Bar-Coding—The Story Behind the Lines

Bar codes—already omnipresent in retail businesses—are finding limited use in industry, tracking loads and managing inventory. Will they catch on in the scrap industry?

By Kristina Rundquist

Kristina Rundquist is an associate editor of Scrap.

Oct. 20, 1949, probably holds little importance except to the most ardent Trivial Pursuit players. On that date, an application for “U.S. Patent No. 2,612,994: Classifying Apparatus and Method” was filed.

For nearly two decades, the technology behind this application meant a great deal to a select few and practically nothing to a great many. It wasn’t until 1966—when this new invention appeared in a Kroger grocery store in Cincinnati—that it reached the public eye. To say it burst onto the scene would be an overstatement, but what’s happened since has been nothing short of a revolution. For U.S. Patent No. 2,612,994—or the bar code—has literally changed the way business is conducted.

Today, you can hardly buy a product that doesn’t bear a bar code, and industrial companies—including a few scrap metal firms—are using the technology to track material through their operations and manage inventory.

Is bar-coding in your future? Perhaps. Just in case, here’s an introduction to this ubiquitous and useful technology.

A Bar Code Is Born

You could say that the bar code was born thanks to eavesdropping.

As the story goes, Bernard Silver, a graduate student at Philadelphia’s Drexel Institute of Technology, happened to overhear a discussion between the school’s dean and a local grocery store executive about the need for a mechanism that would automatically read and record a product’s information at the cash register. Silver recognized a good idea when he heard one. So, in 1948, he and Norman J. Woodland set to work developing such a technology.

After numerous errant attempts, including a code that glowed under ultraviolet light, they finally developed a workable system based on a series of white bars on a dark background. Their system used four white lines from which seven variations could be created. Later, the number of lines was upped to 10, allowing 1,023 permutations.

Such was the humble start of bar-coding technology. Forty-four years later, although Silver had long since passed away, it earned Woodland the 1992 National Medal of Technology.

Bars and Stripes

While bar codes have come a long way from their early days, the basic elements remain the same—a series of lines and spaces representing a series of binary numbers. Each wide bar or space indicates the number one, while a thin bar or space stands for zero. Combinations of these spaces and lines translate into numbers, letters, or characters that, when used in succession, codify a product’s information. The coded information is contained between start and stop codes that allow a scanner to read the entire bar forward or backward.

The most basic and common of bar codes is the Universal Product Code, or UPC. These 12-digit codes are based on the following pattern: the first digit is the number system character (which differentiates different classes of products), the next five are the manufacturer’s code, the next five identify the product, and finally the check-sum character (which represents a mathematical calculation of the first 11 digits). UPCs have been around since 1970 and, thanks to their simplicity and uniformity, have gained popularity in the grocery and packaged goods industries. These codes appear on everything from clothing to toiletries and tell the computer that the cereal you’re about to buy is a 20-ounce box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes on sale for $2.98.

Code 39 is a more complex bar code that features a limited number of alpha-numeric characters, including upper and lower case letters as well as limited punctuation marks. It is popular with the Department of Defense and other government agencies because it can be universally read and is flexible in length.

Code 128 is a high-density code capable of storing up to 128 characters, including foreign language characters. The already-complex nature of the code is further complicated by several subset codes, each with their own limitations and guidelines. Though Code 128’s complexity keeps it out of the mainstream, it’s a favorite of the shipping industry thanks to its foreign language capability. Because it offers a wide variety of coding options, users can opt for alphanumeric codes, but doing so sacrifices the high-density advantage that allows for including two numbers in one character width. For this reason, numeric-based codes are the norm.

Today, two-dimensional codes are also in use. The prototype, Code 49, appeared on the scene in 1988, and six more have since followed. The best way to understand these is to compare them with traditional UPC codes. While UPCs present information horizontally, two-dimensional codes present information—and must be read—horizontally and vertically.

Scanning Scanners

To be useful, bar codes need a scanner to read and decode the information they contain. In the simplest terms, bar codes are read by a scanner using infrared lasers. As the light hits the code, only the white spaces are reflected. The scanner’s detector interprets these as on- and off-pulses, converting them into an electric binary system that’s read and translated by a computer. And voilà—your 20-ounce box of Corn Flakes.

Like bar codes, of course, scanners come in a variety of styles, from the most basic wand to hand-held minicomputer systems.

One category is contact scanners, so-called because they must be passed directly over a bar code. Wands and pens fall into this category. In general, they use incandescent or light-emitting diodes that can read carbon- and dye-based inks. Among their advantages, they’re inexpensive, rugged, lightweight, and have replaceable glass crystal and steel tips. On the negative side, they must be kept in constant contact with the code and are unsuitable for curved surfaces or tight spaces.

Another category is active noncontact scanners, which can be either hand-held or stationary. With their use of laser beams—which move at a rate of 40 to 800 times a second—they can read bar codes from afar. Hand-held models, for instance, can read codes up to 30 feet away and are capable of reading wide and narrow bars at varying distances. The drawbacks of these scanners are that they’re more expensive and have moving parts that can be easily damaged.

Passive noncontact scanners—or CCDs, for charge coupled devices—are yet another category. These use a tiny camera or photoelectric strip to convert the optical image of a bar code to a video signal, which is in turn decoded. These versions allow a code to be read all at once—hand-helds at a rate of 3 to 5 scans a second, stationary at 7 to 10 a second. Among their benefits, these scanners are moderately priced, rugged, and don’t require direct contact with the bar code. Their cons include having a limited depth of field and an inability to read long codes.

As scanners do their work, coded information can be transferred immediately into a computer for translation or downloaded for later use. The most sophisticated scanners are wireless and can communicate with a PC in real-time using a spread spectrum or narrowband radio-frequency signal. What’s more, they can act as two-way devices, communicating PC instructions to the operator, warning of entry errors, and even directing the operator to the next location.

Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

While bar codes are most commonly used in retail businesses—from supermarkets to department stores—they’re increasingly expanding beyond the public aisle and into industry. Because of their ability to track inventory, bar codes seem a natural for many industries, including some segments of the scrap business. Handy & Harman Refining Group Inc. (South Windsor, Conn.), a precious metal scrap processor and refiner, for example, has integrated bar-coding into almost every facet of its production. Because the company takes in and processes material by lot, bar-coding has proved to be indispensable.

“When we first started in business, if a customer wanted to know the location of their lot, we’d physically have to go into the plant and find it,” says Matt Fischer, plant manager of the company’s South Windsor facility. “Now, when a lot arrives, the lot number, the number of containers, and each process the lot will go to is coded and printed onto a sheet that will follow the batch from beginning to end.” When the lot arrives at ball milling, for example, the operator scans the code at the start and finish of the process. So, rather than label and scan each drum or bale, it’s the sheet that’s scanned when it enters and leaves a production stage.

To further pinpoint a lot’s activity, explains Tom Flynn, the firm’s administrative manager, “at each station the operator has a book of bar-coded responses to answer the prompts of the hand-held scanner. If a workshift change occurs while a lot is being processed, the operator will scan a code that signifies the lot was stopped but not finished. When the next operator arrives, he scans in that the lot has resumed processing following a shift change.”

Not only does this allow the company to know at a moment’s notice where any lot is in the processing stage, but it also helps the company with cost accounting. “Because the operator scans in information at the beginning and end of each step of production, we can see how long a particular lot takes at any stage,” explains Flynn.

Handy & Harman Refining Group has taken full advantage of its bar-coding system by linking it to its computer system. At first, the company set the system up to download the information to one PC, Flynn notes. Since then, the collection PC has been integrated to a LAN system that upgrades the information into a Windows environment. This information is then automatically integrated with financial information and ledgers. A report is generated daily from the information scanned in during the day. “That report is ready in the morning with no human interaction and lets us know where everything is in the process,” Flynn says.

Another company that’s discovered the benefits of bar-coding is Universal Scrap Metals Inc., a Chicago nonferrous scrap processor. Much like Handy & Harman, Universal Scrap handles material according to lot number, although tracking mate-rial throughout its processing stages wasn’t what the company had in mind when it first bought into the system.

As Phil Zeid, president and treasurer, explains: “We wanted initially to use it to tag incoming material according to its source, type, and weight. We’d always had a problem with the handwritten tags we were using on incoming material—they were cumbersome and not that reliable, so we decided to switch to bar-coding.”
   The firm realized that it already had the necessary computers and information in place, so it asked “why not take the next step and bar code everything so we can track the flow of material throughout the process?” Zeid says. “From there we took it to inventory, and our next step will be to use it to track rejects—which companies are continuously sending us material that isn’t what they say it is.”

In the meantime, Universal Scrap uses bar codes to track material by lot. The bar-coded tag stays with each barrel or box of material while it’s in the plant. “The tag stays on until the material has been cleared,” says Zeid. “And if there’s a problem, the tag is used to ID the customer.” Once a specific lot of material has been processed and inspected, its tag is pulled and turned into the office so the company can track what has been completely processed.

As for inventory, the scanners used by Universal Scrap download information directly into its computer system. “We generate inventory and ready-to-ship reports that show all the items we have ready, which containers they’re in, and their inventory tag numbers,” Zeid says. The computer matches the tags that have been turned in with the containers that were scanned upon entering inventory, “so that what we say we have is actually what we have,” he notes. “In cases where the report has come up uneven, it’s usually been because the tags weren’t pulled.”

A Future Bar-Coding Bonanza?

Despite its use by processors and consumers who handle material by lot or batch, bar-coding hasn’t made much headway into the scrap recycling business. Says Larry Smith, vice president of Shared Logic Group Inc. (Holland, Ohio), a scrap industry software company, “in the 17 years we’ve been in business, only a few customers have implemented bar-coding, and then it has been those that wanted to track items by lot or tag number. For most scrap companies, once material comes into their facility, it ends up in piles and there’s no real advantage to knowing the original lot number.” As Marc Rose, president of Schupan & Sons Inc. (Kalamazoo, Mich.), adds: “Especially with ferrous materials, and to a certain extent nonferrous materials, so much of what you have is loose that you really can’t bar-code it.”

For smaller scrap companies, even the potential use of bar-coding in tracking inventory may not be worth the cost. A basic package including software, equipment, and technical support can run $20,000 to $40,000, with more sophisticated systems running upward of $400,000.

“Bar-coding is really designed for companies that bring in and store inventory,” says Frank Giglia Jr., vice president of Allied Scrap Processors Inc. (Lakeland, Fla.). “We buy it, process it, and then hopefully ship it out so fast that it’s not around long enough to require coding.”

As for using bar codes to track containers or equipment parts inventory, smaller companies don’t tend to keep enough parts in stock to warrant bar-coding. “We keep a few hundred parts on hand,” explains Giglia, “but it’s controllable by part numbers and location in the warehouse.”

While bar-coding hasn’t come into its own in the scrap industry, there are flickers of interest from companies such as Sadoff Iron & Metal Co. (Fond du Lac, Wis.). John Eide, the firm’s nonferrous operations manager, has been looking into the benefits of implementing a bar-coding system in an attempt to move to a more hands-off approach to material handling.

“With bar-coding, you enter the material and remove it from inventory all at once,” he says. “The bottom line for us is to streamline and take out the human touch as much as possible.” Sadoff Iron & Metal, he notes, handles primarily industrial and dealer trade, and “everything we handle is put into barrels, boxes, briquettes, and so on,” Eide notes. “It’s an easier way to track your inventory—you don’t want to get ready to ship a load of copper and find out you’re short because the paper tag fell off and the load was sold and never entered.”

For his part, Joe Floam, president of Con Res Inc. (Gaithersburg, Md.), another scrap industry software company, predicts that scrap processors will increasingly turn to bar-coding.

“I’m starting to see a new generation of executives who have a lot of computer experience and they’re embracing this technology, but they’re doing it as the older generation leaves,” Floam says. “We as an industry are far behind others in material movement. I have no doubt that our industry will catch up, but it’ll take time.” 

Bar-Code Wisely

If you’re considering a foray into bar-coding, experts suggest that you determine the conditions in which the system will be used, your technology and user requirements, your company’s commitment to implementing the system, and what you hope to achieve with it. Then, they advise, shop around for a service provider that will work with you to achieve these goals while also staying within your budget and—most importantly—offering continued training, troubleshooting, and follow-up.

For more information, the following bar-code software and technology vendors are a good place to start:

ADP Hollander (Plymouth, Minn.), 800/825-0644
Con Res Inc. (Gaithersburg, Md.), 301/527-0500
Skandata Corp. (Miami), 305/274-2900
Videx Inc. (Corvallis, Ore.), 541/758-0521
Zebra Technologies (Vernon Hills, Ill.), 800/423-0422

Or visit the Web sites of these bar-coding industry information sources: Automated Identification Manufacturers USA (www.aimusa.org) and BarCode 1 (www.adams1.com). •