The final presentation before the break was a paper by Michel van der Heijden and George Simeon from GS1 on global open standards, GS1 standards, and traceability.
A characteristic feature of the modern world is the enormous amount of information flowing through it. It is collected, created, and exchanged as quickly as possible. Access to information alone is no longer enough – now, those who have the fastest access to it are one step ahead of the competition. Data exchange is not possible without modern technologies, effective connections, and good cooperation between the links of the chain. Therefore, it is crucial to develop standards that describe this exchange and are applicable worldwide. Standards eliminate technological and infrastructural barriers and allow for an increase in the speed of knowledge transfer. Interoperability standards provide a codified basis for information transfer. Their main features are: openness (no cost or technical barriers preventing their implementation), simplicity (all chain participants can use them, no favoring of individual participants), neutrality (they are developed by many international standardization organizations, access to them is fair), technological independence (they cannot hinder the development of technological innovation, they must be independent of carriers), universality of implementation (they limit the level of risk, thereby increasing their chances for widespread use), durability (they maintain a strong position regardless of progress and technological changes), and finally, ensuring knowledge transfer.
The most widely used system of standards describing the functioning of supply chains is the GS1 standards, which include barcodes, electronic commerce tools, RFID, as well as data synchronization (GDSN) and traceability.
Therefore – as the speakers say – effective communication between partners is the basis for GS1 in creating standards. They constitute a kind of “business language” – understood all over the world, regardless of cultural, technological, or ideological differences.
The article is based on the lecture by Michel van der Heijden and George Simeon titled “Open standards – beyond the boundaries of traditional logistics”.