Barcode Inventory System

The idea of barcode has been around since early 1960 and started with railroad carts. David Collins, while working at GTE, created a system called KarTrak that uses colored reflective stripes as a Barcode Inventory System. Later, around 1967, David Collins quit GTE and formed Computer Identics Corporation. This is when the real life of barcodes started. They used helium-neon lasers to scan black and white barcodes. They installed the first version of the Barcode Inventory System at GM a couple years later.

What a wonderful history. The important part is that barcodes have been around for the last 50 years.

Why People Still Use Barcodes

  • It is a pretty inexpensive system in comparison to RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification)
  • It is very reliable and simple
  • Allows tight and accurate control over inventory
  • It is widely popular thanks to UPC (The Universal Product Code) and GS1 Organization
  • And finally, it allows you to save time and money during Inventory Operations

Barcode Inventory System is a system that consists of software and hardware that records all stored information on a barcode found on inventory items. The barcode can store information such as:

  • Item number
  • Description
  • Inventory location
  • Lot or serial number
  • UPC code

The information is scanned from the barcode on the items, locations, boxes, and pallets and transmitted into an Inventory Management System such as CoreIMS™. Without this inventory system, barcodes would be useless.

The bottom line is, if after implementing Barcode Inventory System and Inventory Software, your operations are not significantly more efficient than before, then there is something terribly wrong.

About the Author:

Peter Oykhman is the President and Owner of CorePartners, Inc. Peter has a background in software development. For the last 15 years, he has been involved in logistics projects for various US and European clients. Contact info@corepartners.com.