What is a barcode?
A barcode is a graphic depiction of an item's unique identifier. It's made up of bars, which are parallel black lines.
Optical scanners can read the width of each bar and the space between them. If you have a barcode system in place, you can scan things to instantly add their information.
A barcode is a picture of parallel black and white bars that a barcode scanner can read. Products are labeled with barcodes so that they may be identified immediately. Barcodes are commonly used in retail businesses as part of the purchasing process, in warehouses to track and manage inventory, and on invoices to assist with accounting, among other things.
Types of barcodes
- EAN-13 barcodes are used at the PoS terminals in supermarkets. It is made up of 13 digits, containing a country code, a producer name, an article number, and a check digit.
- Code 39 is a variable-length barcode that uses a set of 43 allowable characters including uppercase letters, numerals 0-9, and certain special characters.
- UPC-A: Universal Product Code (UPC)-A is the most widely used barcode on consumer goods, in the United States.
- ITF; This code is used as a visual identifier for items that possess a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
- Code 128 is the most easily read barcode and can be used to store any alphanumeric characters. If you are considering using barcodes in your company, Code 128 is a good choice.
- MSI Plessey: This barcode can only store numeric information, and is commonly used in warehousing and inventory control.
- UPC-A is a 12-digit fixed-length barcode. This is the most commonly used barcode in retail product labeling. The first 6 digits are unique to your business, and must be assigned to you by GS1 US.
- UPC-E is a 6-digit fixed-length barcode. This barcode is a compressed code that is used to mark small packages and paperback books and magazines in retail.
- EAN/JAN-13 can only store 12, 14 or 17 characters. The barcode is similar to UPC-A, but allows you to include the first two digits of a country code.
- EAN/JAN-8 requires the use of 7, 9 or 12 characters. EAN/JAN-8 is similar to the UPC-E, but also allows you to store the first two digits of a country code.
- US Postal Code: The US Postal Code barcode is also called POSTNET, and is used by the US Postal service for mail delivery
The benefits of using barcodes
Asset Monitoring
Employees in an organisation can use barcodes to track the movement of movable assets.
Inventory Tracking
Warehouse employees can easily track commodities and expiration dates using barcodes and serial and batch numbers
Package Information
By scanning a barcode, logistics personnel may obtain all of a package's information.
Document Identification
On invoices, barcodes can be utilised to hold item, customer, and order information.
Improved accuracy
Using a barcode to process product data is far more accurate than having a sales associate manually enter the information, which is prone to human error.
Better inventory management
Data about inventory levels or sales is immediately available due to the speed with which the information is handled.
Reduced training requirements
Employees don't need much training to utilize a barcode scanner because it's so simple (point and click).
Supported barcodes
- code128
- CODE128 (automatic mode switching)
- CODE128 A/B/C (force mode)
- EAN
- EAN-13
- EAN-8
- EAN-5
- EAN-2
- UPC (A)
- UPC (E)
- CODE39
-
- MSI
- MSI10
- MSI11
- MSI1010
- MSI1110
- Pharmacode
- Codabar