GS1 Submits New Product Data Synch Specs as Membership Grows

Published: June 6, 2006

by Alex Woodie

GS1 (formerly the Uniform Code Council) last week unveiled a new set of protocols for helping customers implement data quality management practices using the data pool formerly known as UCCnet. GS1 also announced "record" growth in the adoption of its initiative in the consumer goods supply chain.

The GS1 Data Quality Framework describes how manufactures, distributors, and retailers in the consumer goods supply chain can synchronize their product data using the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) data pool, formerly called UCCnet. Last week the organization submitted a new GS1 Data Quality Framework guideline that describes best practices for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving data quality management systems.

The new document outlines steps organizations need to take to fully comply with GSDN, including inspection procedures for physically validating product attributes. It's all about data quality, says Miguel Lopera, president and CEO or GS1. "The publication and widespread use of the protocols detailed in this framework will help ensure that trading partners exchange the most accurate data possible," he says.

GS1 also announced that membership in its organization increased from 200 to more than 5,000 in the past 12 months. Members include over half of the top 20 global retailers, GS1 says, including Wal-Mart, Royal Ahold, and Wegmans Food Markets, and suppliers like The Campbell Soup Company, General Mills, Georgia Pacific, Kraft Foods, The Procter & Gamble Company, SCA, and Unilever.

This is a monumental milestone for product synchronization, according to Sally Herbert, President of GS1 GDSN. "Reaching the 5,000-user mark shows that the global community has confidence in the GS1 GDSN," she says.

This GS1 membership number is in stark contrast to participation in the old UCCnet organization, which counted 3,500 members just two years ago.