Several recent initiatives could ease arduous data audit and reporting processes. But they need buy-in from all parties if all parties are to benefit.
Last year marked the 50-year anniversary of the first commercial use of the barcode in a supermarket setting, when a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio scanned a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. This was not the first use of barcodes—they had been previously used to track railway freight—and nor was it the first iteration. However, this version, the Universal Product Code developed by American engineer George Laurer, is what still appears on practically everything we buy to this day.