Security Printing and Imaging : Traceability

Un faux pas...ou bon mot?

StevenSimske — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:54:00 GMT

Today was the second day, and the indepth workshop on how to move trace research and development forward in Canada, at Trace R&D 2009 (http://www.umanitoba.ca/afs/trace/home.html). It was an honor to be part of this rather intense, interesting and intellectually invigorating interchange of ideas. Particular thanks to John Graham of IBM for moderating the discussion for the eclectic and energetic group I was part of.

I won't go into the details of the traceability plan forward, as the organizers will be assimilating feedback before a plan of action is put in place. Two funny things happened during the session, however. The first stems from the fact that the conference, as is required in Canada, had English to French translators at work, translating the English presentations into French real-time for the francophiles wearing headsets. A small but important contingent of Quebecois were at a table near ours, and they were split between headset wearers and those bearing the English in raw form. My table happened to be right in front of the translators, who were behind not-quite-soundproof glass, actively converting English into its more mellifluous and more Romantic cousin.

The speaker was describing differences between North America and Europe, and mentioned that in Europe "moving forward is often derailed by fringe groups". The translator behind me, however, heard the word "fringe" as "French" and translated it as such. The headset-wearers quickly exchanged words with their colleagues not wearing headsets and began laughing together. The rest of the room didn't get their joke, but I was strategically positioned to join in their mirth. I guess there is a similar relationship between the Quebecois and French as there is between anglophonic North Americans and the British. Of course, the most interesting part is the translator. Why did she hear "fringe" as "French"? It couldn't be a Freudian slip--he was Austrian. Was it, even, a faux pas? If you ask me, it was a bon mot.

Translate this!

In addition, we noticed that the list of trite expressions for describing traceability from the raw product (food, animal) to the human consumable (food, drink) was short and popular. The list includes:

1. From gate to plate (and its variant "from farm gate to dinner plate")

2. From paddock to plate

3. From farm to fork

4. From dirt to dinner (not the most palatable trite expression)

5. From farm to fryer

Ugh. Nothing against the companies involved in the creation of these expressions, just that they were repeated so many times this week, that some sort of rebellion against the cliché was inevitable. I began wondering what other expressions were due to pop up as this current, er, crop, wore thin. Perhaps the following?

1. From bull to bowl

2. From steer to steak

3. From bull to belly

4. From cattle to cutlerly

5. From stable to table

6. From calving to carving

7. From branding to breakfast

8. From farmstock to facestuffing

9. From round-up to ground-up

10. From feedlot to foodfight

11. From farm to feeding frenzy

12. From cowtown to chowdown

and perhaps the most unsavory (and suitably number 13):

13. From sty to stomach

Do I expect any traceability providers to take these kindly offered clichés nouvelles as their own? Hardly. Je ne suis pas né hier. They would look silly, and I do not advise it. But it would break up the monotony, er, ennui...

Alors, à bientôt,

Steve

Trace R&D 2009

StevenSimske — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:44:00 GMT

I'm in windy Winnipeg today and tomorrow for the "research & development conference & strategic workshop for agriculture and food traceability," as so noted at: http://www.umanitoba.ca/afs/trace/home.html. What does food traceability have to do with security printing and imaging, you may ask?

Security printing and imaging is the strategic application of explicitly printed information being used for product safety, messaging, interaction or other workflows (supply chain visibility, authentication, etc.). It is where the cloud, mobile and security come together; where the digital and physical meet and share a pint. So, what better application than food and agricultural traceability?

Say for the sake of my cadre of Irish colleagues and friends that we are indeed sharing a pint of Guinness. There's a lot in a Guinness, even if we only consider the hops, barley malt, yeast and water. From where did each of those ingredients come? What if a farm somewhere in Ireland had a high level of dioxins--it's happened recently...see my earlier post:

http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/securityprinting/archive/2008/12/08/irish-pork-recall-another-track-and-trace-debacle.aspx

We want to know, when it becomes necessary, what the provenance of every ingredient in everything we consume is, right? No, I don't want it printed right on the package--there's too much information there already, and if I felt like reading something, I'd grab a Malcolm Gladwell before a Guinness, n'est'ce pas? But I do want the package to point to information, somewhere in the cloud (to use a suddenly trite expression), when I need to know.

That's traceability (in at least a simplified way). So, traceability is brand protection, it is security, and it is anti-counterfeiting.

The only time I want to disappear without a trace is when I'm...

...somewhere like this.

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

Pork Recall, Part Two...

StevenSimske — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:40:00 GMT

I chatted with my friend and fellow HP colleague, Mick Keyes, a business/technology strategist in Dublin and an expert on Track and Trace, about the Irish pork recall. Mick provided me with some of the personal aspects of the recall.

According to Mick, This a bad one ok. The effects are becoming obvious. Over 1000+ workers laid off in past few hrs as processing plants grind to a halt. 12 EU sites have banned all Pork from Ireland (this is a 400 Million euro export business that is affected). You can see how the whole banking/Credit crunch is intersecting with this in real time. Plants can't get credit to pay workers or suppliers so its immediate "close down" and layoff workers. Industry now reckons this is going to cost $1 billion over all..and they want a Govt. bail out. Retailers want compensation. Consumers want compensation. It is a mess. Very sad listening to small family owned business crying on radio shows in abject desperation. The size of recall (i.e. ALL pork products/Whole industry ) is raising question about how effective Traceability systems are in protecting those that haven't done "anything wrong".

Terrible to think about all these affected people, with little recourse. And, they have to pull all products when 10% (of the farms) of the 10% (dating from the correct period) of the products on the shelf are affected. Not a sustainable method forward. As times get tougher and wallets thinner, we're simply going to have to have a better way to manage how we separate the good from the bad. And, with higher confidence so consumers do not turn away from the industry en masse. Tomatoes, milk, pork--that just about covers my Uncle's entire diet. If Guinness is recalled, he's going hungry for the Holidays. I'll bet he's noticing. Food may be the tipping point that many thought pharmaceutics would be.

The point on the availability of credit cannot be overstated. Without access to easy credit--a reversal of the past 15+ years--there is no margin for error. When profits can't be made, there's nothing in reserve. The just-in-time supply chain can quickly become the just-no-time response. If there's no slack in the system, then contingencies must be incorporated in the design. In future blogs, I will describe how come of these concerns are being addressed.

-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