Where Is The Sygic Product Code?

Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code

• How does the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code pertain to competition in the business world?

• Answer:

  Hello charlayne, In a nutshell, the use of UPC bar codes should have a favorable impact on productivity, costs and customer satisfaction, even more so when a company has dealings in more than one country. All of these will improve its standing versus its competitors. The web site of ITSCO Auto ID Products has a pdf file of a 35-page booklet titled “All about bar codes”, which you can access at http://www.itsco.net/pdf/allaboutbarcodes.pdf The booklet makes some points that are relevant to your question: “In today’s business environment, staying competitive is critical to your success. Bar code data-collection technology is an effective way to improve the bottom line and meet the competitive challenges your organization faces every day.” Bar codes and associated technology have “significantly increased the speed, efficiency and accuracy of data collection and entry. Early applications of bar code scanning, which included retail point-of-sale, item tracking and inventory control, have been expanded to include more advanced applications such as time and attendance, work-in-process, quality control, sorting, order entry, document tracking, shipping and receiving and controlling access to secure areas.” Linking the results from these applications to management information systems has resulted in increased productivity, because, as a result, “opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and customer responsiveness have developed for retailers, transportation and package delivery companies, manufacturers, wholesale distributors and service providers.” The benefits of bar coding are given as: Faster and more accurate data entry. This results in reduced labor costs (sometimes the savings are enough to pay for the entire data collection system that is being used) and also reduced revenue loss from errors. Reduced errors will also increase customer satisfaction and promote return custom. Bar codes can also save capital outlay by allowing a tight control of inventory. The automated data collection that is possible with the use of bar codes provides faster and easier access to data, and therefore results in improved management. It enables rapid, fully-informed decision-making. These advantages operate at various levels of the supply chain: At the point of sale, bar coding saves checker time and so reduces salary costs. In addition, less staff time is required on taking inventories and ordering products, since this can be done automatically. The use of bar codes speeds up the time required to go through checkout, and this increases customer satisfaction. Also, automated ordering of products when supplies get low means that customers will be less frustrated at not finding what they want. They are therefore more likely to return to this retailer. Moreover, “with bar code data-collection you can tell not only what the customers are buying, but when they are buying it and in what combinations. This can improve business management by suggesting better locations for goods in the store and identifying advertising targets.” In manufacturing, bar codes can be used to track the production process, making it easier to identify and solve any problems which arise. The same advantages apply as above with respect to managing inventories, so that production is not affected by a lack of supplies. The use of bar codes to track workplace attendance can cut costs by eliminating a lot of the paperwork otherwise required, as well as eliminating time clocks. While the booklet does not specifically single out UPC bar codes, these do enable all the processes described above to be integrated seamlessly across the world, thus further increasing productivity and simplifying relations with clients and suppliers. Search strategy on Google: "UPC bar code" increased competition