The requirements follow the GS1 Standards for GTIN allocation and packaging hierarchy and allow for more accurate ordering and tracking. Walmart announced that all GTINs will be validated to ensure accuracy. See announcement below.
Suppliers should be careful. Misinterpretation of the Walmart requirements and best practices can lead to wasteful GTIN assignments or even incorrect and conflicting assignments. GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number and refers to all levels of packing which could be purchased and maintained in an inventory system. A GTIN is the number which is used to identify something which can be purchased, sold or put into inventory.
This includes; individual items which can be purchased by a consumer as well as cases of items which could be purchased by a retailer and moved within their supply chain. An item hierarchy details the packing configurations for all levels of packaging.
Today, 95 Walmart associates in Greenbrier, Arkansas, marked an incredible milestone: the grand opening of our 5,th U. Making UPCs … universal. In , we began using Universal Product Codes aka bar codes at our checkouts, allowing us to better manage inventory. Driving our own logistics.
While some companies have agreed to comply and have ordered their pre-printed cases, others are not rushing into anything and basically waiting to see how things develop. To be fair, a lot of the Walmart requirement makes a lot of sense.
It is important to have the barcode on both the wide and narrow faces of the case — at the DC, the barcodes are scanned automatically while the long side of the case is facing the scanner on a conveyor. In the store backroom, the cases tend to be packed on shelves with the narrow face facing out to save shelf space.
Having the barcode on all four faces makes sure that every case has an accessible barcode through the supply chain. Walmart already has a solution in the barcode mandate for frozen baked goods which could easily have been expanded. This specification asks for the GTIN barcode to be printed on a white label best way to get the most scannable barcodes that is wrapped around a corner of the case, so the barcode is visible on two faces.
The specification recommends two labels, on adjacent corners, to give four face visibility. The supply chain labeling standards developed by GS1 and used worldwide provide everything that is needed to be able to meet barcode quality standards while also keeping costs low and efficiency high.
My personal view is that the best way for Walmart to improve the barcode experience for workers in their stores would be to make sure suppliers correctly implement the GS1 labeling standards. It would be more cost effective for Walmart suppliers to install barcode systems to check the quality of their barcodes than to move towards pre-printed cases.
There is no excuse for suppliers to ship items with incorrect or poor quality barcodes, regardless of the printing technology used. Want another viewpoint? Is it going to affect your business?
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