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… or perhaps that will soon be Frozen Fish and Data Chips. This month marks the 35th anniversary of the universal product code (UPC) and the associated bar code, that we are all accustomed to see on every item we purchase in a grocery store. A bar code was officially swiped for the first time on June 26, 1974, at a supermarket in Ohio and brought to Canada a year later.

The bar code has been recognized by the Smithsonian as one of the great breakthrough technologies in history. Such bar codes are now scanned more than 10 billion times a day. However UPCs will shortly be replaced by electronic product codes (EPCs), which will become the new industry standard. They can hold much more data and can be stored on radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which don’t require direct scanning but can be read by a sensor.

GS1 Canada, is the not-for-profit organization that manages this technology. Here is how they describe the new EPC:

EPC is designed to provide a unique serial number for each item in the supply chain. In contrast, bar codes only identify a group of products. For instance all Coke cans have the same bar code whereas with the EPC technology, every single Coke can would have a one-of-a-kind identifier.

This one-of-a-kind identifier will provide greater visibility of items in the supply chain. Having more detailed and accurate information on products will improve movement of goods in real-time, inventory management and replenishment practices, resulting in a reduction of lost sales due to out-of-stocks. It could help reduce theft and prevent counterfeit goods. Readers could also capture the EPC number stored in a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and transmit and report the item’s location, condition and status to an on-site information system or to a remote database via the internet.

The advantages and benefits of this EPC/RFID technology are so striking that its take-up should be rapid. If they do put one of these tags on your frozen fish and chips pack, then you can be assured that it has been handled correctly all along the supply chain until it reaches you.

It may have taken 35 years for the bar code to get the wide acceptance it has but it seems clear that over the next 10 years the EPC/RFID will likely become the accepted standard.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.