Will you have to reprogram IDs?
By Rick Bushnell -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/1999
If you receive products manufactured overseas or if you ship products overseas, you may be facing problems on product identification numbers--depending upon which of two conflicting systems of bar coding for package quantity you use.We could go into details that would make your eyes glaze over. But at the risk of over-simplification I'll state the problem briefly. Throughout most distribution channels in the U.S. and North America, the EAN/U.P.C. number used to identify an item (and represented in the bar code) directly relates to the number identifying an intermediate package and then a master case of the same item. This system builds a family of package indicator numbers that are all related to the base number found on the lowest unit of sale or lowest unit of consumption (top example in sidebar).
The UCC, which administrates the U.P.C. code system, set up a simple set of rules some time ago using the package indicator or PI. The PI is a single position in the string of numbers (i. e., the initial 2 and 4 in our example) that is increased for each level of packaging (quantity) above the unit level (one unit of sale). A data base can quite simply use the base number and then from the PI determine the quantity stored.
The companies causing problems in determining package quantity use another identification system that assigns an entirely different number to each package quantity of the same identical product. Products numbered this way (second example in sidebar) will not flow smoothly through supply chains in the U.S.
Thousands of bar code scanning systems, certainly in the U.S. and Canada, and probably in other parts of the world, will have to program around the problem by making the software include cross-reference tables to establish relationships--that are so simply recognized if the PI concept is used.
The fix is simple but it may be difficult because of the politics; give both concepts equal play in the EAN/U.P.C. document and provide a warning: "Products not using package indicators may not be suited for sale and distribution in the US and North America as well as other parts of the world. Check with your trading partner."
For more information about this problem, go to: www.uc-council.org and isit.com/ibca or drop me a note at rickb@quadii.com.
Determining package quantity-two approaches
Identifying quantity by package indicators:
In this system, the base number (first line) has no package indicator (PI), but the two others do, as shown by the first digit in the sequence, the "2" or the "4" preceding the string of numbers.
012345-12345 = one unit of sale [Base]
2 0 012345-12345 = a carton of the same item [Next package level; 24 items in a carton]
4 0 012345-12345 = a master case of four cartons [Next package level; 96 items in a master case]
Assigning different numbers for each package quantity
The second group of 5-digits, or "45983" for a carton, "93481" for a master case, identify these different packaging levels in this system.
012345-12345 = one unit of sale [Base]
012345-45983 = a carton of the same item [Next package level with 24 items]
012345-93481 = a master case of four cartons [Next package level with 96 items]
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