Having grasped the great potential of the barcode technology, Dr. Romano Volta decided to expand Datalogic's offering, evolving from photoelectric sensors to barcode readers. Leveraging the shared technology (ie. optical detection of the contrast between black and white bars, like in print registration mark detection), he developed its first barcode reader intended for industrial applications: Datalogic M10. The new era of automatic identification through barcode reading had started. Manufacturing applications were dramatically enhanced in speed and accuracy, thanks to the automation of the traceability process enabled by barcode reading. The existing Datalogic’s customer base to whom the company was already selling sensors became the first to benefit from this new reader. M10 was the first in a family of products (called "Unattended Scanning Systems" at that time) that would contribute decisively to the company's success.
