What specific capacity limitation forced Denso manufacturers to place six or seven individual barcodes on one box?

Answer

A single UPC barcode could only hold about 20 alphanumeric characters

The standard one-dimensional UPC barcode, while successful in retail, had a severe constraint for complex manufacturing tracking: it could store only approximately 20 alphanumeric characters. For tracking intricate assemblies or components, especially those requiring complex character sets like Japanese Kanji, Denso Wave technicians often had to affix six or seven separate barcodes onto a single box. This sequential scanning process was inherently slow and significantly reduced the efficiency of the inventory management system that Hara sought to improve.

What specific capacity limitation forced Denso manufacturers to place six or seven individual barcodes on one box?
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