The countdown toward wide-scale integration of a universal food and produce traceability system continues. With the first of several milestones recently completed (first quarter 2009), the fresh produce industry sets its sights upon the next goal. By the end of third quarter 2009, all supply chain operators will need to provide their respective GTINs to their buyers. This goal, along with future milestones established by the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), draws needed attention to the hardware and software solutions many brand owners have adopted. Some of these solutions will not be adequate for the challenges that lie ahead.
Today, we’ll explore an inherent problem of using labeling solutions that strive to provide consumers with fresh produce trace-back information. We’ll also describe the hardware and software requirements that support future PTI milestones and GS1 standards.
Trace-back Deficiency In Consumer-Centric Traceability Solutions
Taking advantage of the produce industry’s move toward a universal supply chain traceability system, many hardware and software vendors have designed trace-back solutions for brand owners. These solutions generate labels which let consumers identify limited trace-back data online. The problem is that such trace-back, while helpful, does not meet GS1 traceability standards.
As a case of produce makes its way through the supply chain, ownership of that case is assumed by a number of operators. Each operator can modify the case’s configuration. The PTI milestones require that brand owners affix GTINs to each case. If the configuration of a case is altered in any way, new GTIN data is used to document the change. The labels that are generated by consumer-centric traceability solutions cannot support this level of trace-back flexibility. As a result, they do not comply with GS1 standards.
How To Comply With GS1 Traceability Standards
The labeling solution that supply chain companies use to produce and encode labels should support RFID technology and at a minimum must have the capability to produce GTIN, SGTIN or SSCC using GS1 128 bar codes which are human readable. These barcodes enable database synchronization of fresh produce product data, the shipper GTIN data is synchronize perfectly with the receiver’s GTIN data, if it doesn’t, traceability is impacted. The GTIN barcodes must be generated using the unique grower, packer, or brand owner’s GS1 prefix, product number, lot numbers, batch numbers, and harvest or pack dates, and be readable by linear scanners used throughout today’s warehouses. When necessary, such as “field packing” or “re-packing” the labeling solution should also allow brand owners to generate labels “on the fly” which is accomplished using a mobile labeling solution.
How eProduce Supports GS1 Standards
Fortunately, most supply chain operators are aware that many consumer-centric traceability solutions do not comply with GS1 standards. That said, many companies are currently using labeling systems that will need to be replaced in order to meet future PTI milestones.
eProduce supports GTIN, SGTIN and SSCC labeling of trade units and logistic units using GS1-128 Barcodes. These 128 barcodes can be printed, encoded and applied to the unit with the brand owner’s GS1 prefix, product code and GTIN Application Identifier which identifies GTIN type and specific lot and/or batch numbers, harvest date, pack date, etc. of the fresh produce product. eProduce captures and/or records Grower cultivation and harvest data, including harvest personnel harvesting the fresh produce product. Product packing data is also recorded by eProduce, maintaining and relating the grower, lot number and harvest date data with the brand name the fresh produce product is packed as, including recording packaging supplies used to pack the fresh produce product. eProduce features a product re-packing feature allowing the user to scan the GTIN of the product to be removed from inventory and re-packed as another brand or to maintain product grade, all while maintaining original product data, (grower, lot number, etc). The ship scan of the fresh produce product enable eProduce to record, relate and/or associate the product SGTIN or SSCC of each pallet of fresh produce product as a detailed line item on the Customer’s bill of lading, recording transportation company, ship date and time of the fresh produce product. In addition, line item detail is also used to automatically verify fresh produce product that is used to fill the customer order is the actual product on the order and alerts the user if an incorrect product has been scanned. eProduce trace-back functions allow eProduce users and customers to simply enter the fresh produce product GTIN, SGTIN or SSCC and immediately obtain fresh produce product trace-back data.
For fresh produce supply chain members seeking a fresh produce product labeling solution that complies with GS1 traceability standards, eProduce partners with several bar code and RFiD labeling hardware solution providers and offer a fresh produce business process management solution that integrates with most bar code, RFiD and scanning hardware solutions which provide fresh produce product inventory management and real-time product trace-back data.
