At Dalat Milk and its partners, all processes and documentation were manual and paper-based, there was no systematic way of tracking and record keeping. At farmers level, documentation was 100% manual. At the milk collection centre, track and trace data capture was 85 % manual, data were not linked together: could not be traced back to the origin - the farmer, the raw milk cylinder, and the cow. At the Dalat Milk factory, at the distribution centre and at retailers, production and procurement planning were all 70% Excel-based.

With the implementation of GS1 standards, including Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), Global Location Number (GLN), Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC), Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI), information from all milk production stages has become fully available. The introduction of the Information Sharing Traceability System has enabled producers and other supply chain actors to electronically input product history information into a central database, control information exchanged, and communicate verified information about product hygiene, safety and quality - in order to reduce cost, minimise paperwork errors and save time.

The Dalat Milk reported that the introduction of the traceability system provided better traceability of products, supported the QA team’s quality control activities, and improved the efficiency of accessing, retrieving, processing, managing data more quickly and conveniently. Manual operations and paperwork reduced: at the milk collection centre, processing time by employees reduced to 50% and paperwork reduced by 70%. At the Dalat Milk Factory, manual paper-based documentation decreased by 80%.

Riba Smith, a chain of supermarkets in Panama, were facing a challenge of incomplete product information of supplies coming from farmers: products were not identified properly, there was no consistent product database in place. Therefore, the need to standardise processes and introduce a traceability system for farmers’ products came up clearly.

With the implementation of GS1-128 standard and GS1 identifiers, information from all production stages of farmers’ products starting from cultivation and harvesting through packaging, storage, distribution up to receiving by retail stores has become fully available. Over 50 vegetables and fruits are traced this way.

At Riba Smith, they are confident that with the traceability system they serve their consumers products of highest quality and freshness. Consumers can also access information about vegetables and fruits by a simple scan of the GS1 QR code.

La Juvenil, a producer of fresh pasta and Italian food specialties in Argentina, was seeking for a traceability solution that could guarantee high quality of its products. In addition to that, La Juvenil was struggling with paper-based processes resulting in operational inefficiencies.

With the objectives to better serve customers, improve operations and set the company for further growth, La Juvenil relied on GS1 standards to automate ordering and fulfillment operations, and to enable traceability.

La Juvenil adopted a range of GS1 standards, including GTIN, SSCC, GS1-128 barcodes encoded with lot numbers and expiration dates, and GS1 EDI order-to-cash. Implementation covered complete digitalisation of the production process, including orders from customers and deliveries.

With digitalisation of the production process, efficiency rates went up to 95%, returns due to errors went down to zero and, as a result, customer satisfaction improved. With improved processes and spared resources, La Juvenil can now focus on innovation development that grows business and revenues.

Swiss retailer MIGROS wanted to gain more transparency throughout the supply chain of fruit and vegetable products and establish a collaborative information exchange. To do this, the company decided to take a cross-company approach with trading partners to exchange complete and accurate event driven data from harvesting to distribution into retail stores.

MIGROS and its trading partners have implemented EPCIS, a GS1 standard, along with GS1 identifiers to enable a traceability system for its products. With benefits especially for fruits and vegetables, GS1 identifiers and EPCIS provide all stakeholders with information about the “what, where, when, why, and who” of product shipments as they travel throughout the supply chain.

MIGROS sees improvement in control over product quality, increase in efficiency of internal processes with end-to-end data integration. EPCIS enables suppliers, as well as consumers, to benefit from quality product data.

Imagine trying to navigate a city with no addresses. The only information you have to go on is what the building looks like, or what landmarks it’s near. With identifying information it would be so much easier. Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain (JJSC) is leading the work of mapping the products from the Johnson & Johnson companies. By using a variety of tools and mediums we are working to identify, trace, and make the products that the Johnson & Johnson companies create easily locatable.

Read the full Johnson & Johnson case study, page 89

As a producer of high-quality lamb meat products, Mattigtaler Lamm wanted to provide one of its largest retailers, METRO, as well as its consumers with complete, accurate information about its lamb meat products.

By using GS1 Trace, the traceability service offered by GS1 Austria, Mattigtaler Lamm has access to all types of information about its lamb products—with the push of a button. GS1 Trace enables the producer to trace information about the products, to include every processing step in detail.

The traceability solution not only increased visibility for Mattigtaler Lamm and its retailers, of lamb meat products as they travel from pasture to plate, but also set Mattigtaler Lamm apart from the competition by providing retailers with valuable product data that, in turn, helps them to increase efficiencies and meet consumer demand for information.

Master butcher Paul Horvath, an owner of the shop by the same name in Vienna, turned to GS1 Austria for advice and support when he was seeking for a traceability solution, driven by growing demand from consumers for data and emerging government regulations to be able to track and trace meat products throughout the value chain, provide up-to-date and accurate information.

Paul Horvath has implemented a solution enabled by GS1 standards to provide full value-chain traceability and its benefits to his retailers and, ultimately, consumers. It increased supply chain transparency for Horvath and his trading partners, by knowing “who did what, when and where” to a meat product. It provided Horvath’s retailers with an optimal data exchange solution, allowing them to address their data collection requirements and better serve consumers by providing detailed, complete information about meat products.

Norco, an Australian milk production company, had to comply with Chinese Food Safety Regulations requirement for full traceability and protect against the counterfeiting of its milk products in China.

Norco worked with GS1 standards to have an interoperable traceability system, including with unique product identification standards and Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS).

As a result, Norco has got a complete, end-to-end, track and trace solution, which significantly decreases the risk of counterfeits affecting Norco’s brand, and provides a unique opportunity to connect directly to consumers.

V/Line, Australia's largest regional public transport operator, took a decision to transform their inventory management and supply chain processes to reduce cost and waste and to improve customer service.

With GS1 standards, V/Line can fast-track how they manage basic inventory in their main warehouse and several branch plants across the country.

V/Line see the benefits of standardised identification and marking of parts and components which has been a transformational change in the way they handle logistics and the support of maintenance and projects.

The production and quality of eggs is taken very personally at Riverview eggs, a family-run business in Ireland. Riverview eggs are committed to providing the best quality eggs at all times.

Traceability process with GS1 standards starts at a farmer, all further traceability data are added at each step and can be retrieved at the press of a button.

Sushi Factory, the leading producer of sushi in Poland, is growing rapidly and keeps looking for efficiencies in operations and quality of their products.

The implementation of solutions based on GS1 standards, in particular GTIN and the GS1 logistics label, for receiving raw materials and releasing them for production gained not only  efficiencies in processes but built grounds for future business growth.

Market and consumer demands are pressuring the food industry to provide more complete and accurate product information.

In Ireland, fish industry players created a traceability system based on GS1 standards providing best practices for weighing, labelling, data communication and sharing.