Universal Product Code

The Universal Product Code (UPC or UPC code) is a barcode symbology that is widely used worldwide for tracking trade items in stores. UPC (technically refers to UPC-A) consists of 12 digits that are uniquely assigned to each trade item. Along with the related International Article Number (EAN) barcode, the UPC is the barcode mainly used for scanning of trade items at the point of sale, per the specifications of the international GS1 organisation. UPC data structures are a component of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and follow the global GS1 specification, which is based on international standards. But some retailers (clothing, furniture) do not use the GS1 system (rather other barcode symbologies or article number systems). On the other hand, some retailers use the EAN/UPC barcode symbology, but without using a GTIN (for products sold in their own stores only). Research indicates that the adoption and diffusion of the UPC stimulated innovation and contributed to the growth of international retail supply chains. Wallace Flint proposed an automated checkout system in 1932 using punched cards. Bernard Silver and Norman Joseph Woodland, a graduate student from Drexel Institute of Technology, developed a bull's-eye-style code and applied for the patent in 1949. In the 1960s and early 1970s, railroads in North America experimented with multicolor bar codes for tracking railcars, but this system was eventually abandoned and replaced with a radio-based system called Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI). In 1973, a group of trade associations from the grocery industry formed the Uniform Product Code Council (UPCC) which, with the help of consultants Larry Russell and Tom Wilson of McKinsey & Company, defined the numerical format that formed the basis of the Uniform Product Code. Technology firms including Charegon, IBM, Litton-Zellweger, Pitney Bowes-Alpex, Plessey-Anker, RCA, Scanner Inc., Singer, and Dymo Industries/Data General, put forward alternative proposals for symbol representations to the council.