Without well-organized IT, there is no effective logistics today. This statement may seem like a truism, but in fact, it carries the very essence of modern logistics. This aspect is recognized by large retail chains, which, by their very nature, working with a large number of suppliers of diverse goods, are forced to implement modern logistics solutions supported by sophisticated IT techniques. The trading company Jeronimo Martins Dystrybucja Sp. z o.o. (JMD), which operates the nationwide “Biedronka” store chain, together with the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing (ILiM), undertook the implementation of a global logistics label standard compliant with the EAN.UCC system in the supply chain to its distribution centers. There would be nothing exciting about this – after all, one reads about various automatic identification system implementations from time to time – if not for the fact that a uniform pallet identification system was simultaneously implemented in about 100 companies – suppliers to the JMD chain. This event is a unique occurrence on a national scale and is one of the few solutions in European countries, because the solution proposed by ILiM is an open system, forming the seed of a Polish integrated system for tracking pallet unit movements, functioning also outside the JMD supply chain not only in Poland, but throughout the European Union market, as well as in global markets. The project implemented by JMD and deployed by ILiM for the use of the standard EAN.UCC logistics label leads to the effective introduction of an automatic identification system based on global EAN.UCC system standards to a greater extent in all Polish enterprises and its use in supply chains.
JMD logistics label
The JMD retail chain has applied an independently developed automatic data collection system in warehouse operations at its Distribution Centers. The goal of this undertaking was the fast and error-free retrieval of information about physical deliveries by reading UCC/EAN-128 barcodes from standard logistics labels.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 5/2004.