Tech Goddess

By Rick Hendershot

 The use of barcode technology has revolutionized the process of inventory control. Barcodes are used virtually everywhere to keep track of product information and inventory levels. These days barcodes are even used to add products to gift registries. No one gives a second thought any more to the use of barcode technology.

They’re so common that barcodes and scanners rarely get a second thought as to how or why they work. It’s rare that one thinks about how dragging items across the checkout scanner suddenly makes it register a price and a name which are identical to the label. We simply take barcode scanners and barcode readers for granted.

So how exactly does a barcode scanner operate? To grasp how barcode technology works one first has to understand how bar codes themselves are generated and how they work to identify products. The barcode contains information about the item that has been “barcoded”. This information is coded using a special type of barcode language. The barcode scanner then translates the language of bar codes into information that humans can understand and decipher.

The barcode language is actually quite simple. All barcodes contain specific symbols which equal a series of bars. These bars are made up of short and long bars, along with varying spacing between the bars. Every part of the series denotes a number of characters, depending upon the date originally entered into the barcode software.

In other words, barcode software is the beginning point for all barcodes and barcode scanning systems. It is what makes the system work. Programmer are able to use barcode software to inventory their products by inputting the product’s name and assigning it a barcode generated by the computer. This is all accomplished by using a sophisticated database system, where data from each product is stored. This makes keeping track of the inventory easy and it also helps to speed up the updating of pricing. New information about products is entered into the database. Then whenever the barcode scanner reads a barcode that identifies a specific product it is connected directly to the database where it finds the most current information about the product.

The barcode scanner itself uses technology that “reads” the barcode label. It does this with photo sensors located within the barcode scanner that have the ability to read and decipher each barcode as it is scanned. All of these photo sensors work together to recognize spacing, length, and alignment of different bars, then match them with corresponding product information found in the database. This ingenious technology is really quite simple when you understand how it works.

Barcode scanning technology has made a huge difference in offices, factories, warehouses, hospitals, restaurants, government facilities - anywhere where it is necessary to keep track of inventoried items. Of course the most visible place where this technology has made a big difference is at the checkout line of your friendly neighborhood variety or grocery store. The next time you are there in one of those lines, think about how barcode technology gets you out of the door just that much faster.

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Problems Posed by Air Traffic Control
By Peter Salmonford

 

What concerns me and concerns others of us here is that we need to elevate air traffic control from the area of technocrats and lower level people at airlines and put it right smack on top of the in box of major airline CEO’s. I have not seen the CEO of American Airlines nor of Delta nor of United mention this issue.

They should be here. They should have a conga line going into the FAA Administrator’s office right now demanding change because it is costing them money and it is a controllable cost. Before they go to labor, they need to talk about this issue because it is controllable.

Another point is that the other costs to industry are enormous. USAIR canceled an order for 40 Boeing jets. If we had a free flight system, I would maintain they probably could have ordered those jets.

So the current air traffic control system is constricting the entire economy, the economy of Hartford, CT, the economy of Idledale, OH, the economy of St. Louis, the economy of places even like Cedar Rapids where they make avionics.

The system is hurting the entire economy, not just the area of airlines or the consumer who flies airlines. That is why it is critically important that we address this. And, most importantly, it is critically important that others in the industry get involved, that the chairman and CEO’s of major airlines be here and not pass it down the line, that they understand this is a cost and that the heads of labor unions understand that the air traffic control system is costing their members what they have bargained for over the years, money.

The chairman and CEO’s of companies like General Electric Aircraft Engines, Northrop, Textron, should be here and look into this because it is directly affecting them and their jobs and their futures.

It goes well beyond this, and we believe a free flight system could make this happen. I am sure that polititans can tell you about how it can happen. We believe this is probably the most pressing need right now facing the airline industry. It is not labor costs. It is not the other endemic inefficiencies that some major airlines seem to be in love with. The problem today that is most controllable is air traffic control. When we solve that, the airline industry can return to health, the consumer can benefit and so can communities.

Free flight is just one of the topics that Peter likes to write about. Check out his other articles about Fuel Cell Cars, HHO Gas and DUI charges.

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