Advantages of Bar Coding highlighted

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Bar Coding had made the purchasing process easy and time saving for the consumer and it also benefits the selling outlets.

The sole national authorized body to issue and administer the barcode system is the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, said its Manager Osman Ismail.

A bar code is a machine-readable code consisting of a series of bars and spaces printed in defined ratios. The Bar code symbols are essentially alphabets in which different widths of bars and spaces are combined to form characters and ultimately a message.

Today barcodes are considered as a standard which a business must pursue as countries such as USA, UK and Germany will not accept products without barcodes.

"The awareness regarding barcodes is low and we need to educate companies to acquire this automation process for convenience. The bar coding system has eight-hundred-and-fifty local companies so far", he said.

The retailers prefer the barcode because it increases checker productivity, it provides an automated inventory control system avoids errors and saves time and cost.

Using barcodes makes it easier to get goods cleared from international customs, products are internationally quality assured, products are internationally identifiable and products become internationally competitive, he said.

The bar coding system is implemented in 150 countries. It is operated as a unified system called GS1 (Global Standard one) around the world which is coordinated by its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The GS1 system of standards is the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world.

GS1 is a global organization dedicated to design and implement global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across multiple sectors.

Companies which wish to use the GS1 system should apply for membership from the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce which is responsible for the allocation of barcode numbers for companies and products, observe whether the companies comply by the global barcode system, provide training and support on numbering, bar coding, electronic data interchange, data synchronization and radio frequency identification and supply information on the standards and continuous evaluation of the system.

At a glance

* 850 local companies use Bar coding

* Easy and time saving

* Bar coding implemented in 150 countries.