Security Printing and Imaging : GS1

GS1 Announcement of the Food Recall Portal

StevenSimske — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:45:00 GMT

Yes, this is an HP blog, and so you forgive me when occasionally (and inevitably) I take an HP line on an announcement, event or trend. Out of interest of serving the broader anti-counterfeiting/anti-fraud/anti-tamper/customer safety community, I point you to our partner, GS1's, announcement on the HP/GS1 Product Recall program:

http://www.gs1ca.org/Page.asp?LSM=0&intNodeID=6&intPageID=1396

I couldn't agree more with their opening statement:

"November 3, 2009 – GS1 Canada, as part of a coalition of leading Canadian industry associations representing over 65,000 manufacturers, distributors and retailers, today launched a national product recall program that will enhance consumer safety and reduce the administrative burden for business. With the increasing complexities of a global supply chain, this launch could not have come at a more important time."

Further down, you find the statement:

"The Program is founded on a standardized process created by GS1 Canada, the neutral, non-profit supply chain standards organization most well-known for creation and management of the universal product code (bar code), used by millions of businesses worldwide. This global online platform uses robust HP cloud-computing technology and is based on global GS1 standards."

This is a good approach. GS1 provides accepted and well-considered global standards through GTIN, GDSN, etc., as noted in past posts here. Who wants to spend time dickering over competing standards? Not I. A better use of time is working with the industry experts to create a single standard that is simultaneously useful, fair and globally available, and then spend time differentiating applications built atop these standards.

Cheers,

Steve

Big news: HP Develops Cloud Service with GS1 Canada to Enhance Product Recall Process

StevenSimske — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:39:00 GMT

Our work on the food recall portal, in conjunction with GS1 and Microsoft, went live today! The HP press release is located here:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/090824xb.html

and is given below. This is an important step for food safety, supply chain visibility and consumer confidence (see text from the press release below in italics).

To make a long story short, this has been an effort long in planning, long in aspiration, and never short in temper. Thanks to wonderful colleagues in HP Ireland for making all this possible!

HP today announced along with the Canadian arm of GS1 – a leading global nonprofit organization dedicated to improving supply chain efficiencies – a cloud-based recall service that traces and removes potentially harmful food products from the supply chain.

The GS1 Canada Product Recall service will run on the HP cloud computing platform for manufacturing, which allows companies to see and share information across the supply chain. Food and consumer products organizations can use the service to reduce errors, decrease the amount of time it takes to respond to a recall, and mitigate the costs associated with managing the recall process.

“Global supply chain standards are foundational to effective product recall,” said Art Smith, president and chief executive officer at GS1 Canada. “GS1 global standards are used by millions of companies around the world to enhance the safety, security and efficiency of their supply chains. With the integration of GS1 standards and HP’s cloud computing platform, we are reinventing the way that recall information is exchanged between businesses, and further supporting industry efforts to improve consumer safety.”

The GS1 Product Recall service will offer businesses:

Clear handling, disposal and reimbursement instructions to speed the recall process
The ability to customize alerts and target specific retailers with relevant information
A traceable security and audit trail to ensure compliance
Built-in security that sends notifications to authorized users and targeted retailers

“The ability to mitigate consumer safety concerns around product recall is extremely important for manufacturers and retailers,“ said Russ Daniels, vice president and chief technology officer at EDS, an HP company. ”By simplifying the product recall process, we can demonstrate how cloud services add real value to our everyday lives.”

Developed in conjunction with HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, GS1 Canada Product Recall service consists of HP software, services and infrastructure as well as the Microsoft® .NET Framework.

The initial rollout for the GS1 Canada Product Recall service targets the Canadian food industry. It is expected to extend to other industries and regions that require similar processes and services in the future. The HP cloud computing platform for manufacturing is available now.

About GS1 and GS1 Canada

GS1 is a leading global not-for-profit organization dedicated to global standards and solutions that improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains. The GS1 system of standards is the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. GS1 Canada is the Canadian member of the Global GS1 organization, enabling its more than 10,000 members – organizations of all sizes from 23 sectors across Canada – to enhance their efficiency and cost effectiveness by adopting electronic supply chain best practices.

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

Cheers,

Steve

NAFDAC branching out to India

StevenSimske — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:16:00 GMT

Nigeria is working with Interpol and planning to set up 3 offices in India to fight counterfeiting, and specifically allegedly China-produced fakes labelled “Made in India”.

The full article is posted at:

http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Industry-Drivers/NAFDAC-ups-anti-counterfeiting-actions/?c=JiBz%2FX6W896MgKpnW7DU1A%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily

and notes: "The battle against counterfeits in Nigeria has been fought by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which is now taking further steps to tackle the problem. NAFDAC’s latest actions are in response to a seizure of counterfeit drugs that are believed to be of Chinese origin but were labelled 'Made in India'. The seized shipment consisted of counterfeit generic anti-malarial drugs."

I spoke to IMANI's Bright Simons (http://www.imanighana.com/bright.html) when he was in the States a couple of weeks ago. This is in direct alignment with his vision for mPedigree. Counterfeit organizations span countries, continents and hemispheres. Agencies effective at reducing the impact of these worldwide counterfeiting organizations must have worldwide span as well. Think GS1. Think ISO. If the scope of your anti-counterfeiting strategy is too small, the same will be true of its effectiveness.

Cheers,

Steve

Canadian Pharma Bar Coding Project

StevenSimske — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:20:00 GMT

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada, in agreement with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), have "endorsed the adoption of the GS1 global standard for automated identification (e.g. bar coding) of pharmaceutical products in Canada".

According to the ISMP Canada Safety Bulletin, Volume 9, Number 4 (May 8, 2009),

"The use of bar coding (the most widely recognized machine-readable identifier) in a point-of-care scanning system, combined with a computerized database, allows healthcare professionals to verify that the right drug, in the right dose and by the right route of administration, is being given to the right patient at the right time."

See http://www.ismp-canada.org/download/safetyBulletins/ISMPCSB2009-4-PharmaceuticalBarCodingMovingForwardinCanada.pdf, please, for the full article.

Why barcoding? Same as before--it ties a physical mark to a physical object, with low fuss and as part of the normal printing process. Moreover, hybridizing (tying the bar code to another security/process control mechanism) with RFID is readily accomplished. But, starting with the bar code means that the recommendation can be adopted with little (or no) assumptions about the "asset inertia" in the pharma workflow.

Cheers,

Steve

What has four wheels and flies?

StevenSimske — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 05:15:00 GMT

No, it's not a garbage truck.

It is the GS1 MobileCom Extended Packaging Pilot Handbook. Where does this pilot fly? Into your mobile device, and into the hands of consumers, retailers, inspectors, auditors, and more. And the four wheels are the GTIN, the GEPIR, the GDSN and the GLN.

The full version of the pilot document is at:

http://www.gs1.org/docs/mobile/GS1_Extended_Packaging_Pilot_Handbook.pdf

The objective of extended packaging is "giving consumers access to additional information or services about products through their mobile phone". A big deal presently, as the OMA (http://www.openmobilealliance.org/), Microsoft Tags, Gphone barcode reading, ScanBuy, and more vend their solutions.

The difference? Extended Packaging can (and will) tie directly to product track and trace, provenence, consumer information and even security applications. Let's review the four wheels, and please dig deeper into the document if you wish to learn more...

1. GTIN:

"The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is the primary identifier used for identification of all products (usually barcodes and RFID). It is a globally unique identifier and universally adopted across all industries. It is the most widely used physical identification standard in the world (implemented by more than 1,000,000 companies in more than 140 countries worldwide)." In other words, this wheel is familiar to us all. It's the data read from the barcode or RFID chip.

2. GEPIR:

This is the Global Electronic Party Information Register. It is the "DNS" of the GTIN, if you will--the GEPIR can be interrogated by either the GTIN of GLN.

3. GDSN:

The GDSN (http://www.gs1.org/productssolutions/gdsn/), or Global Data Synchronisation Network, can be thought of as the "database filled with information about the products [a company] makes, or sells, or buys. [It acts] very much like a catalogue that customers can use to place orders and manage vendors. Difficulties happen when one company needs to change information in their database or add a new item or location to it: suddenly their "catalogue" isn't up to date anymore." GDSN synchronises data across these databases.

4. GLN:

The Global Location Number is a key for entry into the GDSN, and incoporates company prefix, location reference and a check digit.

Read more about how to go mobile while improving your supply chain visibility (and ultimately use the economy of the commons to get up-to-the-minute customer and retailer feedback).

Cheers,

Steve

One Ring to Rule Them All

StevenSimske — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:46:00 GMT

"Twas in the darkest depths of mordor, I met a GIRL so fair"...if that "GIRL" is Globally Idiosyncratic Recall Legislation, that is. This GIRL, if you're not careful, will be your business' Mount Doom until your track and trace, supply chain visibility, and inference model are standardized.

But fear not, perhaps there is One RING to rule them all. One Registered Identification Number for Global-recall, that is.

An OnTrace News Release reports:

"OnTrace Agri-food Traceability is pleased to announce that primary producers can now register a single premise directly with the Ontario Agri-food Premises Registry (OAPR). There is no fee for this registration...This new sign-up functionality is good news for primary producers who want a premises identifier that meets national standards"

Please see the full announcement at:

http://www.ontraceagrifood.com/admincp/uploadedfiles/OnTrace%20Individual%20OAPR.pdf

Not to "ramble on" here, but one RING to rule them all is what the GS1 Global Party and Location Registry is meant to provide:

"A GLN uniquely identifies a legal entity, functional entity, or physical location. Examples include a company, the accounts payable department, a warehouse, or a store. The GLN is used in electronic commerce transactions and is required to uniquely identify your organization in the GS1 Global Registry™. For more information about GLNs, please refer to the GLN Overview at: www.gs1us.org/gln."

Want to be a Lord of the RING? Give GLN a look,

Cheers,

Steve

ePedigree Delay a Sign of An Eventual Supply Chain U.N.?

StevenSimske — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:49:00 GMT

I have been remiss in discussing the delay in the California ePedigree until 2015. This has been interpreted as a long-term delay for track and trace and overall product safety. For a nice overview and analysis of the problem, see http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=17793.

However, ePedigree initiatives are underway by the WHO, FDA, EU, AQSIQ (China), GS1 and other standards/regulatory organizations. A full serialization+pedigree requirement may be delayed until 2015, but it is unlikely that ePedigree will not already be in place before then. Recent passing of PRO-IP and Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) legislation in the US indicates that the US,too, will continue with initiatives before 2015.

The delay of California ePedigree legislation, moreover, may be indicative of another passing of the torch. Much as the recent Presidential (and Congressional) election results likely signal a more collaborative, less "independent" US foreign policy, the delay in ePedigree may signal a more collaborative, less independent nation-to-nation legislation in the future.

Will the big players--WHO, FDA, EU, AQSIQ, GS1, ISO, and others--work together to create a reasonable roadmap for product track and trace, pedigree and provenance? In effect, create a "United Nations" for track and trace? I, for one, hope so. With the increasingly convoluted supply chains for virtually all products resulting in chaos during recall, fraud and even normal node-node shipping situations (how many retailers can confidently tell you everywhere a product has been on its way to their shelves?), how long can it be before the legitimate market says, "enough is enough"? Plus, a universal process will reduce confusion, lower cost, and improve response time around the planet.

Is the current combination of counterfeiting, diversion, factory overrun, smuggling, return fraud and other supply chain crime the commerce equivalent of the two World Wars? A series of events so drastic that the set of collective players decides to band together into a United Nations to try to prevent such a meltdown in the future? (I realize the United Nations is by no means perfect--but we have been without nuclear combat for 63 years...). Maybe so. And maybe the delay in the California ePedigree shows that the US, rather than defining the path forward, is willing to work with the rest of the Supply Chain United Nations in formulating the optimum set of requirements moving forward.

-Steve