SUPPLY CHAIN STANDARD NOVEMBER 2008
www.supplychainstandard.com
Mismatched and
obsolete item
data costs
companies
millions of
dollars every
year in problems
like inaccurate
invoices and
shipments.
common standardised approach to sharing product
information. They created an early paper on the benefits
of having a standardised approach and then it was
passed on to GS1 globally to take it forward.” GS1 has
been working for the past four years on developing the
standards and launching a worldwide system for
transmitting this standardised product data and the
result is the global data synchronisation network.
So, how successful is this initiative so far? How many
manufacturers and retailers are involved? To date, the
number of suppliers signed up to the scheme is around
15,000, with 145 retailers participating. Of course, there
are always going to be more suppliers than retailers
taking part, but which of the retailers are active?
According to Besford, “the major retailers are involved,
like Wal-Mart in the US – they’re very progressive, they
have several thousand suppliers using GDS. In Europe we
have, for example, Metro Group which is very much into
GDS with its suppliers.” However, there is one notable
exception, Tesco. Although it is active in setting the
standards the company is not yet using the GDSN. But
Besford believes the important statistic here relates to
how many product items are on the GDSN, and as of July
this year, that figure is 2.7 million items. Over a million
items have been added in the last year alone.
Any supplier that sends data via the GDS network has
SCS:DATA SYNCHRONISATION 21
to have a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) or barcode
associated with the product. In addition, a supplier using
the network also has to use what is called a Global
Location Number, which associates a company with a
location – unique numbers associate companies with
locations and with product information. Suppliers must
also provide a brand description for an item – critical
information for the supply chain often surrounds
product dimensions: height, width and depth. But of
increasing importance, due to government legislation, is
consumer information relating to a product’s nutritional
value, dietary offering and its potential to create an
allergic reaction. Indeed, whether the product is organic
or not, or perhaps Free Trade, is also of rising
significance and may need to be included in the data.
However, information on a product’s carbon footprint
is not presently being inputted to the GDSN. Why is this,
as many leading retailers are pushing their green
credentials? “There are a number of standards out there
on how you collect carbon footprint data. When there is a
globally accepted standard, then that is when the GDSN
will come into play to exchange that information,” says
Besford. So perhaps that’s something for the future rather
than right now? “Absolutely, that’s obviously something
that would have benefits,” he confirmed.
So what are the benefits of GDS? “One of the key
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