George Laurer
George Laurer was an American electrical engineer at IBM who developed the Universal Product Code (UPC) symbol in 1973, the barcode format adopted by the US grocery industry.
What they did and why it matters
Laurer designed the barcode that is printed on most retail products sold in North America, and that code is still the key that ties a physical unit to its record in a WMS. Building on Norman Joseph Woodland's earlier concept, he created a rectangular pattern that could be printed cheaply and read reliably by scanners, and the grocery industry adopted it in 1973. The first commercial UPC scan followed in 1974. Fulfillment centers depend on UPCs and the related GTINs at receiving and packing to verify items, which is why missing or wrong barcodes are a common onboarding problem.