22/09/14 - GS1®, a non-profit, global organisation that develops and maintains the most widely-used supply chain standards system in the world and a leader in facilitating efficient global business, has announced today that its GS1 Global Registry® has reached 15 million product items. The GS1 Global Registry is a directory operated by GS1 that allows companies to synchronise standardised product data with trading partners worldwide. It is one of the most essential tools within the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN®), which provides a powerful environment for secure and continuous synchronisation of accurate data between businesses.

“Increased speed to market, improved accuracy and a more efficient supply chain were the main reasons for our adoption of global data synchronisation.  GDSN not only means that we and our trading partners are using the same data, but GS1 has also given us the data quality that we are looking for” commented Roman Coba, Chief Information Officer at McCain Foods Limited.

When GS1 first launched its GDSN in October 2004, there were only 74,000 items shared among trading partners in 13 countries, in the Global Registry. Today, over 25,000 companies have made the GS1 GDSN a cornerstone of their supply chain initiatives in more than 150 countries across multiple industry sectors. GDSN is also being used to bring value to new business processes which were not envisioned ten years ago, demonstrating that many global data synchronisation users are implementing GS1 standards in new ways, such as regulatory registration compliance.

Since hitting the 10 million mark in 2012, GS1 has also seen an increase of use of global data synchronisation in the Healthcare sector with near to 1 million items in the Global Registry, mainly for medical devices, in the frame of the US FDA Unique Device Identification rule. Organisations that have implemented the technology have improved on-shelf availability and made their logistics, accounting, customer service and inventory management substantially more efficient by reducing the number of supply chain disruptions with accurate product data.

“The 15 million item milestone indicates the ever growing success of GDSN as well as demonstrating Data Quality standards going from strength to strength globally. In the last two years many organisations have recognised the benefits of scale that adoption of GDSN brings to their business processes, which showcases the advantages of the uptake of GS1 standards” said Miguel Lopera, GS1 President and CEO.

Looking forward, past this 15 million uptake landmark, GS1 expects to see an overall increase of the usage of GDSN in several different industries, such as healthcare, retail, food service and many more. There will be a growing demand for data around how a product is delivered to market, including handling instructions, traceability attributes, nutrition information, regulatory compliance and classification. Demand for more visible data, such as nutritional information and product specification, will increase dramatically, driven by regulations, consumers, and the growth of multi-channel shopping. Adopting an industry standard solution like GDSN would be the answer to these requirements.

ENDS

For Further Information:

Mark Widman, Director GDSN and Data Quality, GS1 Global Office: mark.widman@gs1.org
Anouk Chavel, Senior Manager Marketing, GS1 Global Office: anouk.chavel@gs1.org

About GS1 UK

For further information or requests for interviews, please contact Tim Haidar: 020 7092 3584 / Tim.Haidar@gs1uk.org.

For more than 35 years GS1 UK has been working with its members to enable the efficient movement of goods and sharing of information. It drives supply chain efficiency alongside 111 other not-for-profit GS1 member organisations in 150 countries worldwide.

Having introduced the first truly global bar code numbering system in 1973, at least five billion GS1-compliant bar codes are now scanned everyday – making it the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. GS1 identification numbers are now also commonly used in RFID tags, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages and for real-time global data exchange.

Providing independent support, GS1’s team of technical and business consultants also assist members with on-site implementation of appropriate supply chain information solutions.

Its 28,000+ UK members range from SMEs to major UK companies and include grocery retailers and food service companies, food manufacturers, healthcare and pharmaceuticals companies, and NHS Trusts. Its supervisory board includes senior directors from Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, as well as Unilever, P&G, Diageo and the NHS.

GS1 UK actively supports The Food Chain – a UK charity set up to ensure that people living with HIV can access the nutrition they need to lead healthy, independent lives. 
 
For more information, visit www.foodchain.org.uk

www.gs1uk.org