Bar-coding in Chch soon

Press, 22 October 1981, Page 21

Bar-coding in Chch soon

Planning for the introduction of new technology in the grocery industry, in the form of bar-coding, is well under way. Industry sources say the system could be in use in Christchurch within a year. In fact, one large South Island supermarket chain is already using a system of bar-coding for ordering its goods. It is only a short step from there to have bar-coding introduced at the checkouts, in the form of automatic price scanning.

Bar-coding is already on many American items, such as magazines and food products. which are imported into New Zealand. It is a series of thick and thin stripes, below a coded series of numbers, which contain, in just a few centimetres, detailed information about the product — from the country where it was made to the type and even the flavour of the goods inside the packet. When the system is introduced in New Zealand, all grocery items will have the code system printed on the packet, instead of the pried. The goods can then be passed quickly across the supermarket checkout counter. which will have a scanner on it, and which can "read” the bar coded symbol and translate it into a price. All the information has already been fed into a computer storage terminal, and so the electronic cash register picks it up automatically. Some, supermarkets .. already have much of the

equipment necessary, such as electronic cash registers feeding from a central core of information. These have been programmed to list grocery items by name and by price on the docket as they are purchased simply by code numbers punched into them by the checkout operator.

In order to convert to barcoding, all they will have to do is have the scanner system added to the programme. The scanner itself is worked by a laser, which is able to translate the code as quickly as the operator can pass the goods across it. Those supermarkets already using bar coding for ordering goods have little laser-fed computers to "read" the codes attached to the supermarket shelves under the products. Stock controllers then punch into the computer the quantity required and the entire order is fed into a telephone ordering system through the computer.

The benefits of the system are as evident as the pitfalls. On the plus side, barcoding will bring increased efficiency, making check-out service quicker and less prone to human error. It will also bring, for the retailer, better stock control, sales analysis, and an up-to-date sales history of individual items.

On the other hand, since the system requires less staffing, shop assistants are worried that they might be in for a few redundancies. In addition, customers see only the price of an item on the shelf and on their grocery docket. The product itself will not be priced.

Some customers at those supermarkets which have al-

ready adopted the bar-coding system for ordering have already complained that they cannot tell how much a grocery item costs. All that is usually printed on the sticky label attached to the item is a code number. The price can be found only on the shelf, next to the barcode.

Manufacturers are aware that the initial cost of introducing; bar-coding in New Zealand will have to be borne bv them.

Every product will have to have a new packet, so that the bar-code can be included.

Last year, a public company, the New Zealand Product Number Association, was set up to promote and encourage the development of a uniform bar-coding system for manufactured and processed products.

There are two such systems used internationally — the American and the European, and it appears that the European system will be adopted here. They are similar in concept, varying only in digits' and bar widths. The Product Number Association formed a. subcommittee in April last year to assess the effect of barcoding on shop employees.