GS1 Foodservice Industry - System of Supply Chain Standards

During 2013, key stakeholders in the Australian Foodservice Industry identified the need to develop a common set of supply chain standards to improve order and supply practices, decrease operating costs and enhance customer service levels across the entire Foodservice sector.  

Today, the focus is on optimising the Australian Foodservice Industry supply chain by introducing and adopting the GS1 System of supply chain standards to gain the benefits of supply chain best practice. 

The continued success of the Foodservice Industry in Australia relies on efficient supply chain management practices and the improvement of visibility of product from supplier through to the end customer. 

For further information visit GS1 Australia’s website here.

Fresh Produce Workshop shines the spotlight on product identification and traceability in the Fresh Produce Industry

GS1 Australia and Produce Marketing Association Australia-New Zealand (PMA A-NZ) held a joint Fresh Produce Workshop in November 2013 titled, ‘Moving forward with Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and GS1 DataBar’.

Thirty-five delegates representing retailers, grower-packers, wholesalers and service providers attended the workshop to develop a roadmap for the implementation of a more effective product identification and traceability system for fresh produce sold as loose or in bulk (i.e. unpackaged).

The workshop focused on the myriad of current identification processes within the Fresh Produce Industry with emphasis on the way forward, requiring brand owner GTINs to pave the way for GS1 DataBar.

GS1 DataBar enables a GTIN to be represented in a smaller bar code enabling the piece of fruit to be scanned instead of being looked up on the system.

PMA A-NZ, GS1 Australia and GS1 New Zealand will continue to promote the benefits of GS1 DataBar to retailers and suppliers throughout Australia and New Zealand as an efficient solution to pricing accuracy, Point-of-Sale (POS) data collection and management, and product identification and traceability (as part of an effective food safety system).

For further information about GS1 DataBar in the Fresh Produce Industry please contact GS1 Australia on 1300 BARCODE (1300 227 263) or email Melanie Wishart.

Important notification to retailers from GS1 Australia

The GS1 System provides retailers with the ability to identify and mark Variable Measure products sold at Point-of-Sale (POS), utilising Restricted Circulation or internal numbering, using the GS1 Prefix range of 20-29. 

In the late 1990s, GS1 Australia conducted a survey of retailers and their use of the GS1 (then EAN) internal numbering formats.  The purpose of the survey was to identify which of the 20-29 GS1 Prefixes not already reserved by GS1 Australia, were being utilised for internal purposes by the retailer community, and which particular numbers were used less frequently. These numbers would then be used to extend the availability of source marked, supplier branded variable weight products issued by GS1 Australia.

The result of this survey identified that, in addition to the already reserved 28 and 29 GS1 Prefixes, 22 and 24 were the least used prefixes and would be recalled for further allocation by GS1 Australia as of the 30^th of June 1998.  At this point retailers advised to discontinue the use of these numbers as soon as possible in an open trade environment and all GS1 publications reflected the future use of these two GS1 Prefixes.

This notification serves to advise that GS1 Australia will now commence issuing Variable Measure numbers using the 22 prefix, effective 1^st April 2014.

“It is important that relevant parities within these organisations update their systems with the capability of using the 22 prefix.  More than likely the recipient of the original notification in 1997 will no longer be holding the same position now.  It would be best for businesses still using this prefix to notify us as soon as possible,” urges Sue Schmid, General Manager – Customer Service and Global Standards at GS1 Australia.

Please ensure that all systems are updated accordingly to support the use of the 22 GS1 Prefix for the purpose of Variable Measure products sold at POS. If you are currently using this GS1 Prefix or have any questions, please contact your GS1 Australia Account Manager directly or contact a Customer Service representative via 1300 BARCODE (1300 227 263).

ECR Europe OSA Reloaded Assessment Tool

OSA has been on the agenda of ECR Europe and the local ECRs in Europe for many years and numerous best practice guides, methodologies and tools to implement OSA programmes in companies have been developed.

However, average out-of-stock rates across the industry have not improved over these last years. The 2008 global study by Gruen and Corsten shows that the current average out of stock rate is still 8.3%, with, of course, notable exceptions in markets where local ECRs or companies have taken the lead in making a difference.

The aim of this supply chain project was to identify and tackle the last remaining hurdles to deliver better shopper availability. To download the ECR Europe Toolkit click here.

ECR Asia Pacific Launch - Sustainability Best Practices in Asia Pacific

“Every single one of us has a role to play in saving our planet. I was delighted when I heard that the ECR Asia Pacific team has set up a sustainability committee to share best practices in this important area because I believe this is one area in which we can collaborate far more than some other areas.

And if manufacturers and retailers can collaborate on sustainability and share best practices, what an impact we can have on saving our planet.”

Scott Price President and CEO Walmart Asia

ECR Asia Pacific announced the publication of the Sustainability Best practices.  The report was initiated by a committee setup in 2011 between Wal Mart, Procter&Gamble and Accenture and contributed by all of ECR Asia Pacific members. 

The booklet is intended to be a great example collection of ECR Asia Pacific’s 4 focus areas—strategy, product, consumer, employee- which will allow companies to taste and pick different ideas and consider how to apply them in their own organisation. 

The report can be accessed by clicking here.

ECR Asia Pacific Launch the On-Shelf Availability Terms & Defintions Handbook

ECR Asia Pacific and Accenture have released the publication of the On Shelf Availability (OSA) Standards, Terms and Definition Handbook.  This handbook was created by an OSA working group setup in 2011 between Accenture, Metro, Coca-Cola, Unilever , Diageo, L’Oreal, Pokka, Tesco, Wal Mart, Fair Price and Nestle. 

The ECR APAC OSA Report published in 2012 pointed to collaboration and speaking a common language as the key way to improving On Shelf Availability. 

To address these challenges ECR AP and Accenture brought together an industry wide workshop where the objective was to create the OSA Standards, Terms & Definitions Handbook that retailers and manufacturers can use across Asia Pacific to make improving OSA easier.  

The handbook provides a comprehensive definition of OSA terms, measurement approaches and root causes. Having 1 set of Standards, Terms and Definitions across APAC will help both manufacturers and retailers: 

• Collaborate more effectively with retailers/ manufacturers by speaking the same OSA language
• Speed up OSA initiatives by reaching alignment from the very start
• Access benchmarks that are meaningful when utilizing ECR AP scorecards and surveys

The handbook is intended to be used as a reference point and is not a study into OSA.