The first question may be, is there a future for barcoding? History is only a good prediction of the future in a few situations, but in this case, it applies. So, the question then is, why has barcoding survived—indeed thrived—for 50 years? The answer is evolutionary.
Barcodes were invented and patented in 1945—invented to solve problems. They did not actually solve the problem until 1974: although the concept was brilliant, there was no way to scan them until the invention of the laser. It took nearly 30 years for that invention to materialize, but here we are, 50 years later, and barcodes are growing everywhere.
Here are the key reasons barcodes remain viable:
Barcode technology has evolved. The limitations of humble 12-digit numerical-only UPC were soon resolved by a succession of improvements:
• Code 39 added alphanumerical encoding to satisfy a military asset-tracking problem
• ITF was added to solve the problem of printing on a corrugated substrate
• Code 128 added special keyboard characters, encoding efficiency, and data capacity
• 2D symbologies such as Data Matrix and QR exponentially improved data capacity and reduced the footprint—a double win.
All these evolutionary developments made barcodes relevant in supply chain management, as well as a long and growing list of new applications such as event access control, secure airline, and rail boarding passes, kitting and order picking, medication dispensing, forest and animal management, hardware life cycle tracking and maintenance and sustainability.
The evolution of barcodes hasn’t slowed down. Recent new applications include special symbologies for high-speed inkjet marking in the tobacco and cannabis industries and a multi-color symbology in consideration for blood banking.
Barcodes also work well with other technologies, most notably RFID. Each has its limitations, but together, they accomplish more.
Finally, barcodes survive because they are incredibly cheap to include on a package. Even the initial licensing cost is low but amortized over many thousands of packages; the cost is negligible.
This begs the final question: how much longer will barcodes be around? With the replacement of the venerable UPC on the horizon, no end is in sight.
