Alan Haberman
Alan Haberman was an American supermarket executive who chaired the industry committee that selected the Universal Product Code symbol in 1973 and later served on the board of the Uniform Code Council.
What they did and why it matters
Haberman is the reason the barcode became a shared industry standard rather than competing proprietary codes, and that standard still underpins retail and warehouse data. As head of First National Stores, he led the grocery industry's ad hoc committee that evaluated proposals and chose IBM's UPC design in 1973. He then pushed manufacturers and retailers to adopt it. Later, through the Uniform Code Council, now GS1 US, he backed work on next-generation identification that led to the Auto-ID Center. Brands that buy GS1 barcodes for their products are joining the system he helped launch.
Related people
Events
Sources
- U.P.C. Pioneer Alan Haberman Passes Away (Consumer Goods Technology) consumergoods.com
- Remembering Alan Haberman (RFID Journal) rfidjournal.com