Tracking Products

Being able to accurately  track products through the supply chain is becoming more important than ever, I think there are many reasons for this, with a large drive coming from consumers who want better visibility as to where products have come from. Therefore businesses must find efficient methods for doing this.

There are various acronyms for this; GS1 global standards / GTIN or EDI and focuses on using barcodes which are machine readable character strings which can be created using linear symbology, are typically between 30-40 characters or could be a matrix code of up to 2000 characters. These symbologies could be compared to a foreign language with syntax and construction rules and industry standard defined codes are EAN or UPC.

 

This is the mandatory element of the GS1 Logistics label which is the identification key for an item which is to be transported or stored through the supply chain. The SSCC can be assigned to any unit or combination of units which need to be managed for the lifetime of the journey through the supply chain. The serial number aspect provides virtually unlimited number capacity. The SSCC uniquely identifies logistics units for tracking and identification and they can be used at any stage of the supply chain, integrating with all GS1 supply chain processes and are key for all business to business tracking.

GTIN – Global Trade Item Number

All products have to have a different GTIN; this includes products in different colours, sizes and types with each level of packaging also requiring a different GTIN.

 

A new GTIN is required for:	A new GTIN is not required for:
New product	Minor product changes eg: ingredient change
New product variant	Undeclared weight change
Major product description change	Competition offer
Declared contents change	Money off next purchase
Free gift attached	Free gift inside
New packaging type	Change of label / packaging artwork