The special labeling on products in the form of a bar code is familiar to everyone, but not everyone knows how to extract information from it. Meanwhile, he serves as the carrier of all important information about the products and is the main assistant in the accounting of goods sold by any trading company.
Who invented the barcode
The idea of creating a code containing basic product information belongs to Bernard Silver, a graduate student at Drexel University of Philadelphia.
Having tried all kinds of marking methods, he settled on a method involving the use of ultraviolet ink. The technology turned out to be imperfect - the use of such inks was financially expensive, and they faded over time and soon disappeared completely.
The impetus for creating a barcode was the Morse Code, Silver converted the dots and dashes into lines, receiving a better marking method.
The barcode appeared in 1949, but the lack of special equipment for reading information prevented the timely implementation of development in various industries. It began to be used to encode product information 10 years later, when computers and laser equipment appeared.
Initially, the barcode had an oval shape, and the first product sold by scanning information from it was the Wrigley chewing gum (1974).
Barcode Encrypted Information
Today, almost all products have their own unique code. The manufacturer reserves the right not to apply it to goods, but in this case their implementation will be difficult or not possible at all - the vast majority of outlets do not accept products without a bar code.
The following information is encrypted in it:
- the country of manufacture;
- manufacturer;
- product code.
How to decrypt a barcode
The bar code of the European standard (EAN) has 13 digits, less often - 8 (applied to packages of very small sizes), the ITF system has 14 digits. Each digit is encoded with strokes and spaces for reading information by the device.
The first 2 or 3 digits are the code of the country where the product was manufactured. The most common codes:
- 30 - 37 - France;
- 45 - 49 - Japan;
- 50 - United Kingdom;
- 84 - Spain;
- 400 - 440 - Germany;
- 460 - 469 - Russia;
- 690 - China;
- 481 - Belarus;
- 890 - India.
The 5 digits following them are assigned by the authorized body of each country to the manufacturer.
The numbers, with the exception of the latter, are the product code that is set by the manufacturer. These numbers contain identification data - name, article, grade, size, color, weight, etc.
The last digit of the code is the control, with its help the authenticity of the application and, accordingly, of the product is verified.
How to verify the authenticity of goods using a barcode
Barcoding of goods and products greatly simplifies the work of manufacturers, logistics companies, retail outlets. In addition, each person can verify the goods for authenticity by arithmetic calculations using the numbers on the bar code.
It is important to understand that this method does not have a 100% guarantee, since there is a possibility of placing a fake product or food product in the original primary packaging.
The calculation sequence is as follows (the check digit is never taken into account):
- add together all the numbers that are in even places;
- multiply the result by 3;
- add numbers on odd places;
- add together the results obtained in the two previous actions;
- cross out the first digit from the amount;
- subtract the last result from 10.
A product is considered original if the result of the calculation corresponds to a check digit.
Example - product with a barcode 8904091116621:
- 9 + 4 + 9 + 1 + 6 + 2 = 31;
- 31 x 3 = 93;
- 8 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 6 = 16;
- 93 + 16 = 109;
- the first digit is removed from the result, it turns out 09, i.e. 9;
- 10 - 9 = 1.
The number 1 corresponds to the check digit, this gives reason to assume that the product is original.
How information is read
Today, the technology of bar coding of goods allows encrypting a large amount of information, and barcodes are increasingly being applied to products in the form of smaller matrices.
Organizations involved in the transportation, reception and sale of products, register them in the program for barcoding goods. For maximum control of their movement, up to sales to the final consumer, a computer and a laser scanner are used.
Laser beams entering a barcode record changes in reflected light. Information about these changes enters the computer in the form of characters encrypted in a bar code. The comparison of the received characters with the ones in the database is started. If an exact match is found, the information is displayed on the screen.
Barcoding of goods allows you to get the necessary information in a split second, which greatly simplifies the process of moving them.
Barcoding of goods in 1C
Some organizations prefer to use their own bar-coding system for goods for the convenience of tracking their internal movement. In addition, the packaging integrity may be compromised upon receipt, making the scanning process impossible. In this case, creating your own barcode is a must.
So that the reading process does not slow down, it is advisable to use unique codes.
In the program 1C: 8.2, barcoding of goods is carried out in the nomenclature cards. Barcodes are displayed in all tabular parts in the "Products" tab, in the list of items.
If for some reason the information from the barcode is not read by the scanner, it is possible to enter it manually using the "Enter Barcode" or "Search Barcode" commands.
Retail Barcoding
Using barcoding of goods in retail stores will help in many ways:
- implementation;
- accounting for movements within a point of sale (for example, from a warehouse to a trading floor);
- pricing
- establishment of a discount system.
For the successful implementation of the automatic process of reading information, you need to configure the necessary parameters in the 1C system and purchase equipment.
The program settings are changed in the tabs: “Shop”, “Warehouses”, “Goods”, “Prices”, “Discounts”, “Access rights”.
The necessary equipment for work are:
- scanner - wired or wireless, for a small retail store you will need one hand scanner;
- fiscal registrar - stores information in memory and prints checks, its work is controlled by software installed on the computer;
- label printer - small thermal printers are suitable for the point at which new price tags are often printed.
Today, the use of barcodes allows you to quickly get all the important information about any product and carry out the process of moving it as quickly as possible.