“As the world grows smaller the market becomes larger.” (Anonymous)
Participating in the world marketplace offers many opportunities for the United States (U.S.) meat and poultry supply chain. Exporting U.S. meat and poultry products has a positive impact on all participants in the supply chain; the U.S. economy can benefit from importing products from global trading partners as well. To trade products globally a data standard and a common language is needed to keep the trading partners on a “level playing field.”
For decades U.S. retailers have utilized the Universal Product Code scan bar technology for identifying, scanning and tracking products. Over time the needs of the industry have outgrown the capabilities of the system. Today we are faced with new challenges with food safety, an increase in branding, Country of Origin Labeling and the overall need for more information. Utilizing global data standards in the U.S. domestic supply chain will make a huge improvement over our current standards.
GS1 is a worldwide organization based in Brussels, Belgium. GS1 manages the EAN.UCC System (European Article Numbering and Uniform Code Council) and the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP). The GS1 system is used in over 150 countries and 25 different industries. GS1 US is a member organization and works with the U.S. fresh food industry to adopt and implement standards-based global supply chain solutions.
GS1 global standards provide a common solution that has benefits for all segments in the meat and poultry supply chain and is accepted world wide.
Click on the links below to find out more about the benefits
Global Trade Item Number Benefits
Retail Segment Benefits
Supplier and Packer Segment Benefits
Livestock Producer Benefits
Global Product Codes
Global Trade Item Number Benefits
The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN ®) is the essential component of global standards. The GTIN ® is a single reference number that is globally unique. It can be 8, 12, 13, or 14 characters in length, contains a GS1 company prefix, item reference number and a check digit. Example:
Benefits of GTINs:
- GTINs are unique worldwide. A GTIN can be assigned anywhere in the world and can be used anywhere in the world.
- GTINs are assigned by the brand owner of the product. Once assigned, all trading partners and internal users can use the GTIN.
- GTINs uniquely identify trade items at the item level, case level and pallet level.
- GTINs facilitate the flow of trade items used in electronic commerce.
- GTINs are unique across all business segments. This means that a grocery product, meat product or poultry product are all identified in a compatible manner.
- GTINs can be encoded in many automatic data capture technologies (such as bar code and RFID tags). Machine reading allows the information flow to be linked to the physical flow of trade items through the supply chain.
- GTINs provide a level of security through a combination of database look-up and the fixed-length, numeric format that includes a standard check digit.
Retail Segment Benefits
A cornerstone of Global Standards is the new GS1 DataBar™ (formerly known as RSS - Reduced Space Symbology). To realize the benefits of the GS1DataBar™ will require that retailers make system enhancements. Those enhancements will provide a new method for tracking products internally and externally.
The benefits of the new GS1 DataBar™ are easily seen by comparing it to today’s Universal Product Code bar code.
Limitations of the Item Identification Number – Benefits of the GTIN:
- Item IDs are limited to 5 characters – GTINs are 8, 12, 13, or 14 characters.
- Item IDs are not unique – GTINs are globally unique, worldwide.
- Item IDs are limited to a single-digit identifier for brand tracking – GTINs contain a GS1 Company Prefix that is unlimited for brand owner tracking.
- Item IDs are limited to internal tracking of retailer items - GTINs identify trade items at the item level, case level and pallet level and can be used for external tracking of products through the supply chain.
The U.P.C. has no weight tracking capabilities - Net Weight is a mandatory component of the GS1 DataBar™ and will provide a key data element that all participants of the meat and poultry supply chain utilizes.
The U.P.C. Price field is limited to 4 characters - The GS1 DataBar™ has an Extended Price field of 5 characters. This will reduce pricing errors related to products that sell for more than $99.99.
The U.P.C. has no Date tracking capabilities – Date is an optional component of the GS1 DataBar™ and can provide the following benefits:
- Fresher products
- Out-of-stock anticipation
- Product rotation control
- Reduced shrink
The U.P.C. has no Lot/Batch tracking capabilities – Lot/Batch is an optional component of the GS1 DataBar™ and can provide the following benefits:
- Effective tracking and trace back (traceability)
- Minimizes recall losses due to the ability to quickly locate and remove unsafe products
Optional fields could be utilized for URMIS codes, markdown codes, identifying departments and
tracking coupons.
Additionally, GS1 global standards will provide the following benefits for the retail segment:
- Measurement of promotions
- Facilitates more effective e-commerce programs
- Improves data for inventory control and out-of-stocks
- Improves data for supplier business reviews
- Improves data for category reviews
- Improves managing categories by individual supplier verses by commodity
- Improves productivity that will give retailers more time to merchandise and provide better customer service
- Aids the retailer’s ability to make accurate management, merchandising, buying and meat case management decisions
- Better inventory control that will increase product quality and reduce cost
Supplier and Packer Segment Benefits
The foundation for tracking and trace back (traceability) in the supply chain originates with this segment. U.S. suppliers and packers have placed a high priority on food safety and have already made investments in systems for managing data standards. For the most part, a supplier packs, sells and ships meat and poultry products in cases. To identify those cases, the GS1-128 barcode standard is printed into a case label.
Benefits of the GS1-128 Barcode Standard:
- Provides the key data needed for tracking and tracing products in the supply chain
- Improves data accuracy and integrity
- Provides for fast and accurate selection, verification, and location tracking
- Improves control of product rotation
- Provides the link to data synchronization
- Provides a carrier for human-readable information
Additionally, GS! global standards will provide the following benefits for the supplier and packer segment:
- Facilitates collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment
- Facilitates Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
- Effective tracking and trace back (traceability)
- Facilitates labor productivity
- Improves supply chain collaboration, communication and product-flow efficiencies
- Improves data for retailer business reviews
- Improves data for category reviews
- Improves managing categories by individual supplier verses by commodity
- Measurement of promotions
Livestock Producer Benefits
Though the livestock producer may not be directly involved in the implementation of GS1 global standards, the segment is a direct beneficiary of the standards. To some degree, each segment of the supply chain reaps the benefits or the negative impact of what happens within the other segments. Global standards will have a positive impact on the overall well being of the whole supply chain, because it addresses many of the concerns of all the segments.
Food safety is the biggest issue facing the industry today. Global standards address food safety by:
- Providing a systematic way to deal with recalls and food safety issues
- Bolstering consumer confidence through the industry's ability to recall unsafe products
- Improving consumer expectations by recalling products efficiently and effectively
- Minimizing the scope of product, time to execute and financial impact of product recalls
- Minimizing negative media coverage due to industry’s ability to quickly locate and remove unsafe products from the supply chain
- Preventing risk to the domestic supply chain (agro terrorism)
Today’s livestock producer has numerous commerce outlets (retailers, food service, export etc). The overall financial well-being of the producer segment is impacted by the ability to conduct efficient, accurate trade transactions with all the commerce outlets. Commerce benefits of GS1 global standards are:
- Creates a system for electronic commerce
- Electronic commerce will reduce misinterpretation, errors, duplication and manual input
- Tracking and Tracing between segments will insure data consistency and completeness and allows efficient and quick identification of products
- Better inventory control that will improve product freshness
- Improve supply chain efficiencies and trading partner collaboration
- Improved export trade potential with global inspection consistencies
The long-term success of the livestock producer segment depends on understanding and responding to consumer trends. The consumer is ever-changing. To meet consumer demand, the livestock producer segment needs timely signals of changes in consumer preferences. Global Standards will provide:
- Improved syndicated data aiding the industry in identifying consumer trends and sending signals to livestock producers
- Tracking capabilities that link to the consumer which in turn can reward the livestock segment for producing better products
- Tracking capabilities for products and brands that market credence claims (organic, breed, religious, feed claims etc)
Though the livestock producer is upstream from the segments that will employ GS1 global standards, they are key beneficiaries and stakeholders in the success of the system.
Global Product Codes
Today’s marketplace abounds with variety and there are numerous choices for just about anything that a consumer is looking for. Keeping track of all those choices is done in some type of a catalog or inventory system. Web-based electronic catalogues are becoming more popular at the expense of the paper-back printed catalogs.
There are a number of different ways that products can be grouped in a catalog. Those groups of products are called categories or classification groups. Categories and classification groups are normally created and controlled by the company that publishes the catalog and tailored to fit internal systems and processes.
The marketplace is transitioning to web-based electronic commerce with more business-to-business transactions. This new electronic environment requires standards and a common language so systems can effectively communicate and conduct the necessary business transactions. This means that standardization of categories and classification groups is an essential component of global standards.
The Benefits of GS1 global identification numbers are:
- Provides a consistent common language for grouping products
- Provides a common hierarchy structure for grouping products
- Provides a common attributes for grouping products
- Provides a consistent method for category management function
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