UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHEASTERN PHILIPPINES

Tagum-Mabini Campus

BS AGRICULTURAL AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Barcode Technology: Barcode Prefixes and Product Country of Origin

A Data Report

Proponent

Abuloc, Jennyl Rose P.

1B

Engr. Ronie Lusares

Instructor

November 2019
 INTRODUCTION

Barcode is a cost-effective and simple method in facilitating numerous

identification processes. In fact, readable digital data storing on product packages or

paper. Even faster data transfer as pressing needs and there have been many

improvements with high reliability have emerged on the original barcode design that

was made. For these cost-effective codes as well as their application opened a new

front by invention of HC2D barcodes in scenarios like storing contact information

which transfer more complex data, URLs among other things, there have become

increasingly popular in which QR codes (Pooja Shejwal, 2016). Barcode is nothing but

a piece of paper pasted on items. You would have seen patterns of black and white

vertical lines on items in stores, books, hardware items etc. These lines may seem

oblivious to you but they contain large amount of information regarding the product on

which they are pasted (ByteScout, 2014).

Barcode can be defined as a self-contained message with information encoded

in a series of black bars of varying breadths and white spaces between every two of

them. It is a way of representing a series of numbers or letters. There are many kinds

of barcodes, but most of them represent each character by a different combination of

wide and narrow bars. Another way to think of a barcode is like a font. Some dark

shapes on a light background represent each character. Barcodes provide ease of

recognition by an optical device (Singh, R., 2003). Almost every industry is employing

barcodes for automating their product information storage and retrieval purposes.

Following are some of the general application areas of barcodes (ByteScout, 2014).
Background of the Study

Barcoding, also known as Automatic Identification (Auto ID), was invented in

the early 1970s. It was created to help large retail and grocery stores process their

goods. It used to be that Cashiers would take a product, enter the price into the

register by hand, and the Cash Register would calculate change and print a receipt.

Today, with the help of sophisticated computer systems, a series of numbers

representing the product in the form of a barcode is scanned. The computer looks up

the price in a master database subtracts it from the store inventory, and calculates the

change. The software also creates reports regarding inventory levels, shows what

products are the most and least popular, creates demographic reports on individual

products and customers, and tracks much more. The key to the whole system is

accurate reporting of the product purchased. Cashiers are inherently fallible and slow.

Barcoding is neither.

Barcodes became commercially successful when they were used to automate

supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal.

Their use has spread too many other tasks that are generically referred to as

automatic identification and data capture (AIDC). The very first scanning of the now-

ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company

chewing gum in June 1974. QR codes, a specific type of 2D barcode, have recently

become very popular.

Significance of the Study

Barcode encoding and decoding is extremely fast and can save lots of time that

is spent in manually encoding and decoding information. It also secure way of

encoding information and chance of faulty information and human error is minimal.
Barcodes nowadays are extremely cost effective; the encoding hardware and

scanning devices have become cheaper and reliable. Barcodes helps in decision

making process by providing processed data using specialized programming

algorithms. Process automation is the biggest advantage that comes with barcode

implementation in point of sale systems (ByteScout, 2014). All barcodes represent

data in a machine readable form. The different widths of bars and spaces in a barcode

symbol represent different numbers or letters which can be decoded by a scanner.

The data is then sent back to the appropriate computer system where it is recorded

and used to prompt further action. Barcodes used at the retail point of sale represent a

global trade item number (GTIN) which acts as a key to information held on a

database. It is important that each GTIN correctly identifies the product and that the

barcode representing this number can easily be seen and scanned successfully

(Spittle, J.D., 2013).

OBJECTIVES

1. Know the importance of Barcode Technology

2. Be knowledgeable on the different types of Barcode Technology.

3. Be able to understand how Barcode Technology works.

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Data Collection

The proponent gathered the data through photo documentation of agricultural

products at Gaisano Mall of Tagum which is located in Km 55, National Highway, Briz

District, Tagum City, Davao del Norte 8100.

Analysis of Data

The first three digits do not signify what country the product was manufactured

in; they do indicate the country in which the company is based. This means, the

company is headquartered, or has an office in that location, but the product could

have been made in another country. Since a company has to apply for a GS1 prefix,

they simply state where they are located to receive their prefix, and can choose to

manufacture their product anywhere in the world.

According to Scandit, there are many types of barcodes and each brings

unique opportunities and challenges to the table. With such a range of options to

choose from, it can be tough to determine which barcodes will best suit your products,

inventory or assets.

One-Dimensional (1D) Barcode Types

One-dimensional (or 1D) barcodes systematically represent data by varying the

widths and spacing’s of parallel lines. These include some of the most traditional and

well-recognized barcode types, such as the UPC and EAN codes.

UPC CODE

UPC barcodes are used to label and scan consumer

goods at points of sale around the world—mainly in the

United States, but also in the United Kingdom, Australia,

New Zealand and other countries. The UPC-A variation

encodes twelve numerical digits, while UPC-E is a smaller variation that encodes only

six numerical digits.

EAN CODE

EAN barcodes are also used to label consumer goods

worldwide for point-of-sale scanning, primarily in Europe.

They look very similar to UPC codes, and the main

distinction is their geographical application. While EAN-13

(comprising 13 digits) is the default form factor, you’ll find EAN-8 (covering eight digits)

barcodes on products where space is very limited, like small candies.

CODE 39

Code39 barcodes (or Code 3 of 9) are used to label goods

across many industries and are often found in the

automotive industry and the U.S. Department of Defense. It

enables the use of both digits and characters, and its name originates in the fact that it

could only encode 39 characters—though in its most recent version the character set

has been increased to 43. It’s similar to, but not as compact as, the Code 128

barcode.
CODE 128

Code 128 barcodes are compact, high-density codes used in

logistics and transportation industries for ordering and

distribution. They’re geared toward non-POS products, like

when supply chain applications label units with serial shipping container codes

(SSCC). Because they support any character of the ASCII 128-character set, Code

128 barcodes can store highly diversified information.

ITF (Interleaved 2 OF 5)

ITF (or Interleaved 2 of 5) barcodes are used to label

packaging materials across the globe. Since they can deal

with high printing tolerances, they are ideal for printing on

corrugated cardboard. ITF barcodes encode 14 numeric

digits and use the full ASCII set.

CODE 93

Code 93 barcodes are used in logistics to identify packages in

retail inventory, label electronic components, and even

provide supplementary delivery information for the Canadian

Post. Like Code 39, Code 93 barcodes come with full ASCII support. Along with

enabling additional security within the code itself, the high density and compact size of

Code 93s make them around 25% shorter than barcodes produced in Code 39.
CODABAR

Codabar barcodes are used by logistics and healthcare

professionals, including U.S. blood banks, FedEx, photo labs

and libraries. Their main benefit is that they’re easy to print and

can be produced by any impact style printer—even a typewriter. Therefore, users can

create many Codabar codes using consecutive numbers without the use of a

computer. Codabar is a discrete, self-checking symbology that encodes up to 16

different characters with an additional 4 start/stop characters.

GS1 DATABAR

GS1 DataBar barcodes (formerly known as Reduced Space

Symbology) are used by retail outlets to identify consumer

coupons, produce and perishables, as well as small objects in

the healthcare industry. They are more compact than typical consumer-facing

barcodes. GS1 DataBar was introduced in 2001 and has become the mandated

barcode type for retail coupons in the U.S.

MSI PLESSEY

MSI Plessey (or Modified Plessey) barcodes are used for

inventory management in retail environments, such as labeling

supermarket shelves.
Two-Dimensional (2D) Barcode Types

Two-dimensional (or 2D) barcodes systematically represent data using two-

dimensional symbols and shapes. They are similar to a linear 1D barcode, but can

represent more data per unit area. 2D barcodes include some newer barcode types,

such as the QR Code and PDF417.

QR CODE

QR codes are most often used in tracking and marketing initiatives,

such as advertisements, magazines and business cards. They are

flexible in size, offer a high fault tolerance and have fast readability,

though they can’t be read with a laser scanner. QR codes support four different modes

of data: numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, and Kanji. They are public domain and

free to use.

DATAMATRIX CODE

Datamatrix codes are usually used to label small items, goods and

documents. Their tiny footprint makes them ideal for small products in

logistics and operations. In fact, the U.S. Electronic Industries

Alliance (EIA) recommends that they be used to label small electronic components.

Similar to QR codes, they have high fault tolerance and fast readability.
PDF417

PDF417 codes are used for applications that require the

storage of huge amounts of data, such as photographs,

fingerprints and signatures. They can hold over 1.1 kilobytes

of machine-readable data, making them much more powerful than other 2D barcodes.

Like QR codes, PDF417 barcodes are public domain and free to use.

AZTEC

Aztec codes are commonly used by the transportation industry,

particularly for tickets and airline boarding passes. The barcodes

can still be decoded even if they have bad resolution, making

them useful when tickets are printed poorly or presented on a phone. They can also

take up less space because they don’t require a surrounding blank “quiet zone,” unlike

some other 2D barcode types.

The data gathered was being analyzed through the table below

Prefix Country ISO country code

00 to 13 UCC (USA & Canada) us/ca

20 - 29 In-store numbers

30 - 37 GENCOD-EAN France fr

380 BCCI (Bulgaria) bg

383 EAN Slovenia si

385 EAN Croatia hr

387 EAN-BIH (Bosnia-Herzegovina) ba

400 - 440 CCG (Germany) de

45, 49 Distribution Code Center DCC (Japan) jp

460 - 469 UNISCAN - EAN Russia (Russian Federation) ru

471 EAN Taiwan tw

474 EAN Estonia ee

475 EAN Latvia lv

476 EAN Azerbaijan az

477 EAN Lithuania lt

478 EAN Uzbekistan uz

479 EAN Sri Lanka lk

480 PANC (Philippines) ph

481 EAN Belarus by

482 EAN Ukraine ua

484 EAN Moldova md

485 EAN Armenia am

486 EAN Georgia ge

487 EAN Kazakhstan kz

489 HKANA (Hong-Kong) hk

50 e.centre gb

520 EAN HELLAS (Greece) gr

528 EAN Lebanon lb

529 EAN Cyprus cy

531 EAN-MAC (FYR Macedonia) mk

535 EAN Malta mt

539 EAN Ireland ie

54 EAN Belgium.Luxembourg be/lu

560 CODIPOR (Portugal) pt

569 EAN Iceland is

57 EAN Danmark dk

590 EAN Poland pl

594 EAN Romania ro

599 EAN Hungary hu

600 - 601 EAN South Africa za

608 EAN Bahrain bh

609 EAN Mauritius mu

611 EAN Maroc (Morocco) ma

613 EAN Algerie (Algeria) dz

616 EAN Kenya ke

619 Tunicode (Tunisia) tn

621 EAN Syria sy

622 EAN Egypt eg

624 EAN Libya ly

625 EAN Jordan jo

626 EAN Iran ir

627 EAN Kuwait kw

628 EAN Saudi Arabia sa

629 EAN Emirates ae

64 EAN Finland fi

690 - 695 Article Numbering Centre of China - ANCC cn

70 EAN Norge (Norway) no

729 Israeli Bar Code Association - EAN Israel il

73 EAN Sweden se

740 EAN Guatemala gt

741 EAN El Salvador sv

742 EAN Honduras hn

743 EAN Nicaragua ni

744 EAN Costa Rica cr

745 EAN Panama pa

746 EAN Republica Dominicana do

750 AMECE (Mexico) mx

759 EAN Venezuela ve

76 EAN Switzerland ch

770 IAC (Colombia) co

773 EAN Uruguay uy

775 EAN Peru pe

777 EAN Bolivia bo

779 CODIGO - EAN Argentina ar

780 EAN Chile cl

784 EAN Paraguay py

786 ECOP (Ecuador) ec

789 - 790 EAN Brazil br

80 - 83 INDICOD (Italy) it

84 AECOC (Spain) es

850 Camera de Comercio de la Republica de Cuba cu

858 EAN Slovakia sk

859 EAN Czech cz

860 EAN YU (Yugoslavia) yu

867 EAN DPR Korea (North Korea) kp

869 UCCET (Turkey) tr

87 EAN Nederland nl

880 EAN Korea (South Korea) kr

885 EAN Thailand th

888 SANC (Singapore) sg

890 EAN India in

893 EAN Vietnam vn

899 EAN Indonesia id

90 - 91 EAN Austria at

93 EAN Australia au

94 EAN New Zealand nz

955 EAN Malaysia my

958 EAN Macau mo

977 Periodicals (ISSN)

978 - 979 Books (ISBN)

980 Refund receipts

981 - 982 Common currency coupons

99 Coupons

Source: https:www.makebarcode.com
 PRODUCT BARCODE COUNTRY

ARIZONA GREEN TEA W/ GINSENG & HONEY

Algeria

French's buffalo ketchup

U.S. and Canada

7 tonner rice order ni Misis

U.S. and Canada

Marmite

France and Monaco

Butter magnolia

Philippines
 Gerber Bananas Germany

Thai Coconut Milk

Thailand

Lemon

Germany

Chocolate Powder

U.S. and Canada

 Twinnings Herbal Tea

U.S. and Canada

CONCLUSION

Business industries and stores around the world, flourished due to, the purpose

of barcodes, types of barcodes, as well as the way barcodes gathered and transfer

information. Now you we realize how big of an effect barcodes make in our lives and

how each product has a different barcode out of thousands. It will change our future

because everything we would ever need, would be right at our fingertips. Barcodes

are an efficient, reliable, robust and quick way of storing and retrieving useful

information, particularly where large number of items needs to be associated with

some sort of identification information. Readers can now read and decide what type of

barcode is suitable for them according to their needs and area of business. While

almost every area of business is computerized; barcodes can really leverage your

business and decision-making processes.

References

ByteScout (2014). Introduction into Barcodes. Retrieved from

https://bytescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Introduction-Into-Barcodes-by-

ByteScout.pdf

Pooja Shejwal et al (2016). A Survey on Existing Barcodes and Barcode

Generation Techniques. International Journal of Computer Science and Information

Technologies, Vol. 7 (5), 2016, 2307-2310

Retrieved from https://www.abr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/barcode-

basics.pdf

Scandit (2015). Types of Barcodes: Choosing the Right Barcode. Retrieved

from https://www.scandit.com/blog/types-barcodes-choosing-right-barcode/

Singh, R. (2003). Use and Importance of Barcode System. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310673806

Smithsonian, (2015). The History of the Bar Code. It’s a Wrap: GE, NBC Part

Ways, Together They’ve Changed History. Retrieved from

https://www.digimarc.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/birth-of-the-

barcode.pdf?sfvrsn=8

Spittle, J.D. (2013). Barcoding – getting it right. Retrieved from

http://www.axicon.com/assets/how_to_barcoding_getting_it_right.pdf