Barcoding of goods and products

A special marking on goods in the form of a barcode is familiar to everyone, but not everyone can extract information from it. Meanwhile, he serves as the bearer of all important information about the product and is the main assistant in the accounting of goods sold by any trading enterprise.

Who invented the barcode

The idea of creating a code containing basic information about the product belongs to Bernard Silver, a graduate student at the Drexel University of Philadelphia.

Having tried all possible methods of marking, he settled on a method involving the use of ultraviolet inks. The technology turned out to be imperfect - the use of such ink was financially expensive, and they paled with the passage of time and soon disappeared completely.

The impetus to creating a barcode was the Morse code, Silver converted points and dashes in the line, getting a better marking method.

The barcode appeared in 1949, but the lack of special equipment to read information prevented the timely introduction of development in various industries. To encode information about the product, it was applied 10 years later, when computers and laser equipment appeared.

Initially, the barcode had an oval shape, and the first commodity sold by scanning information from him was the chewing gum "Wrigley" (1974).

Information encrypted in a barcode

To date, almost all products have their own unique code. The manufacturer reserves the right not to apply it to the goods, but in this case their implementation will be difficult or not at all possible - the vast majority of outlets do not accept products without a barcode.

The following information is encrypted in it:

• manufacturer country;
• Manufacturer;
• product code.

How to decode a barcode

The European Standard Barcode (EAN) has 13 digits, less often - 8 (it is applied to very small packages), 14 digits have the ITF system. Each digit is coded with strokes and spaces to read the information on the device.

The first 2 or 3 digits - the code of the country where the product was manufactured. The most common codes are:

• 30 - 37 - France;
• 45 - 49 - Japan;
• 50 - Great Britain;
• 84 for Spain;
• 400 - 440 - Germany;
• 460 - 469 - Russia;
• 690 - China;
• 481 - Belarus;
• 890 - India.

The following 5 digits are assigned by the authorized body of each country to the manufacturer.

Figures, except for the last, are the code of the goods, which is established by the manufacturer. These figures contain identification data - name, article, grade, size, color, weight, etc.

The last digit of the code is the control code, it verifies the authenticity of the application and, accordingly, the products.

How to verify the authenticity of a product with a barcode

Barcoding products and products greatly simplifies the work of producers, logistics companies, retail outlets. In addition, each person can check the goods for authenticity by arithmetic calculations, using the numbers printed on the barcode.

It is important to understand that this method does not have a 100% guarantee, since it is possible to place a counterfeit product or food product in the original primary packaging.

The calculation sequence is the following (the check digit is never taken into account):

• Put together all the figures that are on even places;
• Multiply the result by 3;
• Add up the numbers at odd places;
• Combine the results obtained in the two previous actions;
• From the amount, delete the first digit;
• Subtract from 10 the last result.

Products are considered original if the result of the calculations corresponds to the check digit.

Example - goods with bar code 8904091116621:

• 9 + 4 + 9 + 1 + 6 + 2 = 31;
• 31 x 3 = 93;
• 8 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 6 = 16;
• 93 + 16 = 109;
• From the result the first digit is removed, it turns out 09, i.e. 9;
• 10 - 9 = 1.

The figure 1 corresponds to the check digit, this gives grounds to assume that the product is original.

How is the information read?

To date, the technology of barcoding of goods allows you to encrypt a large amount of information, and bar codes are increasingly applied to products in the form of smaller matrices.

Organizations involved in the transportation, acceptance and sale of products, put it on the register in the barcoding program of goods. To maximize control of their movement, up to the sale to the end user, a computer and a laser scanner are used.

Laser beams, getting on the barcode, fix the changes in the reflected light. The information about these changes comes to the computer in the form of characters, encrypted in the bar code. The comparison of the received symbols with those 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 fraction of a second, which greatly simplifies the process of moving them.

Barcoding of goods in 1C

Some organizations prefer to use their own product barcoding system for the convenience of tracking their internal movement. In addition, upon acceptance, the integrity of the package may be impaired, which will make the scanning process impossible. In this case, creating your own barcode is a must.

To ensure that the reading process does not slow down, it is advisable to use unique codes.

In the 1C: 8.2 program, the barcoding of goods is carried out in the nomenclature cards. Bar codes are displayed in all tables in the "Products" tab, in the list of items.

If, for some reason, the barcode information is not read by the scanner, it is possible to enter it manually using the "Enter barcode" or "Barcode search" commands.

Barcoding of goods in retail trade

The use of barcoding products in retail stores will help in many ways:

• Implementation;
• Accounting for movement within the outlet (for example, from the warehouse to the trading floor);
• Pricing;
• Establishment of a discount system.

To successfully implement the automatic process of reading information, you need to configure the necessary parameters in the 1C system and purchase equipment.

Program settings are changed in the tabs: "Store", "Warehouses", "Products", "Prices", "Discounts", "Access rights".

The necessary equipment for work are:

• Scanner - wired or wireless, a small retail store will require one hand-held scanner;
• Fiscal registrar - stores information in memory and prints checks, its operation is controlled by software installed on the computer;
• Printer for printing labels - for a point in which new price tags are often printed, small thermal printers are suitable.

To date, the use of barcodes allows in a short time to obtain all the important information about any product and carry out the process of moving it as quickly as possible.