One of the most important aspects of modern logistics is tracking the flow of materials in the supply chain, understood as recording the current location of a given logistic unit in the chain. This can be done either on the basis of information transferred to the IT system by copying it from documents related to the exchange of goods, or by automatically reading the information contained directly on the packaging of logistic units. However, the first of these methods is associated with a certain risk of losing the correlation between the information on the document and the information about the physical content of the logistic unit. Automatic identification, on the other hand, ensures that at a given moment the right goods subject to exchange in the supply chain are registered.
Global Barcode
The exchange of goods between suppliers and recipients carried out in an open environment requires the use of identification standards so that all information is interpreted unambiguously in any link of the chain. This is possible due to the 30-year operation of the global EAN.UCC system, containing standards for the identification of materials in retail and wholesale circulation, logistic units, physical locations, resources and services. EAN.UCC is the only inter-industry and international system of unambiguous and automatic identification and electronic data interchange, used in industry, trade, services and administration. The EAN.UCC system is already used in 102 countries. In order to enable the automatic reading of global standard designations, it was adopted that IT systems and automatic identification applications operating in the global standard will use the following barcode symbolisms: EAN – 8, EAN 13, ITF – 14 (numerical designations) and EAN – 128 code (alphanumeric designation) together with standard Application Identifiers. Standard code designations are defined by the following acronyms: GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number), SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code), GLN (Global Location Number), GIAI (Global Individual Asset Identifier), GRAI (Global Returnable Asset Number), GSRN (Global Service Relation Number). Many companies implementing IT systems in logistics start working with the identification system on their own. However, independent implementation of the global standard does not always go smoothly. There are dozens of technical barcode standards, but there is only one standard of code designations and only this one gives the opportunity to integrate logistics on a global scale. Therefore, in the case of using EAN.UCC standards in IT systems, it is worth asking for help from the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing in Poznań – the National Organization EAN Poland, where in the Automatic Identification Department (formerly Consulting Department), supported by the competences of specialized units of the Institute, you can clarify any doubts.
Fig. 1. Barcode printer
Automatic Identification Department
Its core activity is promoting and implementing new ADC (Automatic Data Capture) technologies, comprehensive service for coding companies, assistance in the selection of ADC equipment and software as well as consumables. Among the automatic identification devices, we can distinguish handheld and stationary barcode readers from various manufacturers connected directly to a computer, portable terminals and barcode printers. The former are used primarily in shops and supermarkets, where numerical code designations (GTIN) presented in standard barcode symbology (most often EAN – 13) are scanned, through which a reference to the appropriate record in the IT system is made. Portable data collection terminals (PDTs), also called portable data collectors, are used wherever direct connection of a barcode reader to the IT system is impossible or unprofitable, e.g. in large warehouse halls, loading yards, etc. The equipment of companies such as Denso, Symbol, Metrologic is most often used. Information read from codes is saved in the terminal’s memory, and after the operation of receiving shipments into the warehouse is completed, it is transmitted to the main recording system. A significant part of the portable terminals offered by the Automatic Identification Department complies with the standards developed in recent years for personal computer operating systems in terms of software for both the terminal and the computer that collects and stores data. Terminals are equipped with data transmission devices, which take place using RS ports, floppy disk drives or via radio (RF – Radio Frequency system). Especially the latter are very popular because they are the most convenient to use. The Automatic Identification Department provides detailed information on all devices in its offer. This is particularly important when a company chooses equipment that will work in difficult conditions. Terminals are exposed to adverse factors such as dust and moisture, so it is worth finding out if the selected equipment is resistant to them. Terminals have additional sockets for connecting handheld barcode readers, scanners, magnetic stripe readers, code printers, code-printing scales, etc. and allow, for example, to control working time based on barcode timesheet card reads, monitor device operation, collect data for real-time production management, and can also be used at shipment formation places to check whether the right products are sent to the right recipient. Another type of ADC devices are barcode printers from manufacturers such as Zebra, Eltron, Sato, Tec, Citizen. Installing them in a company allows you to print barcode labels yourself.
Proper selection of ADC equipment, individually taking into account the company’s internal conditions, allows for the implementation of required tasks at the lowest implementation costs. However, it should be remembered that ADC equipment, even correctly selected, is the last link in the process of implementing modern logistic solutions that are to function in an open supply chain. The equipment must cooperate with a properly selected IT system, and the IT system must take into account a properly designed organization of the logistic system.
Fig. 2. Code reading scanner
Consultations for everyone
The ILiM Automatic Identification Department is not limited only to presenting and selling ADC devices. To a large extent, it conducts consultations on issues that are not answered by numerous computer companies supplying hardware and software for enterprise IT systems. Consultations provided to companies joining the EAN*UCC system primarily address the issues of the rules for applying EAN*UCC standards, registration procedures, methods of labeling goods (consumer units and collective packaging), methods of coding variable quantity goods, selection of barcode labels taking into account goods storage conditions, and calculation of the check digit. In addition, employees of the Automatic Identification Department, supported by the competences of specialists from EAN Poland (ILiM), conduct extensive consultations for offices, institutions and universities on the use of various barcode and matrix code symbolisms, printing codes in high dust conditions, marking fixed assets, marking MDF profiles, pallet marking, using security labels, printing rating plates, using peel-off labels, applying code symbols on ID cards, printing barcode-marked tags, wireless identification equipment, using barcodes for device control, selecting devices for operating IT systems, controlling material flow in production, selecting barcode readers, and warehouse identification using RF terminals. An additional activity of the department is the fulfillment of orders for EAN-13, EAN-8, ISSN, ISBN, EAN-128 barcode standards.
The Automatic Identification Department allows companies that apply for help to effectively absorb the basics of operating the identification system in a short time, and at the same time provides the EAN Poland National Organization with valuable material on the actual needs of customers. Cooperation with other organizational units of the Institute has made it possible to prepare comprehensive offers for IT support system solutions for warehouses of any scale.
Fig. 3. Code reading scanners
Identification from the inside out
An integral part of automatic identification processes is computer science, without which neither the effective use of ADC devices nor the effective use of the global EAN*UCC system would be possible or efficient.
In an open supply chain serviced by various IT systems, there are many locations that should be identified by trading partners of various companies moving multiple logistic units between each other. The process of cooperation on a global scale is often still new for some companies and frequently requires organizational changes.
Various events occur along the route of movement of logistic units in an open supply chain. They determine the scope of information that is created in successive links of the chain by adding or updating them sequentially. The open supply chain must be organized in such a way that the data transmitted along with the logistic unit can be retrieved by various IT systems in each of its links. There is therefore a need to place appropriate logistic information not on documents, but on the materials themselves (logistic units). And this requires the use of a single exchange standard that will be “understood” by various IT systems operating in the supply chain. As a result, a harmonized system supporting the management of the physical supply chain is obtained.
The EAN-13 code has been functioning in Poland for a long time, so its handling by various types of devices and IT systems poses no problems. What is most interesting for logistics is identification in a more sophisticated code designation, which is EAN-128. This code allows for recording many important pieces of information in the form of a single character string (128 alphanumeric characters from the upper range of the ASCII table – available on the computer keyboard – can be encoded). This is very useful throughout the logistic chain. With a single scanner movement, it is possible to read several different pieces of information recorded in the code. In order to distinguish – by the IT system – what kind of information is encoded in the read character string, standard Application Identifiers are used. Each applied AI clearly defines what type of data appears immediately after it. ADC devices only read a specific sequence of characters used to record information. When using the EAN-128 code, ADC devices alone without an IT system are of little use. The most important problem for customers is the proper selection of software for ADC devices and the devices themselves to match the IT system. Many company representatives make the mistake of purchasing ADC devices first and only then wondering how to make them work in a satisfactory manner. The order of purchase should be the reverse – first, the system is built together with reading software, and only later is the appropriate equipment selected. There are not too many good IT solutions on the market that could read global codes used by entrepreneurs, especially EAN-128. As a rule, IT system suppliers wait for signals from their recipients in order to adapt programs to their expectations. On the other hand, recipients do not yet have sufficient awareness and knowledge about possible applications. Logistic systems designed at ILiM based on available or specially created software allow ADC devices to read full EAN-128 code character strings, and the software selects only the information that is necessary in a given enterprise, omitting that which is needed by other participants of the open supply chain. Decrypting information recorded in the barcode is done via Application Identifiers (two-, three- or four-character numerical chains) that unambiguously imply the character strings following them. This is one of the fundamental features of EAN.UCC standards allowing for unhindered exchange of goods from a global perspective with unambiguous – automatic – identification of logistic units by IT systems using ADC devices.
Michał Koralewski