospitals even human beings are being automatically identified by a bar coded tag worn around the wrist.

Many standards have been developed for the use and control of numbering systems applied to bar codes. These standards may be international, they may only apply to one industry or just one company or office.

Bar code users may be split into two groups; those who are using bar codes within a controlled system where they must adhere to the coding standards laid down by an outside body and those who wish to originate bar codes for purely their own use and therefore have free rein to choose the most suitable bar code type (or symbology).

Dependent on the type of system which is being operated, the user may wish to produce the same bar code on all items of a particular type (e.g. 14oz. cans of a particular brand of baked beans) or may wish to uniquely identify each individual item (such as a legal file or document).