Everyone agrees on the need for global standards for electronic communications but still the process of establishing these standards is full of pitfalls. Despite all sorts of economic and political frictions, the hunt for global standards is developing into a new stage: the establishment of GS1 (Global Standards 1) after the standardisation bodies on both sides of the Atlantic finally merged into one body with a global reach.
Elsevier Food International Vol.7, No.2, May 2004 Steve Foster

If everything in the world was compatible, and truly universal, perhaps all nations would drive on the same side of the road, our video recorders or DVD systems would all work on the same system, we would all be measuring everything in metric units, and all EU countries would be employing the euro.

Reality, of course, is far different, and far more complex. The truth is that in all too many instances internal and external economics and politics, both national and international, create barriers to implementation and compatibility. However, if there is a will there is a way. In the retail world there has been an outstanding compatibility problem bedevilling the industry for half a century and more. This is the search for a uniform system of codes, standards and best practices for retailers, manufacturers and service providers.
The search for standardisation, and the will to succeed, has accelerated over the past decade as retailers with global ambitions have striven to catch up with the leading FMCG companies on a worldwide basis in terms of penetration by country. And, of course, the pace has grown faster as new enabling technologies such as RFID have come to the fore in the retail business.
Standardisation is an issue that has gripped the ECR Europe movement for over a decade and will, no doubt, be a hot topic of conversation and discussion at this year’s ECR Europe Conference in Brussels.

GS1
Such advances have been a long time coming, yet perhaps not as long as development of the original bar code. The first patent for a bar code was issued to inventors in the US in 1952, but it was not until 1966 that the bar code was first used commercially. In June 1974, the first Uniform Product Code was used when a scanner was installed at a Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's chewing gum.
In the current climate of goodwill hunting, one of the key tasks of EAN International, the global supply chain information management standards body, is to provide the retail industry with good, implementable standards. EAN International announced in June 2003 that it was changing its name to GS1 (Global Standards 1). The move followed the expansion of the organisation’s global reach in 2002 when the Uniform Product Code Council (UCC) in the United States and the Electronic Commerce Council of Canada joined EAN International as member organisations. Although now a member organisation, EAN International and UCC will continue to co-manage the Global Standards Management Process. Each of the over one hundred member organisations of EAN International is initiating a change of name to GS1 (followed by the name of the individual country) to harmonise the organisation’s name throughout the world. The period during which the name change processes are being undertaken, is providing the opportunity to design and have ready a new corporate branding for global use. According to EAN International, the organisation now has all the building blocks in place to achieve one of its principal goals: to become respected as the leader in Global Open Multisectoral Standards.
The change of name from EAN International to GS1 will take effect as soon as the legal processes can be concluded. EAN International president, Tim Smucker, chairman and Co-CEO of J.M. Smucker Company, makers of the leading brand of jams, jellies, conserves and other foodstuffs in the United States, commented: “Over the years since our organisation was established, the original need for standards has grown beyond all expectations. There is now greater awareness of standards, a greater need for global standards and a greater understanding of the value of the business processes that are enabled by proper implementation. It is our user companies that benefit but, if we are to continue to succeed, we must constantly meet those expectations.”
Smucker turned to the organisation’s company plan. “The sixth beliefs in our current strategic plan simply sums it up: We believe in the need to provide the industry with a platform for collaborative agreements amongst our users in the supply chain, connecting the flow of goods or services with the flow of information. Member organisations and head office alike, we must all contribute to maintaining the momentum. However, we do not have to make it difficult for ourselves. We can achieve more by keeping it simple.”

A truly global body
According to E-centre, a UK EAN International member, the standardisation, matching and synchronising of data will allow national and global supply chains to operate more efficiently and profitably. Lyle Ginsberg, managing partner of technology and innovation at Accenture’s product innovation group, believed such developments are important steps towards the next great leap forward, global serialised items: “It is a fundamental requirement. When you can get to a global numbering standard, then everyone wins.” Ginsberg pointed out that global retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Metro and Target have committed to the RFID end game.
Miguel-Angel Lopera, EAN International’s CEO pointed out: “We have many exciting challenges ahead, in both the short and mid term, as we relaunch our organisation as a truly global body with a new name and corporate identity. As the new CEO, I am heartened by the positive mood of the general assembly. It gives me great confidence that the entire EAN community, the member organisations and head office, are all ready to play their part in achieving the goals of our own business plan and in showing global business managers from every corner of industry that the EAN.UCC standards lead the way in supply chain management global open multisectoral standards.”
EAN International and the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) launched the EAN.UCC Global Product Classification scheme at the 2003 ECR Europe Annual Conference in Berlin. Lopera continued: “Tenacity of purpose and global team power will be our key drivers to successfully delivering our challenging and difficult goals. Our user companies will be our judges. Let us make sure that we meet all their expectations.”
VICS (Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association) was one of the founding members of GCI. GCI was formed following a series of meetings between VICS leadership (Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Procter & Gamble) and ECR leadership to work on data synchronisation and other supply chain issues. It was an initiative to create common guidelines for globalisation of EAN-UCC standards, which were established at different times and with different coding schemes in Europe and North America. VICS is an independent voluntary group of retailers, CPG and transportation companies. It is not part of EAN International or UCC. UCC has housed VICS for the past seven years and provides administrative services. VICS is currently focused on adoption of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR), data synchronisation and electronic product codes in the North America retail environment.

‘Unbelievable efficiencies’
Tom Friedman, CEO of Retail Systems Alert Group and show principal for Retail Systems 2004/VICS Collaborative Commerce Conference & Exposition, commented on the advantages of a global standardisation of product codes for retailers, brand manufacturers and service providers. Friedman said: “The major retailers are pushing standards because they are seeking to integrate more processes. It makes sense because Wal-Mart or Target Stores have so many moving parts that they need to simplify them. Consequently, Wal-Mart, Metro, Albertsons and Tesco are working hard to create global standards to synchronise bar codes, electronic products and product registries or manufacturer databases. If they can do this, they can lower costs for themselves, the manufacturer and the consumer. There is a significant expense in cost of labour, product sourcing and wastage related to poor synchronisation. Brand manufacturers will see an improvement in product introductions and product replacements at store level and fast cycling of products through the manufacturing process. Service providers will gain better visibility that improve scheduling of pick-up and deliveries.”
Friedman pointed out that there are more advantages now in the light of technology advances such as RFID. “The move from the bar code to the electronic product code will have a major impact on the retail supply chain. By incorporating EPCs (Electronic Product Codes) at case and pallet level, many retailers will gain unbelievable efficiencies in their warehouses. But more importantly, their business systems will now have the opportunity to receive real-time ‘signals’ as cases move through the supply chain. This information will help improve the process of tracking and allocation to stores.”
If all goes according to plan – and there certainly appears to be a will – it looks as though a uniform set of standards will be realised a lot sooner than a universal format for our video recorders or DVD players, or a common currency within the European Union.