In this modern era, the majority of individuals take for granted the seamless checkout experience at grocery stores. They effortlessly push their carts, unload their groceries, and observe as the cashier scans each item. It has become so ingrained in our lives that older generations hardly recall the days when products were manually stamped with prices, and younger generations rarely consider a world where this was the norm.
All of this changed 50 years ago with the introduction of the Universal Product Code (UPC) — the barcode used on every product in grocery and retail stores worldwide. Barcodes are now scanned billions of times per day. Engineer Paul McEnroe, who spent over two decades in leadership positions at IBM, played a crucial role in developing this revolutionary technology. However, McEnroe’s contribution to the barcode invention has not received proper acknowledgment. Since the UPC’s technology is unpatented and in the public domain, McEnroe does not earn any royalties from his invention. A quick Google search for “who invented the barcode” yields a Wikipedia page praising someone named Norman Joseph Woodland.
So, what really happened?
This is a question that McEnroe is eager to answer in his forthcoming memoir, The Barcode: How a Team Created One of the World’s Most Ubiquitous Technologies, set to be published by Silicon Valley Press on September 19.
Image credit: Courtesy of Smith Publicity
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Entrepreneur recently interviewed McEnroe before the release of his memoir to learn more about the creation of the UPC, the confusion surrounding its inventor, and the advice he would give to young leaders who aspire to change the world much like he and his team did many years ago.
“We could develop a symbol to be read optically or magnetically.”
It all began in 1969 when IBM sought to explore growth opportunities and acquire startups. However, the company was met with skepticism. McEnroe recalls, “Everybody important, all the inventors and so on, are going to quit the next morning because they don’t want the white shirts, blue coats, red ties, and black wingtip shoes that was the culture of [IBM at] the time.”
Despite this reputation, IBM was determined to innovate. They assigned McEnroe the task of leading the charge. Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, McEnroe was well aware of the monopoly held by the National Cash Register Company on checkstands worldwide. He believed there had to be a better way to accomplish the tasks of those old, clunky cash registers.
This sentiment was shared among individuals in the supermarket and retail sectors, who frequently expressed the need for improved inventory control. McEnroe explains, “We need to do a better job of inventory control. We’re spending a tremendous amount of money. Marking the price on every item in the store takes a lot of time, and as soon as we mark the prices, they’re wrong.”
McEnroe was well-versed in technologies that could address this problem. He states, “We could develop a symbol to be read optically or magnetically.” His team pursued both options, but the optical symbol gained more traction.
At that time, lasers had recently been invented and provided a consistent light source. McEnroe, who had previous experience with lasers, recognized the potential of this low-cost, low-power technology for the UPC.
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“So, I approached [IBM], just like one would seek venture capital today in Silicon Valley or Boston, proposing that we delve into this business,” recalls McEnroe. “We would create equipment for the stores, inventory equipment for warehouses, and control equipment for headquarters. It would be an integrated system.”
McEnroe requested three years of funding from IBM: $300,000 for the first year, $1,000,000 for the second, and $3,000,000 for the third. IBM agreed and assigned McEnroe to carry out the project in North Carolina, where the company had recently established a plant with vacant production equipment. McEnroe relocated and assembled a team of six people.
“I believe it has been highly beneficial for society, as no one has had to pay for the use of the code.”
In 1970, the National Association of Food Chains (NAFC) created a committee to address the issue of item identification and enlisted the consulting company McKinsey for assistance. By 1971, McEnroe and his team had developed their code. In 1972, the supermarket committee called for proposals from interested companies regarding supermarket automation and item identification.
Companies submitting codes had to agree to release them to the public domain without seeking patents or royalties. As a result, McEnroe and his team did not anticipate profiting from the UPC. McEnroe states, “That’s how it turned out. I believe it has been highly beneficial for society, as no one has had to pay for the use of the code.”
While McEnroe and another team member named Jack Jones hold the patent for the pistol-grip handheld barcode scanner, they do not receive any royalties from it. McEnroe explains, “When engineers join IBM, they sign over the rights to any patents they create while working for the company. Therefore, IBM owns the patent, not the inventor.”
In 1973, the committee selected McEnroe’s team’s code and proposal, and in 1974, they began shipping the first products. However, they were initially distributed to only five supermarkets. It took several years to achieve widespread adoption, but by the early 1980s, the UPC had become a phenomenon.
Image credit: Courtesy of Smith Publicity
“It had to be very reliable and avoid any misreads that could result in incorrect charges.”
Naturally, McEnroe and his team faced significant challenges during the development and launch of the UPC. They needed to create a code that could be reliably read through plastic, considering factors such as light reflections, frost, and other variables. Additionally, the code had to work even when scanned quickly or held non-flat.
“The operator shouldn’t even have to see the code,” McEnroe explains. “If they know the codes are typically located at the bottom of packages, they can simply pull the package across without looking at its bottom. Therefore, the code had to be highly reliable and prevent any misreads that could result in incorrect charges.”
It took McEnroe and his team two years to develop a self-correcting code that could automatically fix errors in real-time.
Various other technical challenges arose, such as efficient signal transmission from the front of the store to the back. However, one of the most significant and unexpected problems was the public reception of the technology. McEnroe explains, “[There was] a social problem involving people and organizations coming to terms with the fact that the price was no longer visibly displayed on the merchandise.”
“Labor unions were concerned about potential job losses for checkstand operators.”
The backlash against the UPC was so severe that its public unveiling in 1974 did not proceed as planned. McEnroe received a call from his chief engineer, informing him that the store couldn’t open. It wasn’t due to a technical failure but rather a picket line.
“Labor unions were concerned about potential job losses for checkstand operators,” says McEnroe. “So they organized a picket line. Consequently, 18 states passed laws prohibiting or restricting the removal of price tags or requiring stores with scanners to leave price tags on their merchandise.”
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McEnroe had to travel across the country to explain the safety and benefits of the technology, as operators would be working near lasers for an extended period. To verify its safety, McEnroe even conducted tests on monkeys at Stanford Research Institute.
“Our technology was safe because the laser rarely projected outside the device’s window,” McEnroe states. “Even if the laser escaped and someone observed it for several years, it would still not cause harm.”
“I had heard of his name, as I had studied the history of barcodes. His name was Joe Woodland.”
McEnroe led the team that developed the UPC, which ultimately became widely used by the 1980s and is still in use today. However, a search for the inventor of the barcode often leads to Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver being credited as the co-creators of the technology, not McEnroe.
Why is that?
The story begins with an unexpected phone call.
After developing their code, McEnroe received a call from another IBM employee based in New York. “I had heard of his name, as I had studied the history of barcodes,” McEnroe explains. “His name was Joe Woodland.”
During the call, Woodland emphasized that he had invented a bullseye code for supermarkets back in 1948. As per the Smithsonian, Woodland obtained a patent for his code in 1952. By 1973, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) owned the patent and was one of 14 companies that submitted a code to the committee for consideration.
However, McEnroe reveals that Woodland’s code faced a major issue — it did not meet the requirements for adoption in supermarkets and retail settings.
According to McEnroe, Woodland was aware of this limitation. McEnroe recalls Woodland saying, “I’ve reviewed your team’s code, and I know my code. Your code is far superior; there’s no comparison. I would love to work for you, live in North Carolina, and serve as your interface and marketing expert to promote your code to the world.”
Considering that Woodland had invented the initial supermarket code, albeit one that had not been effective or implemented, recruiting him to the team seemed like an ideal solution, McEnroe thought.
Ultimately, McEnroe hired Woodland, who relocated to Raleigh and dedicated the remainder of his career to the UPC project. While Woodland indeed invented the first supermarket code, McEnroe maintains that “Wikipedia simply got it wrong.” McEnroe clarifies, “[Woodland’s code] was never used on a large scale, only in a test store conducted by Kroger in Cincinnati. I visited that store and saw that it didn’t work either. We thoroughly tested it.”
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“I’m unsure of what he told them, but whatever he said, they awarded him the Medal of Technology.”
So, why does the credit for the barcode’s invention often go to Woodland? McEnroe suggests that the presidential race between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton played a significant role.
At the time, approximately two decades after the UPC was developed, Bush was perceived as disconnected from the realities of American households. As most people had been using the barcode technology for over a decade, Bush decided to participate in a demonstration organized by the Super Market Institute in Florida. The event involved setting up an artificial supermarket inside a convention center.
During the demonstration, Bush had his first experience using a barcode scanner. Impressed, he exclaimed, “This is amazing! It’s the greatest technology I’ve ever seen. Who invented this thing?” The response he received was, “We don’t know. Someone from IBM,” according to McEnroe.
Bush then asked his team to identify the inventor, expressing his desire to present them with the National Medal of Technology. When Bush’s associates contacted the supermarket committee, they were provided with the original proposal authored by Woodland. McEnroe clarifies, “As a marketing person, Woodland was responsible for writing the proposal for the barcode, not for inventing our code.”
Woodland’s proposal, complete with his contact information, was attached to the back. The engineering team had already disbanded, and Woodland, nearing retirement, was the last remaining member working on the barcode. “I don’t know what he told them,” McEnroe says, “but whatever he said, they awarded him the Medal of Technology.”
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The Bush-Clinton race further solidified Woodland as the perceived inventor of the barcode. As public sentiment turned against Bush, the news covered the supermarket demonstration extensively, and McEnroe noticed a pattern in the recounting of the technology’s development.
Typically, one paragraph would acknowledge Woodland as the inventor of the first supermarket code (which McEnroe admits is accurate). Another paragraph would describe Woodland’s role in marketing and selling McEnroe and his team’s code at a later stage.
However, McEnroe asserts, “What they fail to mention is that Woodland’s code was ineffective and unused for many years. The code we developed became the national standard, used by everyone. Thus, the code he promoted and marketed was the successful one — the Universal Product Code that we know today. Woodland’s original code didn’t go anywhere.”
By the time the supermarket committee met, Woodland’s patent had already expired. “IBM’s lawyers determined that his code didn’t even work,” McEnroe adds. “The method of decoding the width of black bars within white spaces was fundamentally different in our code compared to Woodland’s circular code.”
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“This story sheds light on the process of approaching challenges in today’s world.”
McEnroe acknowledges that there is widespread confusion regarding each individual’s contributions to the code. Consequently, he felt it was time to set the record straight. On the 50th anniversary of the UPC’s development, the engineer is publishing his memoir to address and correct these misconceptions. The book includes an appendix containing documents to refute certain claims, such as the misconception that IBM created the UPC in just a few weeks.
“Several books have been written by the Super Market Institute about incorporating the UPC into supermarkets and its impact,” McEnroe notes. “However, this is a story that not only delves into those areas but also explores the creation of the technology. It provides insights into approaches that can still be adopted today.”
Despite initial expectations that the UPC might last for only 20 or 30 years, it has continued to endure. McEnroe believes its longevity stems from the fact that it resolved a long-standing problem in society, streamlined the checkout process, and proved to be reliable and easy to implement. Even QR codes, which enable scanning in two directions to capture more data, are a variation of McEnroe’s code.
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Unsurprisingly, McEnroe is frequently asked for advice by aspiring young professionals looking to make a difference in the world. Alongside a degree of luck and patience, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining an open mind tempered by disciplined curiosity.
McEnroe comments, “Fifty years ago, it was much more challenging to explore what existed in the world. Nowadays, with the internet, it is much easier. In the past, one almost had no option but to become a degreed engineer, attend school, and study at libraries. While that is still valuable, a considerable amount of work can now be done through online research. However, caution must be exercised when examining information. Is it accurate, or was it simply written down by someone else?”
He also stresses the importance of teamwork and recognizing that people can achieve more when they collaborate rather than working alone. In that regard, maintaining positive relationships along the way is crucial.
McEnroe concludes, “Do not burn bridges as you journey through life. When you need to reach out to people again, they will be willing to help you. I have done this many times, and every person I’ve reached out to has been extremely helpful. As you work with individuals in your younger years, treat them well, leave a positive impression, and they will assist you later on.”
Source: www.entrepreneur.com
