Bar codeÔÇÖs 35th anniversary

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The 35th anniversary of the Universal Product Code (UPC), otherwise known as the bar code, will be celebrated Wednesday by GS1 US, the developer and administrator of the UPC for more than 200,000 businesses in the United States.   One of the worldÔÇÖs best-known symbols, the UPC comprises a row of 59 machine-readable black and white bars and 12 human-readable digits. Both the bars and the digits convey the same information: the identity of a specific product and its manufacturer.┬á   Originally developed to help supermarkets speed up the checkout process, the first live use of a UPC took place in a Marsh Supermarkets store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, when a cashier scanned a package of WrigleyÔÇÖs gum.┬á   The introduction of the bar code ushered in extraordinary economic and productivity gains for shoppers, retailers and manufacturers alike, with estimated annual cost savings of $17 billion in the grocery sector alone, according to one study.   The UPC was quickly adopted by other industries, which sought to capture the benefits it had delivered to the grocery industry. Today UPCs are scanned more than 10 billion times a day in applications across a variety of industries.   ÔÇ£The U.P.C. made the modern retail store possible,ÔÇØ said Rodney McMullen, vice chairman of The Kroger Co., which operates more than 4,000 stores in different formats and under different banners, or names. ÔÇ£It allows us to carry tens of thousands of items in a given store and move shoppers through quickly while offering them many different ways to save money.ÔÇØ   Although the range of its use today was not envisioned in 1974, when supermarkets carried a fraction of the inventory they carry today, its creators had the foresight to design it with the capacity to identify millions of unique items, meaning that the UPC continues to accommodate the creation each year of tens of thousands of new products.   Every UPC incorporates three elements: the brand ownerÔÇÖs GS1 Company Prefix, the specific itemÔÇÖs ÔÇ£reference number,ÔÇØ and a ÔÇ£check digit,ÔÇØ which is calculated by the combination of the preceding numbers and ensures data accuracy.┬á   GS1 US is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the adoption and implementation of standards-based, global supply-chain solutions.   The organization will mark the bar codeÔÇÖs 35th anniversary with a giant UPC-adorned birthday cake for more than 800 attendees at its annual U Connect Conference in Orlando.┬á     *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *