UPC Barcode System Inventor George Laurer Dies In His Home In North Carolina

UPC Barcode System Inventor George Joseph Laurer Dies In His Home In Wendell North Carolina

An engineer whose invention of the Universal Product Code at IBM transformed retail and other industries around the world, has died.

George J. Laurer died at the age of 94 in his home in Wendell, North Carolina on December 5, 2019.

His 1975 invention of the Universal Product Code(UPC) at IBM transformed retail and other industries around the world. Barcodes, which are made up of black stripes of varying thickness and a 12-digit number, help identify products and transformed the world of retail.

They are now found on products all over the world.

The now-ubiquitous marking, composed of unique black bars and a 12-digit number, allowed retailers to identify products and their prices as they are scanned, usually at checkout.

Laurer said in a 2010 interview that grocery stores in the 1970s were dealing with soaring costs and the labor-intensive requirements of putting price tags on all of their products. The bar code led to fewer pricing errors and allowed retailers to keep better account of their inventory.