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THE SUPPLY CHAIN MAGAZINE • ISSUE 21 • AUTUMN 09 

GS1 Australia backs 

bushfire appeal 

University offers 

GS1 training for 

masters degrees 

GS1 XML v2.5 

released 

GS1 AUSTRALIA SERVICES GROUP 

PROFESSIONAL + INDEPENDeNT + FOCUSED

THE SUPPLY CHAIN MAGAZINE • ISSUE 21 • AUTUMN 09 

CONTENTS 

02 

32 

Features 

06 

GS1 Australia Services Group raises the bar 

During 2008 GS1 Australia reorganised itS industry management 

and services delivery teams to be more responsive to members’ 

needs. In the summer edition of LiNK we focused on our Industry 

Management Team anD in this issue we highlight the new approach 

the Services Group is taking. 

Starters 

03 

Welcome 

Chairman’s Message 

CEO Insights 

04 

Quickscan 

Hot Dates 

Turnover Declaration 

18 

Year in Review 

Report highlights a year of 

achievements 

19 

Bushfire Appeal 

GS1 gets behind 

Bushfire Appeal 

20 

Vox Pop 

This issue 

06 

Local News 

90% meating the GS1 Standards 

Liquor sector turns to 

GS1net to read market 

21 

Liquor sector turns to GS1net to read market 

The Liquor Merchants Association of Australia (LMAA) has become 

a registered data recipient on GS1net for the purposes of the 

Industry Market Read (IMR) tool. 

GS1 Services 

GS1 Australia’s Services Group 

raises the bar 

Perfectly poi$ed to help in 

a downturn 

Going “upstream” to train 

the trainers 

Testing services save time, 

money and costly mistakes 

Images, images everywhere… 

Knowledge centres fight the 

“Grey Wave” 

Fine tuning for a better service 

22 

Tech Head 

GS1 hears retailers on GS1 

DataBar 

GS1 XML v2.5 released 

ACMA’s 4 Watt ruling a win for 

EPC/RFID 

24 

Get Smart 

Masters students to get 

GS1 Australia Certification 

gs1 australia LiNK • ISSUE 20 • autumn 09 

GS1 Australia backs 

bushfire appeal 

University offers 

GS1 training for 

masters degrees 

GS1 XML v2.5 

released 

GS1 AUSTRALIA SERVICES GROUP 

PROFESSIONAL + INDEPENDeNT + FOCUSED 

GS1 Australia is the only organisation 

authorised by GS1 Global to allocate and 

administer GS1 Bar Code numbers in 

Australia. GS1 Australia adds value to its 

members’ businesses by promoting and 

developing the adoption of cross-sector, 

global supply chain standards. GS1 Australia 

delivers supply chain solutions and services 

for bar coding, electronic business messaging, 

global data synchronisation and Radio 

Frequency Identification technology (RFID). 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Editor Mary Riekert 

Project Manager Matthew Timoshanko 

Advertising and 

production Matthew Timoshanko 

Design Vetro Design 

PrintING RA Printing 

GS1 Australia 

Head Office 

Axxess Corporate Park 

100/45 Gilby Road 

Mount Waverley VIC 3149 

Sydney Office 

Lakes Business Park 

Building 4B, 2–4 Lord Street 

Botany NSW 2019 

National Number: 1300 366 033 

International Number: +61 3 9558 9559 

Fax: +61 3 9558 9551 

General Email: gs1aust@gs1au.org 

LiNK Email: editor@gs1au.org 

www.gs1au.org 

Implementing B2B Communities – 

An end to the headaches ! 

15 

Global News 

Spanish unveil intelligent 

shopping trolley 

Dutch choose GS1 Standards 

for bar coding 

16 

Healthcare 

Healthcare seminars keep 

members informed 

Get on board NPC, companies 

tell suppliers 

IT companies get healthcare 

snapshot 

WA Health, Baxter LIVE 

with NeHTA strategies 

25 

Guisi News 

Focus moves upstream with 

GUSI launch 

Alliance Partners 

26 

Markem-Imaje enhances 

SmartDate® 

5 thermal transfer coder 

New South Wales Department of 

Health deploys Sterling Commerce 

eProcurement solution 

Integrating RFID: The key issues 

Delivering management priorities 

for the supply chain

WELCOME 

Welcome to LiNK magazine 

Autumn 2009 edition 

maria 

palazzolo 

ceo 

gs1 

australia 

03 

32 

Chairman’s Message 

Delivering value during tough times 

Russell 

Stucki 

Chairman 

gs1 

australia 

We live in a world that is changing faster than we anticipated in every way. 

There is no doubt that 2009 is shaping up as a very difficult year economically 

for Australia even though our economy is faring better than many of our 

overseas counterparts. 

At GS1 Australia we understand that many of our members are being buffeted 

by the global economic downturn and the worsening economic climate, whether 

they are a large corporation or a small family-owned business. It is at times like 

this that we need to ensure the work we do for our members delivers real value. 

To this end we are working hard to reduce the “cost of doing business” right 

across the organisation. 

The restructured teams we have in place are re-evaluating the work they are 

doing and the services they offer to ensure they remain relevant to members’ 

needs. We have harnessed the power of the internet to ensure our members 

are kept up to date with regular eNewsletters, such as the GS1net update, and 

to get feedback on how we are doing. We have launched a new website 

to make it quick and easy for businesses to obtain a bar code number online 

and we continue to explore ways to improve our customer service. 

The future is full of opportunities and we want GS1 Australia to be in a strong 

position to make the most of these for our members, once we are through 

these challenging times.. 

CEO Insights 

GS1 Australia message of condolence 

As this edition of LiNK magazine goes to press, Victoria has come through a 

fire season that killed more than 200 people, razed some 2,000 homes and 

destroyed 450,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of land. GS1 Australia extends 

its deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones, their homes and 

their livelihoods as well as to those injured in the fires – our thoughts and 

prayers are with you all. 

Every Australian has been touched by this tragedy in some way and the 

tremendous response by our nation has been an inspiration to the rest of the 

world. The donation of money, goods and services has been overwhelming as 

has the volunteer support and I am proud that our GS1 employees rallied to 

the cause so promptly and so generously, raising funds for the Bushfire Relief 

Fund. (See page 19). GS1 Australia has been able to contribute to boost 

our donation and further fund-raising activities are being planned in both our 

Sydney and Melbourne offices. 

Overseas, our GS1 Member Organisations reacted to the terrible news with 

concern and messages of condolence and sympathy reached our offices within 

hours. It is wonderful at such a sad time to know that our friends around the 

world are thinking of us. 

All of us at GS1 Australia would like to pay a special tribute to the brave CFA 

volunteers and the emergency services workers who were in the frontline, 

risking their own lives to save others. 

In these difficult times GS1 Australia is ready to be of service to our members. 

In this issue we highlight the restructured GS1 Australia Services Group and 

how we have re-evaluated and reorganised our service offering in response to 

our members’ needs. Our team has energy, talent and fresh ideas and as 2009 

unfolds, they will be working with you, our members, to ensure the GS1 System 

is working for you.

QUICKSCAN 

04 

32 

HOTDATES 

The following 

dates outline 

the events 

leading up to 

WINTER 2009. 

Keep an eye out for 

further listings in the 

next edition of LiNK, or 

visit the GS1 Australia 

Events website at www. 

gs1au.org/events 

for current details on 

seminar dates, times 

and locations. 

April 2009 

01 GS1 Webinar – “How do I improve visibility on my supply chain using the GS1 System?” 

07 Knowledge Series 101 – An introduction to eMessaging and the EANCOM standards – Sydney 

15 GS1 Webinar – “How do I get started with the GS1 System?” 

May 2009 

05 Knowledge Series 101 – An introduction to GS1 DataBar – Melbourne 



19 Classroom Training – “An introduction to GS1 Numbers and Bar Codes” – Sydney 

21 Classroom Training – “An introduction to GS1 Numbers and Bar Codes” – Brisbane 


28 Classroom Training – “An introduction to GS1 Numbers and Bar Codes” – Melbourne 

June 2009 


16 Knowledge Series 101 – An introduction to eMessaging and the GS1 XML standards – Melbourne 


23 Knowledge Series 101 – An introduction to eMessaging and the GS1 XML standards – Sydney 

http://www.gs1au.org 

Don’t forget your turnover declaration 

GS1 Australia’s move to a turnover model last financial year has 

proved successful. Over 85 per cent of members now have a turnover 

recorded in the GS1 Australia administration system. 


As a result the fee model was able to be adjusted to have a lower entry 

level for small companies. 

GS1 Australia is appealing to all members to continue to submit their 

Membership Turnover Declaration form as soon as possible, or when they 

significantly alter their revenue year to year. 

Peter Chambers, General Manager – Customer Services, said members 

who submitted their turnover details in good time would be charged the 

appropriate membership fee for the new financial year. Non declaration 

of turnover may result in members being charged more than the fee 

commensurate with their company turnover and a subsequent administration 

fee to rectify. 

The form can be downloaded from the GS1 Australia website at 

www.gs1au.org/assets/documents/info/gs1_mship_turnover.pdf

VOX POP… 

Supply chain is their 

business but as journalists 

they are independent 

observers. We asked 

three editors of 

Australia’s leading 

supply chain and logistics 

magazines what they 

see as the TOp five supply 

chain trends in 2009. 

05 

32 

Anna Game-Lopata 

Editor 

Logistics Magazine and Packaging Magazine 

www.logisticsmagazine.com.au 

Jason Whittaker 

Managing Editor 

SupplyChain Review 

www.chainmail.com.au 

Charles Paulka 

Editor 

MHD Magazine and Transport & Logistics 

www.tandlnews.com.au 

1. Emissions reduction, ETS-measuring carbon 

footprint, carbon trading and finding ways to 

reduce environmental impact will remain the 

top talking points for 2009 in the transport 

and logistics industry. 

2. Globalisation: Coming to terms with the 

downturn and changes to the “length” and 

composition of the supply chain given the 

location of manufacturing and the need for 

on-time, on-budget delivery remain high on 

the agenda, especially as some organisations 

might choose local manufacturing as a 

means to reduce carbon footprint. 

3. Risk management: Globalisation, regional 

tensions, national disasters and increased 

counterfeit (or maybe better technology makes 

us more aware of it?) are putting pressure on 

companies to improve visibility and decrease 

risks to the supply chain. 

4. Managing costs in a balanced way to optimise 

inventory management, efficiency and customer 

service; in other words how to cut costs without 

compromising customer service (throwing the 

baby out with the bathwater). 

5. Procurement: Optimising outsourcing contracts/ 

supplier relationships and partnerships, contract 

management and transforming the procurement 

function to make it centralised and/or strategic 

rather than reactionary, i.e. raising the function 

above a “back-office admin” function will gain 

traction in the supply chain as absolutely key to 

efficiency and cost management. 

1. Cost reduction: The business operating 

environment is exceedingly tight and supply 

chain departments will be told to do their part. 

Cost control and leaner operating systems will 

be more important than ever. 

2. Emission reduction: The move to measure and 

cut emissions up and down supply chains will 

intensify, particularly as business prepares for 

the introduction of carbon trading. 

3. Procurement policy: Does sourcing from 

overseas still make sense when you factor in 

the carbon miles? Business will be forced to 

re-examine this. 

4. Recruitment: The skills shortage may ease due 

to the economic conditions, but that will only 

make it more important to get the BEST people 

in the right positions. 

5. Aid cooperation: The corporate social 

responsibility movement is gathering steam, 

and the skills of logisticians are, suddenly and 

unfortunately, in demand as flood and fire grip 

the nation. 

1. Consolidation: Some of the big players will get 

even bigger and swallow other big and medium 

enterprises that have overstretched themselves 

in the good times. Of the smaller players, 

only those with agility and unique points of 

difference will survive. 

2. Productivity: Automation and “smart” software 

will play a large part as companies seek to cut 

expenses to the bone, leading to retrenchments 

and higher workloads for remaining workers. 

3. Cooperation: “Coopetition” and mutually 

beneficial strategic relationships will become 

even more important as companies struggle for 

survival. 

4. Just-in-time to be reviewed: As part of the costsaving 

drive, companies will re-evaluate their 

supply chain management practices and review 

the cost of transport vs. inventory holding. 

5. Rationalisation: Retailers will cut the number 

of brands they carry in each category, and 

the range within the remaining brands, while 

expanding their own label product ranges.

GS1SERVICES 

John Hearn 

General Manager, GS1 

Australia Services Group 

06 

32 


GS1 Australia 

Services Group 

raises the bar 

During 2008 GS1 Australia reorganised its industry 

management and services delivery teams to be more 

responsive to members’ needs. In the summer edition 

of LiNK we focused on our Industry Management 

team and in this issue we highlight the new approach 

the Services Group is taking. 

GS1 Australia Services Group is made up of four teams each responsible 

for professional service offerings developed for GS1 Australia members. 

¤ Training Services provide classroom, workshop and web-based training 

courses and manage the GS1 Supply Chain Knowledge Centres in 

Sydney and Melbourne 

¤ Testing Services deliver GS1 Australia’s Barcode Testing Services, 

Barcode Accreditation Program and manage the GS1 Imaging Service 

¤ GS1net is GS1 Australia’s data synchronisation and electronic catalogue 

service for Australia and New Zealand 

¤ Professional Services has a team of expert project managers and 

advisors to assist GS1 members with supply chain implementation 

Heading the GS1 Australia 

Services Group since October 

2008, John is tasked with making 

services more responsive to 

members’ needs. 

Having worked in nearly all the 

roles his teams now deliver during 

his 12 years with GS1 Australia, 

John is ideally placed to manage 

this newly formed group. 

John joined GS1 Australia as an 

advisor in the Member & Industry 

Support team. He was given 

responsibility for the operation and 

development of GS1 Australia’s 

Data Synchronisation platform, 

EANnet in early 1999 and in 2000 

was appointed Chair of the EANnet 

v2.0 Grocery Industry Pilot group, 

which led the successful piloting 

and 2001 launch of EANnet v2.0. 

From 2002 to 2006, John was 

responsible for the development 

of the Professional Services team 

at GS1 Australia and managed the 

Business Development function, 

growing the adoption of GS1 

Australia’s services. He was then 

appointed General Manager – 

Member & Industry Support, for 

managing the Member Support 

team (help desk), the Industry 

Services team and the Corporate 

Account Management program. 

John is excited about a number 

of initiatives already under way, 

including the simplification of 

GS1net, the roll-out of the mobile 

bar code testing service, the new 

data quality services within the 

testing services department, a 

range of new training programs 

and the development of new 

consulting and implementation 

services focused on traceability 

and supply chain efficiency. 

John enjoys spending time with his 

wife and two children and in his 

spare time is kept busy maintaining 

his recently acquired one acre of 

garden. 

Camille Dreyfuss 

Education and Training 

Integrator 

A Parisienne at heart, Camille has 

been with GS1 Australia since 

2007 and has been instrumental 

in transforming and upgrading 

GS1 Australia’s education and 

training services both for members 

and for staff. She also lectures 

in supply chain management and 

the GS1 Standards at Australian 

universities. 

Cert IV qualified in Training and 

Assessment, Camille has built a 

range of key learning techniques 

into the GS1 Australia training 

courses and attendees love her 

delivery of technical information 

combined with humour and fun. 

Prior to joining GS1 Australia 

Camille spent four years at 

GS1 France working in industry 

management with a focus on 

traceability. She has a wealth of 

European industry experience 

having worked in quality 

departments in the French sugar 

industry. She has a Masters 

Degree in Structural Biochemistry 

and is a qualified Ingénieur 

agroalimentaire, France’s highest 

qualification in food technology. 

She has made the most of her 

time Down Under by traveling 

throughout Australia and the 

Pacific and has made several trips 

back home to Paris.

Paul Hackett 

Supply Chain Knowledge 

Centre Development Manager 

Paul has primary responsibility for 

the GS1 Australia Supply Chain 

Knowledge Centres in Sydney and 

Melbourne, and has enhanced their 

capability with new programs. The 

centres are used to demonstrate a 

live supply chain environment with 

full use of the GS1 System and 

Paul delivers much of the training 

in the Melbourne centre. 

He has been at GS1 Australia for 

more than five years and brings 

a wealth of hands-on industry 

experience to his role. Prior to 

joining GS1 Australia he spent 31 

years with Coles Myer working 

in almost every area of retailing, 

store management, IT, building, 

construction and maintenance, 

strategic planning and accounting 

and logistics. The last eight years 

he spent at Coles Myer he was 

General Manager of eCommerce. 

Like Camille, Paul is Cert 

IV qualified in Training and 

Assessment and his enhancements 

to the Supply Chain Knowledge 

Centre reflect the practical 

learnings achieved from his time at 

Coles Myer. 

In his spare time he plays grade 

tennis and is president of his local 

tennis club. He also enjoys longdistance 

running. 

John Lane 

Testing Services Manager 

John started with GS1 Australia 

in 1996 and is charged with 

managing the Bar Code Testing 

teams in Melbourne and Sydney 

as well as the Accreditation 

program. During this time, John 

has overseen the testing of more 

than a million bar codes. Widely 

respected within industry for his 

detailed technical and practical 

knowledge and advice, there isn’t 

a bar code issue that John hasn’t 

seen or helped resolve in his years 

at GS1 Australia. 

Prior to joining GS1 Australia John 

was Assistant Production Manager 

with a manufacturing company 

specialising in cable harnesses 

and 1.6/5.6 RF connectors. He 

began his working career as an 

electrician in 1976 and brings a 

solid knowledge of the world of 

industry to his role. 

When work permits John enjoys 

the Sydney surf and spending time 

with his family. He is also a keen 

bushwalker and is partial to a cold 

beer. 

Justin Middleton 

GS1net Technical Manager 

Justin has been with GS1 Australia 

for five and a half years and 

has seen EANnet develop into 

GS1net. He had a pivotal role in 

the migration from EANnet to 

GS1net and has now moved into a 

technical management role within 

the GS1net team. Justin’s technical 

team is responsible for supporting 

data recipients to adopt GS1net, 

managing the development and 

operation of the GS1net validator 

tool and the delivery of the GS1net 

Certified Product program. At 

GS1 Justin’s technical expertise is 

considered second to none. 

Married to an Aussie, Justin has 

lived in Australia for six years. 

Prior to this he spent five years 

working for Pepsi in the UK in a 

supply chain role. He also gained 

technical experience in supply 

chain eMessaging during the dot 

com boom. 

He enjoys spending time with his 

son, going to the gym and trying 

to see as much of Australia as 

possible. 

Sean Sloan 

GS1net Operations Manager 

Sean is responsible for overseeing 

the GS1net Client Services team 

and the overall administration of 

GS1net. Client Services’ primary 

role is to help suppliers achieve 

“GS1net Ready” status and to 

provide GS1net Help Desk support. 

Sean has been with GS1 Australia 

for two years and, before taking on 

his latest role, was a member of the 

Industry Management team. 

Prior to this he was Supply Chain 

Transformation Manager at Coles 

Group where he had a 20-year 

career. He managed the supplier 

uptake of GS1net (previously 

EANnet) at Coles Supermarkets as 

well as other eCommerce projects. 

Having spent seven years at Coles 

Group head office and another 13 

years in stores, he has a sound 

knowledge of retailing, from both 

an operational and a systems 

perspective. 

Sean plays golf and squash and 

enjoys being with his two children. 

Sunita Kewada 

Professional Services 

Manager 

Sunita has headed the 

“implementation arm” of GS1 

Australia since 2004 when she 

arrived in Australia from Zimbabwe. 

With primary responsibility for 

strategy and implementation 

consultancy services, Sunita 

manages a team of nine expert 

project managers and advisors in 

Sydney and Melbourne. 

Before emigrating to Australia 

she worked as a management 

consultant for Price Waterhouse 

Coopers in Harare and then ran 

her own management consulting 

business. 

Outside of work hours Sunita’s 

young daughter keeps her busy 

but she enjoys keeping fit and 

socialising with friends. 

07 

32

GS1 SERVICES 

08 

32 


Perfectly 

poi$ed to help 

in a 

downturn 

GS1 Australia’s members have access to an 

exceptional business resource, especially 

those looking for an edge during a downturn 

in the economy. 

While some businesses are dealing with 

redundancies and dismal balance sheets, 

others see this slowdown as an opportunity 

to put in place business processes and 

solutions that will give them a competitive 

advantage once the economy gets going 

again. 

GS1 Australia’s members seeking to improve internal business processes 

and automate their interaction with trading partners through the use of item 

identification, bar coding, eMessaging and data synchronisation standards 

and those seeking to comply with trading partner requirements, can take 

advantage of the expert project management, guidance and advice available 

from the GS1 Professional Services team at reduced cost compared to using 

major consulting firms. 

“In these tough economic times, a focus on reducing paperwork, removing 

unnecessary processes and costs, and implementing more efficient, accurate 

and timely business transactions can really help improve a company’s bottom 

line, and that is what implementing the GS1 Standards is all about” said John 

Hearn, General Manager GS1 Australia Services Group. 

GS1 Professional Services is 

the implementation arm of GS1 

Australia and, as part of a not-forprofit 

industry organisation, it works 

on a cost-recovery basis. 

The team of nine advisors has 

practical first-hand industry 

implementation experience in more 

than 13 industry sectors and can 

offer expert guidance and advice 

to ensure supply chain goals are 

achieved without costly mistakes 

along the way. They represent a 

wealth of knowledge gained over 

25 years or more of working with 

Australian businesses to improve 

their bottom line. 

Because GS1 Australia is 

neutral and independent, they 

can offer impartial strategy and 

implementation advice to ensure 

members implement solutions that 

work for all trading partners. 

“We offer a full service, starting 

with a review and analysis of your 

supply chain to building a business 

case for implementation of the 

GS1 System and establishing 

quantifiable business benefits this 

can deliver,” Professional Services 

Manager Sunita Kewada said. 

“We have made our methodology 

flexible to adapt it to different types 

and sizes of business and can 

offer high-level assistance, such 

as proof-of-concept development, 

or assist with the details of an 

implementation, whether it be 

project managing the various 

implementation tasks, right down 

to the detailed level of designing 

and mapping business processes, 

EDI messages, data extracts for 

synchronisation or even bar code 

labels,” she said. 

The GS1 Professional 

Services team has a range of 

implementation offerings to 

help members introduce data 

synchronisation using GS1net, 

implement bar code scanning 

techniques, pilot RFID/EPC 

initiatives or start trading using 

eMessaging (EDI / XML). “While 

we have a range of standard 

offerings” said Sunita, “we also 

offer highly customised project 

offerings to help our members 

implement the GS1 Standards”. 

GS1 Australia Professional 

Services also works closely with 

many of the 80 GS1 Australia 

Alliance Partners, companies 

offering solutions in software, 

hardware, eMessaging and 

consulting. By opting to use GS1 

Australia Professional Services, 

the competitive pressure many 

businesses face when dealing 

with multiple vendors is minimised 

and they can be sure that only 

GS1-compliant solutions will be 

recommended. 

“Members wanting to implement 

supply chain solutions are looking 

for maximum value and this is 

especially so during an economic 

slowdown. With a focus on 

delivering overall value to members 

looking for cost-effective ways to 

increase productivity and business 

efficiency, GS1 Professional 

Services represent excellent value,” 

Sunita said.

GS1 SERVICES 

Going “upstream” 

to train the trainers 

09 

Perhaps taking a leaf out GS1 Australia’s Global Upstream 

Supply Initiative (GUSI) project, Education and Training 

Integrator Camille Dreyfuss has moved upstream in the 

education supply chain – these days she is also training 

the trainers. 

Since joining GS1 Australia from GS1 France in 2007, Camille has been involved 

in making GS1 Australia training and education more comprehensive and more 

readily accessible to members, employees and students. As well as training the 

trainers, GS1 Australia offers a range of education options and training sessions 

direct to members and potential members, allowing them to obtain the supply 

chain education they need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Members can choose from four options: 

¤ Traditional face-to-face classroom training sessions run throughout the 

day to give new and existing members a better insight and understanding 

of the GS1 System. 

¤ Online courses for those members who find it difficult to travel to a 

classroom. An online training tool, GS1 LEARN allows members to take 

a series of courses on essential supply chain concepts and to study 

anywhere and at their own pace. 

¤ Webinars, GS1 Australia’s web-interactive training, a multimedia 

presentation connecting participants with a GS1 expert live via a 

telephone conference call, while following a presentation on the 

web page. 

¤ Knowledge Series 101 which offers a classroom-based format to 

deliver a deeper understanding on some of the specific GS1 Standards 

supporting electronic messaging, radio-frequency identification and 

other technologies. 

Cert IV qualified in Training and Assessment, Camille has designed GS1 

Australia’s range of training programs to cover a range of learning techniques, 

injecting her own sense of laughter and fun along the way to keep the 

audiences entertained while learning at the same time. 

Camille is also currently running 

a series of staff-training sessions 

based around a radio station 

concept. Dubbed GS1 FM – Your 

Learning Frequency, the program 

involves GS1 Australia employees 

in interactive sessions to update 

their knowledge on the GS1 

Standards as well as the work 

being done by their colleagues. “We 

want everyone who works at GS1 

Australia to have the necessary 

knowledge to be able to assist 

members,” Camille said. 

Students, as the supply chain 

professionals of the future, are also 

a key focus of the education team, 

and working with the program run 

in the Supply Chain Knowledge 

Centres, Camille runs two to 

three training sessions for tertiary 

students every month. 

While the students have responded 

enthusiastically, Camille could see a 

gap in the education strategy: Who 

is training the students’ trainers? 

“At university or TAFE the lecturers 

set the foundation and create 

lasting impressions on students, 

ensuring that they have the 

necessary skills set to succeed as 

supply chain professionals. 

“We needed to make sure that the 

lecturers had the most up-to-date 

information on the GS1 System 

and really understood the GS1 

Standards for numbering, bar coding 

and eMessaging,” she said. “Then 

they are in the best position to pass 

on this information to their students.” 

Commenting on the program 

Dr John Hopkins, Lecturer in 

Logistics at the Faculty of Business 

and Law, Victoria University, said: 

“I am currently developing a new VU 

undergraduate course which focuses 

on the key technologies in use in 

today’s supply chains, and I found the 

GS1 Facilitators’ course packed full 

of useful information and material 

that will be invaluable to the course 

development. 

“The knowledge gained will enable 

me to confidently relate to the 

students the importance of global 

standards for technologies such as 

bar codes and RFID. I also found 

the Knowledge Centre to be an 

excellent facility for simulating supply 

chain behaviour in a hands-on, fun, 

interactive environment,” he said. 

To date Camille has trained 10 

lecturers from Victoria University, 

Queensland University of Technology, 

Wollongong University, Swinburne 

University and the University of 

Melbourne. She plans to continue 

the rollout of the program inviting 

participants from the University of 

Western Sydney, Monash University 

and Chisholm TAFE – and that’s just 

for starters! 

32


10 

32 


Testing services 

save time, money and 

costly mistakes 

In the last financial year some 95,000 products were tested 

by GS1 Australia’s Bar code Testing service in Sydney and 

Melbourne to ensure they would scan correctly either at 

point of sale or in warehouse or non-retail environments. 

John Lane, Manager – Testing Services, GS1 Australia, said by using the 

testing service manufacturers and suppliers saved time and money and could 

build better relationships with their trading partners. 

“The major retailers are increasingly intolerant of products that cause 

scanning errors. Woolworths, Metcash and Coles have all made it a mandatory 

requirement for all items to obtain a successful GS1 Bar Code Test Report 

from our testing service before they will accept them. More recently Bunnings 

has also required all new products it accepts for sale to have a successful GS1 

Australia Bar Code Test Report. 

“Bar codes that don't scan properly can prove very expensive if the 

manufacturer has to have packaging redesigned and reprinted and items 

repackaged. Once members have obtained a bar code number they should 

visit the GS1 Australia website for information on bar code testing, a checklist 

on how to get the best out of the testing service and a testing request form,” 

he said. 

Due to the risk of deterioration in the quality of bar codes across subsequent 

print runs, suppliers should have their products tested every year to ensure 

they are compliant with retailers’ requirements, he added. 

GS1 Australia members receive 10 free bar code test reports each financial 

year, with additional reports charged at $25 per item (+ GST). GS1 Australia 

Single Number Members receive one free bar code test report per financial 

year, with additional reports charged at $25 per item (+ GST) and non 

members are charged a flat fee of $80 per bar code test report (+ GST). 

For more information on bar code testing visit 

http://www.gs1au.org/services/barcode_testing/ 

Images, 

Images 

everywhere… 

From vacuum-packed cabbages to tubes of lip-gloss, 

GS1 Australia’s imaging service photographs 

thousands of products every year. 

When presenting a new product to GS1 Australia for bar code testing, or by 

specific request, members are able to make use of GS1 Australia’s product 

imaging service, as well as product measurement and recording in GS1's data 

pool, GS1net. 

With industry agreement, standard image specifications have been designed 

to assist retailers in shelf-space management, as well as online product 

presentations. They can also be used for other purposes such as electronic 

cataloguing. GS1 Australia captures product images digitally, using views from 

a variety of orientations to match industry space-management specifications. 

The images are stored on GS1net and additionally transmitted to clients via 

email or on CD-ROM depending on the size of the files. Members who have 

registered for access to GS1net can source their product images from the 

online catalogue, but also download any of the thousands of other online 

images of “publicly available” products on GS1net . 

GS1 Australia members are charged $20 per GTIN for imaging and non 

members pay $50 per GTIN. Up to four orientations (images) are taken for 

each GTIN depending on the nature of the product. 

Imaging technician and designer Francisco Gerente says he has faced some 

challenges, especially when photographing reflective foil packaging or dealing 

with leaking jars of herrings. “Over the many years of imaging I have seen all 

types of products, from children’s toys, to packaged antipasto, beauty products 

and even boxes of lawn seed,” he said. 

Product measurements adhere to the measuring guidelines developed by the 

Food Marketing Institute/Grocery Manufacturers of America Measurement 

sub-committee. 

Correct measurements cannot be taken if the packaging is not complete, if it is 

damaged, or if the absence of contents in any way alters the product's actual 

dimensions. 

When sending products in to GS1 Australia suppliers should submit products 

as they would appear on the shelf so accurate product dimensions can be 

recorded. 

Digital imaging specifications are available from the GS1 Australia website at 

http://www.gs1au.org/membership/digital_imaging.asp

Knowledge 

centres 

fight the 

“Grey Wave” 

11 

32 

The “Grey Wave” is something GS1 Australia’s 

Supply Chain Knowledge Centre Development 

Manager Paul Hackett has been doing a lot of 

thinking about lately. 

Business management boffins have 

forecast we are about to see an 

unprecedented brain drain when the 

baby boomer generation heads into 

retirement and have dubbed this 

phenomenon the “Grey Wave”. Paul 

estimates that up to 60 per cent of 

Australia’s supply chain managers 

will be of retiring age in the next eight 

to 10 years and he is on a mission 

to make sure the next generation is 

there to step into their shoes. 

GS1 Australia’s supply chain 

knowledge centres in Sydney and 

Melbourne were created as a 

showcase for the demonstration 

of the latest in supply chain theory 

and practice and to be able to 

demonstrate the full system of GS1 

Standards in the context of the entire 

supply chain. “We wanted to present 

a vision of what going beyond 

customer compliance could look 

like and to show what supply chain 

integration and collaboration are, 

and how to achieve them,” Paul said. 

Last financial year 2,643 visitors 

attended the two centres and at the 

time of going to press some 1,813 

had visited this financial year and 

Paul was expecting to host more 

than 3,000 people by the end of 

June this year. While industry groups, 

members, Alliance Partners and 

GS1 staff make up part of this group, 

some 52 per cent are students. 

Paul explained that GS1 Australia 

had a three-tier education strategy 

in the two centres. “We work with 

members who haven’t used any 

of the GS1 System other than 

obtaining a bar code and we show 

them how they can use all parts of 

the GS1 System in their business. 

“Secondly, we work with companies 

that have implemented parts of the 

GS1 System but could increase 

their efficiencies through wider 

application. Our third tier is working 

with the supply chain professionals 

of tomorrow to educate them about 

who GS1 Australia is, what we 

do and why the use of the GS1 

Standards is important,” he said. 

“We see it as being of real value 

to our membership as we are 

developing their supply chain and 

logistics employees of the future.” 

Now Paul has developed a fourth 

tier to this education strategy – 

teaching supply chain and logistics 

to students in Years 10, 11 and 

12 in a range of schools across 

Victoria and New South Wales. This 

has required a whole new approach 

and Paul has introduced a program 

of interactive games and lessons 

to teach concepts such as supply 

chain, which can be difficult to grasp. 

He also leads discussions on 

the wide range of career options 

available from strategic sourcing 

and category management to 

procurement and business analysis. 

He also sees the need to battle the 

perception that a career in logistics 

is not prestigious. “This seems 

to be prevalent among students’ 

parents who often direct them in 

their career choices. GS1 Australia 

would like to become more involved 

with career days at universities and 

TAFEs to change this perception,” 

Paul said.


12 

32 

Fine tuning 

a better 


Following feedback 

from members using 

the GS1net data 

synchronisation service, 

GS1 Australia has put 

into action a range 

of initiatives to make 

GS1net easier to use 

and more accessible. 

Sharing accurate data 

GS1net is GS1 Australia’s data 

synchronisation service for Australia 

and New Zealand. In simple 

terms it is a database of product 

specifications maintained by GS1 

Australia on behalf of its members 

who are retailers and manufacturers 

or suppliers. 

Suppliers need to share product 

information with retailers to ensure 

that the supply chain operates 

effectively and that their products 

reach consumers. Retailers require 

product information from their 

suppliers to drive many areas of 

their business, for instance, new 

product introductions, warehousing, 

distribution and in-store systems. 

In the past this sharing of 

information has been done largely 

in a manual way, through emails, 

faxes and telephone calls. However, 

this can be costly, error prone and 

inefficient. 

By using GS1net suppliers 

and retailers can easily share 

information with their trading 

partners both in Australia and 

around the world. To make sure 

everyone is speaking the same 

“language”, information in the 

GS1net data pool is based on 

global standards. 

GS1 Australia led the way globally 

in developing such data pools 

with the inception of EANnet v2 

in 2001. EANnet developed into 

GS1net to meet the requirements 

of the Global Data Synchronisation 

Network (GDSN). This allows 

accurate data to be shared securely 

around the world between suppliers, 

wholesalers, retailers and other data 

recipients through a global registry. 

Today GS1net has more than 

1,400 GS1net registered users 

across Australasia in industries that 

range from grocery and liquor to 

healthcare and hardware. 

Challenges 

While the migration from EANnet 

to the GS1net service brought 

benefits, feedback from members 

alerted GS1 Australia to the 

fact that it had also added some 

complexity and challenges for 

GS1net users. To address these 

issues GS1 Australia is putting into 

action a range of initiatives to make 

the service more user-friendly. 

John Hearn, General Manager – 

GS1 Australia Services Group, who 

will oversee this project, has had 

extensive experience in building 

and operating EANnet over the last 

10 years. He is supported by Sean 

Sloan, GS1net Operations Manager,

for 

service 

13 

32 

who managed the supplier uptake 

of GS1net at Coles Supermarkets 

prior to joining GS1 Australia two 

years ago, and Justin Middleton, 

GS1net Technical Manager, an 

expert GS1net resource with whom 

many GS1net users liaise frequently. 

The project will be backed by GS1 

Australia’s Professional Services, 

Data Pool Systems and Client 

Services teams. 

As a first step the GS1net team 

has introduced a regular email 

communication “Essential Updates” 

to communicate important 

information and developments with 

all GS1net users. 

The GS1net improvements currently 

being designed or implemented are: 

¤ Reduced Data Requirements 

Both Metcash and Coles 

Group have reviewed their 

implementations of GS1net, 

and agreed to reduce their data 

requirements by more than 50 

per cent of the fields. This will 

be of significant benefit to all 

suppliers trading with Coles or 

Metcash. 

¤ Hiding Unused Fields 

Any fields not being used 

at all by any sectors or data 

recipients will now be hidden 

from the screens to reduce the 

size and scale of data screens. 

¤ Pricing Management 

The online pricing screens 

will be significantly enhanced 

to provide more enriched 

information and allow for 

more comprehensive price 

management. This initiative 

will reduce confusion and the 

number of navigations for 

suppliers and data recipients 

when using the online interface 

to check their pricing data. 

¤ Auto Item Publishing 

The concept of publishing item 

hierarchies will be simplified 

to introduce logic that checks 

if prices have been quoted 

for a trading partner and 

then ensuring this data is 

automatically published. This 

will remove the problems 

associated with successfully 

loading your data, but forgetting 

to publish the items. 

¤ Multiple Open Prices 

Data recipients have identified 

the occurrence of multiple 

open prices as a major 

issue, so system logic will 

be implemented to ensure 

that suppliers first end date 

their existing prices before 

submitting new pricing data. 

This will significantly reduce 

integration issues and data 

recipient support requirements. 

¤ Automating Fields 

Where possible any fields that 

can be calculated or automated 

based on other inputted 

information will be programmed 

to be sent outbound to data 

recipients without the need for 

suppliers to maintain or supply 

these fields of information. 

This will simplify the catalogue 

item maintenance process for 

suppliers. 

¤ Improved Browser User 

Template 

A range of improvements are 

being made to the browser user 

template (Excel template) to 

make it easier to use by hiding 

fields or defaulting values 

based on user configurable 

information. GS1 Australia will 

also be investigating a second 

phase of enhancements to the 

browser template to further 

enhance it’s useability. 

¤ Training 

A range of new webinar 

training sessions will have been 

launched with different training 

sessions being held weekly. 

These sessions will complement 

the existing classroom or 

project-specific training options 

offered by our Professional 

Services team. 

¤ Documentation 

A comprehensive user 

“cookbook” is being developed 

to consolidate much of the 

existing user documentation, 

facts sheets, definitions, 

examples, learnings and 

additional guidelines of 

use. This easy-to-read, yet 

comprehensive tool will be 

launched in early May 2009. 

For more information about GS1net 

and how using it can benefit your 

business, contact Sean Sloan, 

GS1net Operations Manager, on 

1300 366 033 or via email sean. 

sloan@gs1au.org


14 

32 

Implementing B2B 

Communities – 

An end to the headaches ! 

Are you a retailer, wholesaler or ANOTHER organisation 

that has been trying to roll out new B2B eMessaging with 

a group of suppliers, but each individual implementation 

is taking significant resourcing and getting you bogged 

down in testing, mapping issues and problem diagnosis? 

Well GS1 Australia has a solution … the Community 

Management Tool (CMT). 

The CMT offers the ability for retailers, wholesalers or any organisation seeking 

to implement eMessaging with a trading community to load the CMT with their 

EDI or XML messaging standards. Suppliers can then log in and download 

sample files, specific to the supplier, such as Purchase Orders or Remittance 

Advices to use in their implementation testing. 

Suppliers can then send back to the CMT test eMessages such as Purchase 

Order Acknowledgements or Dispatch Advices (ASNs) providing an online 

diagnosis as to whether they have structured their eMessaging correctly. 

The CMT service is web based and accessible via the GS1 Australia website 

at www.gs1au.org and allows each partner to conduct testing and validation of 

test messages independent of the other partners. 

A significant benefit of an online solution for testing is that it is available 24 

hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year allowing members total 

flexibility. 

The site incorporates trading document descriptions for each community 

and the ability for each major trading partner to include within the library of 

Message Implementation Guidelines (MIGs) its own specific trading messages 

should this be a requirement. It includes traditional-based Electronic Data 

Interchange (EDI) syntax (e.g. UN/EDIFACT) as well as XML syntax or 

GS1 XML. 

Another key feature of the Community Management Tool is that each supplier’s 

milestone steps are tracked, allowing the trading hub visibility of the progress of 

their community and allocating resources for live implementation based on the 

volume of suppliers successfully progressing through the implementation steps. 


Upon completion of testing and validation a trading partner (supplier) is 

certified as an electronic trading partner via electronic confirmation to the retail 

trading partner. 

For more information on the CMT contact Marcel Sieira or any member of the 

Business Development team at GS1 Australia on 1300 366 033.

Global news 

Spanish unveil 

intelligent 

shopping trolley 

15 

32 

With the goal of improving efficiency within the supply 

chain and retail business, GS1 Spain has developed an 

“intelligent” shopping trolley, dubbed the Grocer. This 

radio frequency identification equipment, which uses the 

EPC standard, can provide the consumer a revolutionary 

“shopping experience”. 

The cart is equipped with an RFID reader, an antenna and a touch-screen 

that allows the consumer to interact with the system sending and receiving 

information. 

With this system in place consumers can always know the exact price of the 

product that has been placed inside the cart, as well as the total cost of their 

purchases. They can also receive information about promotions, access receipts 

and a list of the needed ingredients for a particular recipe, or just find the 

fastest way through the store to reach a selected product. 

Grocer allows companies to offer more information and a much more 

customised service to the consumer, as well as allowing improved inventory 

optimisation, a more effective marketing strategy and a means to increased 

consumer loyalty. 

Dutch choose GS1 Standards for bar coding 

Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU) has 

chosen to implement the GS1 Standards to increase patient 

safety and to improve supply chain efficiency. 

The NFU, comprised of members of the eight Boards of Governors of the 

university medical centres in the Netherlands, has decided to implement 

structural improvements, leveraging the international system of GS1 Standards. 

Over the last few years, the Dutch university medical centres have been 

investigating a suitable bar coding system. It appears that bar coding is used in 

multiple places in a hospital, to improve the safety and efficiency of processes, 

but there is no consistency between the different departments within a hospital, 

nor between hospitals. The final targets, that is, improved patient safety and 

efficiency, are therefore only being partially achieved. 

Hans Lunenborg, Senior Advisor Healthcare GS1 Netherlands, said: “To realise 

substantial improvements, an open system of multi-sectorial and cross-border 

bar coding standards is needed. The GS1 System of Standards enables 

improvements to various processes, including, for example, traceability of 

implants. Patient safety improvements are enabled through the global GS1 

Standards. This is also a call to action to all other healthcare providers and 

hospitals. Working with standards only truly works if all involved stakeholders 

adopt these standards”.

16 

32 


healthcare 

Healthcare 

seminars keep 

members 

informed 

This year a series of seminars will continue to keep GS1 

Australia members informed about the transformation of 

the healthcare supply chain. 

Both the global and Australian healthcare sectors are constantly developing 

their use of the GS1 System. In Australia, the National eHealth Transition 

Authority (NeHTA), the state and territory health jurisdictions and members 

of the private healthcare sector are working to ensure improved patient safety 

and supply chain efficiency. 

GS1 Australia, with NeHTA and the state health jurisdictions, has run a 

healthcare seminar in Sydney this month and plans further seminars in other 

states in the coming months. These seminars are a continuation of the series 

run in 2008. Each seminar is divided into a free morning session and an 

optional training session on the National Product Catalogue at $250 per 

person excluding GST (a cost-recovery only rate). 

Using practical examples and case studies, as well as theory, the seminars 

aim to provide a global and national view of healthcare as well as the current 

use of the GS1 System within the healthcare sector. Topics discussed will 

cover all aspects of the GS1 System and its use in Australian and international 

healthcare, including GS1 identification, data synchronisation 

and eProcurement. 

Optional NPC Introductory Group Training. Training will be held for those 

suppliers seeking an overview of the NPC. This session is a general 

introduction to the NPC and includes: 

¤ An NPC overview 

¤ How to start your NPC project 

¤ NPC key concepts and terminologies 

¤ Steps to “Becoming NPC Ready and NPC Live”. 

For more information on upcoming seminars contact Tania Snioch or 

Karen Moritz on 1300 366 033 or email tsnioch@gs1au.org and 

karen.moritz@gs1au.org. 

Get on board 

NPC, companies 

tell suppliers 

Some of Australia’s leading private hospitals, healthcare 

retailers and wholesalers have called on their suppliers 

to begin using the National Product Catalogue (NPC). 

National Product Catalogue (NPC), which is hosted on GS1net, is a data 

synchronisation system that is used for new product introductions or product 

and price changes. As well as being a key enabler for paperless electronic 

trading, the implementation of the NPC delivers a number of additional 

business benefits, including: 

¤ Better overall data integrity 

¤ A foundation for patient safety initiatives such as the National eHealth 

Transition Authority’s (NEHTA) Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) 

¤ A foundation for other eCommerce initiatives such as NEHTA’s 

eProcurement strategy 

¤ Improvement of the overall supply chain, and business efficiencies including, 

reduction in invoice error rates and claims, reduced cost errors on purchase 

orders and reduced out-of-stock and better inventory management 

Advantage Pharmacies, Cabrini Health, Clifford Hallam Healthcare (CH2), 

hTrak and National Pharmacies have all begun work on becoming NPC 

data recipients, expanding the scope of the NPC from the public sector to 

encompass the private sector, and have urged their suppliers to use the system. 

“Growth in the number of data recipients using the NPC is a key focus of 

GS1 Australia’s as it means suppliers can use this tool across multiple trading 

partners within the public and private health systems. The GS1net team 

are committed to helping all parties involved in the NPC to ensure it can be 

optimised and that companies involved can realize the true benefits” says 

Sean Sloan, GS1net Operations Manager. 

Suppliers wanting more information on the NPC and GS1net should contact 

Sean Sloan on 03 9550 3492 or email him on sean.sloan@gs1au.org.

IT companies get 

healthcare snapshot 

The GS1 Healthcare User Group (HUG) Australasia is rolling 

out a program of free information sessions for supply 

chain solution providers to provide them with a snapshot 

of the supply chain transformation taking place in the 

Australian and New Zealand healthcare sectors. 

Meetings have been held in Sydney and Melbourne with speakers from 

South Australia Health, New South Wales Helath, National eHealth Transition 

Authority (NeHTA), GS1 Australia and GS1 New Zealand outlining industry 

expectations as well as explaining how GS1 standards-enabled solutions can 

deliver benefits. 

“The health supply chain has undergone some significant changes and now, 

due to economic climate, the supply chain management model needs to catch 

up to other industries which have long enjoyed the efficiencies associated with 

the adoption of a GS1 standards-based model,” HUG Australasia Chair, Chief 

Information Officer from CH2, Ged Halstead said. 

“On numerous occasions at HUG meetings there has been a sense that 

we need to get the message across to our solution provider partners about 

what we, ‘the industry’ would like their role to be in facilitating industries 

requirements for both system and process compliance. 

“Many of us thought our IT solution providers needed to do some more 

leading, so that when suppliers commenced their journey of GS1 standards 

implementation they would achieve some sort of head start from their partners. 

The fundamental reason for these sessions is to provide the solution providers 

with the knowledge required so they can help lead and direct with both their 

product offerings as well as their service offering,” Mr Halstead said. 

Tania Snioch, GS1 Australia Industry Manager – Healthcare, said further 

engagement with healthcare solution providers was planned and solution 

providers who would like more information should contact her on 

1300 366 033 or email her at tania.snioch@gs1au.org 

WA Health, 

Baxter LIVE with 

NeHTA strategies 

WA Health has implemented the NeHTA eProcurement 

solution developed for Australian governments’ health 

purchasing. 

The solution was kicked off with Health Corporate Network (HCN), a shared 

corporate service providing human resource, finance and supply services to WA 

Health, and global medical products and services company, Baxter Healthcare. 

Robyn Richmond, Manager Strategic Development, HCN said eProcurement 

was key to improving efficiencies in government health purchasing. “NeHTA’s 

eProcurement solution provides significant efficiencies in the sector, which is 

also an important step in meeting the eHealth requirement for unique product 

identifiers, which impacts safety and quality outcomes in patient care,” she said. 

The NeHTA eProcurement solution recommends best-practice methods of 

transacting using established standards such as GS1 XML messaging. It relies 

heavily on clean, uniquely identified, product data held in NeHTA’s National 

Product Catalogue (NPC). The NPC is the primary source of purchasing data 

for all health departments in Australia and is hosted on GS1 Australia’s data 

synchronisation service GS1net. 

NeHTA Chief Executive, Peter Fleming, said that the eProcurement solution is 

an example of the kind of collaboration required to make eHealth a reality for 

Australia. “It’s great to see the public and the private sector working together to 

achieve common goals. The eProcurement solution will present efficiencies for 

all involved,” he said. 

Baxter Healthcare was one of the first suppliers to populate the NPC and is 

now the first company to trade electronically with any state or territory using 

the NeHTA eProcurement solution. 

Ken Nobbs, Program Manager – Medical Products, NeHTA, maintains that by 

using a single procurement solution for health supply purchasing, huge safety 

and quality improvements and cost efficiencies will be realised across the 

sector. 

“A standardised catalogue like the NPC reduces the chance of introducing 

erroneous data into these transactions and the errors and costs these cause” 

he said. “This is particularly important in the healthcare supply chain where 

getting the right products at the right place and time can be critical to ensuring 

quality patient treatment,” said Mr Nobbs. 

Looking ahead HCN is now planning to work closely with other suppliers that 

have populated the NPC to engage in system-to-system transacting through 

the NEHTA eProcurement solution. 

17 

32

YEAR IN 

REVIEW 

18 

32 


Report highlights a year of 

achievements 

The GS1 Australia Year in Review 2008 is now available for GS1 Australia members and can 

be downloaded from the GS1 Australia website. In the organisation’s 30th year, the report 

highlights GS1 Australia’s significant milestones in three decades as well as taking an 

in-depth look at what has been achieved in 2008. 

“While we are delighted to highlight our achievements over 2008, this report also gives us a great opportunity to focus on 

our members, their businesses and what GS1 Australia can do for them,” GS1 Australia CEO Maria Palazzolo said. 

Grocery 

• In 2008 the Australia Upstream Working 

Group project was completed. This 

project undertaken by the Australian 

Food and Grocery Council, GS1 Australia 

and key fast-moving consumer goods 

(FMCG) manufacturers and suppliers, will 

lead to the implementation of global 

standards upstream in the Australian 

FMCG sector. This was part of the Global 

Upstream Supply Initiative (GUSI) which 

aims to implement the GS1 standards 

at the head of the supply chain with 

packaging and raw material suppliers. 

• This year as part of its campaign to 

educate members about the launch of GS1 

DataBar, GS1 Australia conducted a series 

of information sessions for retailers. These 

sessions focused on informing retailers on 

the changes they must make to be able 

to scan the new bar codes from 2010. 

• A brochure outlining the benefits of 

GS1 DataBar and details about the 

implementation of systems to scan 

was released in October 2008. 

• GS1 Australia published an Efficient 

Consumer Response/GS1 Dimensioning 

Guide for accurate product measurements 

of item and trade units to assist companies 

using GS1net. In addition GS1 Australia held 

information sessions about dimensioning 

and GS1net in Melbourne and Sydney. 

Fresh Produce 

• In 2008 GS1 Australia continued to work 

with Australia’s fresh produce industry to 

develop the standards to implement GS1 

DataBar for traceability at point of sale. 

Because these new bar codes can carry 

more product information, they can be 

used in fresh produce traceability systems. 

Meat 

18 

• A Meat Industry survey conducted over nine 

months for meat export establishments 

shows that over 90 per cent of companies 

are GS1 capable. This is especially significant 

as just 10 years ago GS1 standards 

were not being used in this sector. 

• In 2008 a Meat Industry website, hosted 

by Meat and Livestock Australia, was 

launched providing information on how 

to implement the GS1 standards for 

numbering, bar coding and eMessaging 

for the red meat supply chain. 

• The Australian Pork industry also 

launched a website explaining how 

the pork supply chain works and the 

importance of using the GS1 standards. 

36 

SUPPORTING OUR 

MEMBERS THROUGH 

CUSTOMER SERVICE 

General Merchandise 

Apparel 

• In 2008 GS1 Australia conducted a series 

of industry working group meetings with 

the apparel industry towards implementing 

the GS1 standards of numbering and 

bar coding, eMessaging and data 

synchronisation throughout the sector. 

• GS1 Australia and industry members have 

established a GS1net data set mode for 

apparel which can be leveraged to publish 

master data to retailers. 

Books 

• GS1 Australia has had ongoing dialogue with 

the Australian book industry on how the GS1 

System can enhance the book supply chain. 

Office Products 

• In 2008 GS1 Australia met with industry 

members to address data synchronisation 

in this sector and to leverage the work that 

has been done by GS1 New Zealand. 

WORKING WITH 

OUR NEIGHBOURS 

Following extensive research 

among our membership base, 

in 2008 GS1 Australia put in place 

a number of steps to make our 

memberships more accessible 

to small and medium-sized 

businesses and to be cost 

effective for all businesses. 

• From 1 February 2008 we expanded 

our offering to SMEs by increasing our 

Single Number Membership to provide 

up to five individually allocated bar 

code numbers (GTINs) under licence. 

• From 1 July 2008 GS1 membership fees 

are based solely on the annual turnover 

of companies. This new structure resulted 

in most members paying lower annual 

fees. Turnover is deemed to be the 

aggregate Australian based revenue of 

your organisation including all related 

companies for a 12-month period, regardless 

of the number of products utilising the 

GS1 System. For Government and statutory 

organisations, revenue includes income 

from the sale of products and services as 

well as any Government appropriations, 

contributions, subsidies or other 

Government distributions and funding. 

Transport and Logistics 

• In 2008 GS1 Australia chaired the Business 

Systems Partner Reference Group, as part 

of a larger industry round table group, 

convened by the Victorian Government 

to examine projects to improve supply 

chain practices and processes. 

Music and Entertainment 

• GS1 Australia continued to engage with 

businesses in this sector in 2008 and 

welcome further participation in 2009. 

GS1 Australia is committed to 

working with our neighbours in the 

Asia-Pacific region to develop trade 

supported by the GS1 System. 

While the region is being buffeted 

by the global economic crisis, the 

GS1 standards remain a constant. 

• The members’ licence agreement was revised 

and updated to reflect these changes. 

• To provide payment flexibility, GS1 Australia 

also introduced part-payment plans for 

membership fees in 2008. In addition we 

introduced a direct debit facility for all 

payments to GS1 (not just annual renewals). 

• Members who chose to use this direct 

debit facility for fees received a 6 per cent 

discount. In addition, we introduced a 

10-day preview period for any invoice that 

is debited directly to ensure businesses 

are aware the debit is about to be made. 

This direct debit option has been taken up 

by 10 per cent of our membership base. 

• As at December 31, GS1 Australia had 

1056 new members, a 40 per cent increase 

against expectations. Of those, 31.5 per 

cent joined as single-number members. 

• We are committed to providing Internetbased 

customer self-service for our members 

and in 2008 we continued our work in 

developing a members’ portal. 

The Benefits of Working with GS1 

Australia 

GS1 Australia was created to help Australian 

businesses become more efficient and effective 

through the use of the GS1 System and 

best practice supply chain management. 

• The GS1 System reduces costs and saves 

time by eliminating paperwork, and 

increasing accuracy and efficiency through 

management of the entire supply chain. 

• At every step of the supply chain trading 

partners can synchronise their product 

data and gain secure access to product 

information including specific trading 

partner terms and pricing, product 

availability, release dates and promotional 

campaigns, packaging dimensions and 

imaging for shelf-space management. 

• Increased accuracy of orders and 

improved delivery times with new 

products in stores more quickly. 

• We take pride in playing a leadership 

role in the region and enjoy sharing our 

knowledge and expertise with other GS1 

Member Organisations. In 2008 we won 

a GS1 Mentoring Award in recognition 

of our work supporting the region. GS1 

Australia CEO Maria Palazzolo was presented 

with the award at the GS1 General 

Assembly in Dubrovnik in May 2008 

• In October 2008 GS1 Australia welcomed 

representatives from 19 GS1 Member 

Organisations to the GS1 Asia Pacific 

Regional Forum in Melbourne. 

Our dedicated Customer Service team provides 

a range of membership services including: 

• Expert advice on GS1 System implementation 

• Assistance on how to apply 

bar codes and numbers 

• Helpdesk support on GS1 System 

queries and assistance from technical 

and industry-specific experts 

• Allocation and processing of all 

GS1 numbers to members 

• Handling of all retail scan data for 

recovery and retention purposes 

• Data cleansing 

• Improved product visibility, improved 

inventory information and secure pricing 

information that is available only to 

supplier-nominated trading partners. 

• Effective traceability and reduced 

opportunity for counterfeiting. 

• By using the GS1 tools, all members can 

participate regardless of their size or the 

IT team supporting their business. 

• The visitors were from China, including 

Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, 

Korea, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, 

Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, 

Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam. 

• Miguel Lopera, President and CEO of 

GS1, and members of the GS1 Global 

Office also attended the forum. 

• The conference, which focused on a 

Common Vision for Success, was an 

opportunity for participants to hear about 

and be inspired by the work Member 

Organisations were doing to promote the 

use of the GS1 standards in their countries. 

Member Profile 

Units of measure are a big 

challenge in our industry. However, 

the GS1 System can manage this issue 

if it is used correctly and used with 

compliance. 

 

Ged Halstead 

Chief Information Officer 

CH2 (Clifford Hallam Healthcare) 

Dandenong, Victoria 

Clifford Hallam Healthcare Pty Ltd (CH2) is 

Australia’s largest wholesaler and distributor 

of healthcare products and services with 900 

suppliers from around the world. They are live 

with GS1 standards for Electronic Data Interchange 

(EDI) with seven suppliers as well as 

numerous customers, and have implemented 

vendor managed inventory with a leading Melbourne 

hospital and are working to extend this 

to other Australian hospitals. Within their warehouses, 

GS1 Bar Codes are used for scan picking. 

“Getting the right product on the right shelf at 

the right time can be done, but you have to start 

building capable business processes based on 

the GS1 System,” Ged said. 

Member Profile 

When we began supplying major 

supermarkets we had to have GTINs 

at pallet level and at carton level. 

Then 18 months ago we introduced our 

retail range, e Fresco, and we needed 

bar codes on products. The GS1 Bar Code 

verification service helped us get it 

right from the start. 

 

Michele Pizza 

Director 

Pronte e Fresco, Broadmeadows 

Pronto e Fresco, a privately owned company 

producing Italian-style antipasto, has grown 

from small beginnings into a successful business 

with an $18 million turnover. It distributes its 

products nationally through 27 distributors and 

exports to New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, 

Malaysia and the US. While the business receives 

orders electronically it is set to take the next 

steps in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and 

to implement the GS1 System throughout its 

supply chain. 

• Other topics under discussion included 

the role of GS1 in the future, what kind 

of organisation GS1 wanted to become 

and what it would be like in 2018. 

• Conference delegates also had an 

opportunity to hear from GS1’s global office 

about projects in other regions as well 

as those being done on a global scale. 

• A number of delegates stayed on after 

the forum to attend Impetus 2008 

taking home a wealth of information 

from the two-day conference. 

Significant goals achieved 

in 2008 include: 

¤ The migration of members to 

the GS1net data synchronisation 

service and the decommissioning 

of EANnet. We restructured our 

industry and service teams to 

provide a more flexible range 

of services and benefits and 

our Industry Management team 

continued to forge strong bonds 

with diverse industry sectors 

through working groups and 

industry associations 

¤ The reorganisation of the GS1 

Australia Services Group and 

the Industry Management team 

to be more responsive to our 

members’ needs 

¤ A major focus on data accuracy 

for our dimensioning and 

verification services 

¤ The refining of GS1 Australia’s 

education and training offering 

¤ The signing of a significant number 

of Memoranda of Understanding 

with Australian universities and 

tertiary institutions 

¤ Hosting a successful Asia 

Pacific Forum for GS1 Member 

Organisations in the region 

¤ A new fee structure which resulted 

in some 55 per cent of GS1 

Australia membership paying less 

for services 

¤ Changes in the way we licensed 

bar code numbers to accommodate 

small and medium business 

members 

¤ Improved levels of customer service 

to meet members’ requirements. 

The report also covers GS1 Australia’s 

program to reduce its environmental 

footprint, volunteer work GS1 Australia 

employees have been involved in with 

community projects and the work 

being done within the Alliance Partner 

Program. 

To view the Year in Review 2008 online 

visit www.gs1au.org.

ushfire 

appeal 

GS1 gets 

behind 

Bushfire 

Appeal 

GS1 Australia has responded to the fatal 

Victorian bushfires by raising $5,000 for 

the bushfire appeal. 

The fires on 7 February, now known as Black Saturday, took the lives of 

173 people and destroyed some 2,000 homes, then continued to burn across 

the state displacing thousands more Victorians. The state government set up 

the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund in partnership with the Australian 

Government and Red Cross to support communities impacted by the fires. 

Shocked Australians responded with donations of food, clothing and money. 

Staff at GS1 Australia in Melbourne and Sydney organised fund-raising 

barbecues, an auction of wine, a Shrove Tuesday pancake day and office 

games to raise a total of $5,000. 

Meanwhile GS1 Member Organisations contacted GS1 Australia with 

messages of condolence and concern. “As our thoughts and prayers go out 

to the victims of the terrible tragedy that has fallen on some of the devastated 

people of Victoria, it’s good to know that we are being thought of from other 

parts of the world,” CEO Maria Palazzolo said. 

“I just heard the terrible news about Victoria’s fires. I am very sorry for your 

country.” Miguel Lopera, GS1 CEO 

“I have thought about you and GS1 people in Australia when I have seen the bad 

news of the huge fires in Victoria. Please pass to them the sentiment from the 

Global Office: many of us here feel solidarity with you guys in these moments.” 

Vicente Escribano, GS1 COO 

“According to the recent news there is catastrophe in Australia, near Melbourne - 

accept my condolences.” GS1 Croatia 

“I heard the news about the fire in your state and the devastation. My thoughts 

are with you during these difficult moments.” GS1 France 

“We are shocked to see on TV the extent of the bush fire in Australia. Take care.” 

GS1 Singapore 

“The fires around Melbourne are all over the news here. I hope that you and all 

colleagues at GS1, and your families, are safe.” GS1 Sweden 

FIRE 

A D 

please give 

generously for the 

bushfire victims 

BBQ 

19 

32

local news 

20 

90% meating the GS1 Standards 

32 

The Australian Red Meat 

industry has come a long 

way since 10 years ago 

when there was a lack 

of uniform traceability 

systems. 

Australia is one of the world’s 

largest exporters of meat, exporting 

to more than 100 countries. Our 

“clean green” image and reputation 

as a supplier of safe, quality red 

meat is one that the industry is keen 

to promote as well as protect. 

Effective traceback is important to 

the Australian red meat industry’s 

ability to guarantee the integrity of 

its livestock and livestock products 

and to ensure continued access to 

our export markets. 

Major animal disease outbreaks in 

other countries, including Bovine 

Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE 

or Mad Cow Disease) and Foot and 

Mouth Disease outbreaks in the 

United Kingdom in 2001, and more 

recently the BSE detection in the 

United States, Japan and Canada 

in 2003, have made an effective 

identification and traceback system 

crucial. 

Meat and Livestock Australia 

(MLA) in conjunction with other key 

industry associations formed the 

Australian Red Meat Supply Chain 

Committee (RMSCC). Through a 

number of initiatives this committee 

has worked with the Australian red 

meat industry on projects aimed 

at applying the use of GS1 global 

supply chain standards. 

The goal of the RMSCC is to 

develop the tools that will allow 

the Australian red meat industry 

to adopt international standards. 

Over the last ten years the majority 

of the industry has participated 

in a complete overhaul of their 

logistics systems, including the 

redesign of all bar codes used 

for meat processing, new GS1 

suitable product codes and software 

modifications and upgrades. 

Electronic messaging including 

the implementation of electronic 

meat transfer certificates (eMTC) 

and electronic national vendor 

declarations (eDEC) has been 

developed and is currently being 

implemented. 

The results from an extensive industry survey conducted in 2008 by Meat 

and Livestock Australia highlighted that now 90 per cent of red meat exportaccredited 

establishments in Australia are GS1 capable. 

The implementation of GS1 numbering standards and bar codes provides 

the Australian meat industry with a globally recognised system of identifying 

products, potentially reducing operating and labour costs and eliminating 

paper documents in the process. This improves the accuracy and timeliness 

of internal data and interaction with suppliers and customers and provides 

increased traceability for products through the supply chain. 

Projects that have been completed to date include: 

¤ Export carton project utilising GS1 bar coding and electronic messaging 

(saving of up to $2.06 per carton) 

¤ Domestic carton/carcase project utilising GS1 bar coding and electronic 

messaging (saving of up to $1.67 per carton) 

¤ Electronic Meat Transfer Certificate (eMTC) 

Electronic Meat Transfer Certificate (eMTC) 

The eMTC system works by recording the required MTC information by the 

consignor. This information is then sent electronically to the consignee. When 

the consignee receives the physical shipment, they check it against the eMTC 

and if all information is correct, an electronic receipt is generated. This receipt 

is automatically emailed back to the consignor. This process replaces the 

traditional paper-based system, which has proven to be inefficient and often 

inaccurate. By implementing the eMTC system, the Australian meat industry 

is able to take advantage of GS1 technology by streamlining communication 

through the supply chain. 

“What we did is use the GS1 Standards and industry knowledge to develop the 

eMTC and then combined the two so that there is a single and efficient system 

communicating both commercial and regulatory bodies,” said Rebecca Austin, 

manager of the MLA off-farm supply chain management program. 


Nolan Meats director Tony Nolan comments “Producers are now 

asking for information to be transferred electronically and we are 

now transferring electronically between all areas of our supply chain, 

including feedlots, saleyards and customer. I believe it’s the way 

of the future. All data will be transferred electronically and it’s just a 

matter of time before it all happens”. 

As a result of the creation of the eMTC and the implementation of GS1 

Standards, the Australian meat industry has the potential to save millions 

of dollars annually, but also create a more efficient working environment 

with the ability to communicate between all levels of the supply chain easily 

and proficiently. 

For more information contact Andrew Steele, Industry Manager, GS1 

Australia on 1300 366 033 or visit http://www.mla.com.au/TopicHierarchy/ 

IndustryPrograms/Information+Standards/Default.htm

21 

32 

Liquor sector turns 

The Liquor Merchants 

Association of Australia 

(LMAA) has become a 

registered data recipient 

on GS1net for the 

purposes of the Industry 

Market Read (IMR) tool. 

The IMR is an exciting new initiative 

that involves a comprehensive data 

collection and reporting service 

designed around channel and 

category sales for the Australian 

Liquor Industry. This unique solution 

will provide detailed volume and 

value data across detail product and 

channel categories key for planning 

and management activities. 

The IMR has been created as a 

result of the LMAA working closely 

with its members and industry in 

conjunction with GS1 Australia. 

Businesses in the sector are 

already using GS1net to trade 

with the major liquor retailers and 

wholesalers in Australia. 

GS1 Australia Industry Manager 

Andrew Steele said GS1net was 

the perfect solution for the liquor 

industry’s reporting service. “The 

IMR solution is an industry first in 

its adoption of GS1net. With the 

liquor retailers and wholesalers 

already using the service, LMAA 

can leverage the work and expertise 

of the GS1net team in this sector. 

“The LMAA has been very active 

in supporting the implementation 

of the GS1 System in the liquor 

industry for an efficient and costeffective 

supply chain,” he said. 

Sandra Przibilla, Managing Director 

of LMAA, said: “The ability to make 

informed business decisions in the 

TO GS1net 

to read market 

liquor category remains hampered 

by the lack of a comprehensive 

data collection and reporting 

service designed around channel 

and category sales. The IMR will 

provide business-to-business sales 

information that does not currently 

exist. The LMAA will work together 

with GS1 Australia (our technical 

partner) and Nielsen Australia (our 

analytical partner) to collect and 

analyse data. 

“The LMAA will be the repository 

for the IMR. GS1 Australia has 

been proactive in assisting the 

LMAA to understand the needs of 

data integration and the role the 

GTIN and attribute values play in 

integrity of data. The knowledge 

and resources provided by GS1 

Australia have not only enhanced 

the development of the solution, 

but by working with the LMAA 

forged stronger ties within the 

Liquor sector,” she said. 

Information and data from the 

IMR will be supplied to LMAA 

members and may be available 

on a commercial basis to non 

members, government and 

associated industries. 

The IMR will further enhance the 

benefits for those companies 

through: 

Liquor 

Supplier 

sales data (volume) 

¤ Access to Business-to-Business Market data, analysis and reporting 

¤ Automation of the data provision process for the Thompsons Drinks Guide 

The LMAA is interested in receiving Item and Wholesale Price Information 

from GS1net-Ready liquor supplier catalogues. The IMR will also require some 

additional fields to be included as part of suppliers item data. 

For more information on the IMR please contact the LMAA directly to discuss 

their data requirements: 

Contact Information 

Sandra Przibilla – sandrap@liquormerchants.org.au 

Ben Gouw – bgouw@liquormerchants.org.au 

Switch – 1800 257 286 

www.liquormerchants.org.au 

For any assistance on GS1net please contact the GS1 Australia Client Services 

team on 1300 366 033 or www.gs1au.org 

data uploads 

data uploads 

GS1net data 

validation 

imr 

sales data 

database 

GS1net 

Registry 

publication 

thompson 

drinks 

guide 

imr reporting 

publication 

Liquor 

Retailers and 

Wholesalers

tech head 

22 

GS1 hears retailers 

on GS1 DataBar 

32 

Following feedback 

from GS1 member 

organisations on the 

readiness of retailers 

in their countries, 

a decision has been 

taken by the global 

GS1 organisation to 

extend the deadline 

by which retailers 

around the world 

must be able to scan 

GS1 DataBar to 2014. 

This means: 

¤ Retailers who have started GS1 

DataBar programs, including 

fresh food pilots, can continue 

with these programs with no 

interruption. 

¤ Retailers who have established 

agreements in place or wish to 

set up new bilateral agreements 

with their trading partners using 

GS1 DataBar standards by 

2010 can proceed as planned. 

¤ By the target date of 2014 

GS1 DataBar standards, 

including attribute information 

such as batch number and 

expiry date, can be used by 

all trading partners in an open 

environment. 

¤ At a minimum, retailers should 

be able to scan GS1 DataBar 

and process the Global Trade 

Item Number (GTIN) by 2014. 

GS1 Australia CEO Maria Palazzolo 

said the decision has been made to 

reflect the pace of retailer readiness 

globally. 

“While GS1 Australia has been 

working with major retail chains for 

the past few years to ensure that 

their scanning systems are ready 

for the new bar codes by 2010, 

at a global level, retailers in many 

countries are not yet ready,” she 

said. At the recent GS1 General 

Assembly a decision was made to 

extend the deadline, allowing early 

adopter nations to move ahead but 

providing up to four more years for 

adoption in all other countries. 

GS1 DataBar permits marking 

on small, hard-to-mark items like 

loose produce and can provide 

additional bar code information like 

weight or date codes. It is already 

implemented by some retailers in 

North America and is being piloted 

in Europe and Asia. 

Many Australian retailers have 

been working with GS1 Australia 

to prepare for the introduction of 

GS1 DataBar and GS1 Australia 

has been running a program 

of information sessions to 

ensure retailers know about the 

introduction of the new bar code. 

While this puts Australia in a strong 

position ahead of the changes, 

small businesses may need more 

time to prepare. 

Most scanners purchased in the 

past three years should be capable 

of reading GS1 DataBar. Those 

retailers still needing to assess 

whether their scanners and systems 

are able to do so can obtain free 

GS1 DataBar test cards from GS1 

Australia. 

Further free information sessions 

are being held in Sydney (21 April 

and 10 September), Melbourne 

(5 May and 3 September) and 

Brisbane (13 October) for retailers 

who need to find out more 

about GS1 DataBar. For further 

information about GS1 DataBar, 

contact Rachel Kairuz at GS1 

Australia on 1300 366 033. 

GS1 XML v2.5 released 

GS1 has released version 2.5 of the GS1 XML standard. 

GS1 XML is one of two messaging standards that GS1 maintains globally. This standard allows organisations to exchange 

electronic business messages with their trading partners such as an order, invoice or despatch advice. 


The 2.5 release was developed within the framework of the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP) involving 

participants from around the globe. Changes for this release were requested from GS1 Australia, GS1 France, GS1 

Netherlands and the Global Upstream Supply Initiative (GUSI). 

In all, 19 Business Message Standards have been released. Changes submitted by GS1 Australia include those requested 

by members of the Health and Hardware industries with whom GS1 Australia has been working to develop industry 

standards. 

In version 2.5, the GS1 XML upstream standards have been merged with the general GS1 XML trade message standards, 

the outcome being one standard for both the upstream and downstream of the supply chain. 

The GS1 XML standards are freely accessible by visiting the GS1 Australia website 

http://www.gs1au.org/products/gs1_system/emessaging/bms_and_xml.asp. For more information on GS1 XML please 

contact Troy Denyer, Standards Development Coordinator – eCom, GS1 Australia on 1300 366 033.

ACMA’s 4 Watt 

ruling a win for 

EPC/RFID 

IN January this year the Australian Communications and 

Media Authority (ACMA) has ruled that Radio Frequency 

Identification (RFID) devices with up to 4 Watt of power 

may now be used in Australia in the 920-926 MHz band. This 

follows four years of significant testing on the use of 4 

Watt RFID devices by industry, led by GS1 Australia and the 

submission of test data to ACMA for review. 

GS1 CEO Maria Palazzolo welcomed the decision saying it would bring 

improved efficiencies and greater ROI for companies wanting to use EPC/ 

RFID systems in their supply chain. 

GS1 Australia’s General Manager of Standards Development, Sue Schmid, said 

the decision to approve 4 Watt removed a barrier to the adoption of EPC/RFID 

within Australia. “This is a much-needed boost to Australian industry which can 

now continue its adoption of this technology. ACMA’s decision is a significant 

milestone in the journey of EPC/RFID use within Australia,” she said. 

Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that allows the identification 

of tagged items using radio waves. An RFID tag with a tiny computer chip, 

containing the Electronic Product Code (EPC), allows users to identify 

items uniquely. As no line of sight is required for RFID to read an EPC, the 

identification process is faster and more efficient. 

In Australia the radio frequency spectrum is governed by the ACMA and 

Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID services come under a Low Interference 

Potential Devices (LIPD) class licence which until now has limited the use of 

RFID power to 1 Watt between the 918 to 926 MHz band while much of the 

world uses 4 Watt within their allocated frequency range. Robustness of RFID 

performance is substantially improved with an increase in the allowable power 

output. 

GS1 Australia, which has led the development of industry-driven standards 

for the EPC in Australia, has consistently lobbied the ACMA for a regulatory 

change to bring Australia’s passive UHF RFID systems in line with international 

standards and other countries' regulations. 

Three years ago ACMA issued a scientific licence to GS1 Australia that 

enabled the organisation to issue third-party authorisations for the use of 

site-specific 4 Watt power to companies trialling or looking to implement RFID. 

The purpose of the scientific licence was to gather data to assist ACMA to 

determine if an increase in power had any major effect on devices of adjacent 

users of the spectrum. Reports on these trials and the results of scientific 

testing were submitted to the ACMA by GS1 Australia in 2007 and 2008. 

In December 2008 the ACMA notified GS1 Australia that it had approved 

the use of RFID devices up to 4 Watt of power between the 920 to 926 MHz 

band. This decision was published in the Commonwealth’s Government Notices 

Gazette on 15 January 2009. 

GS1 Australia, in conjunction with Australian Industry representative RFID 

Vendors, users and Industry Associations, has developed an implementation 

guideline to assist companies that wish to use RFID devices with the high 

power. The objective of this document is to provide a set of installation 

guidelines that can be used for the deployment, installation and commissioning 

of RFID readers operating up to 4 Watt Effective Isotropic Radiated Power 

(EIRP) in Australia, to reduce as far as possible interference to Global System 

for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular mobile phone networks. 

This document is available from http://www.gs1au.org/assets/documents/ 

products/epcglobal/4watt/epc_4w_instal_gl.pdf 

For more information on the implementation of EPC/RFID in the supply chain, 

businesses should contact GS1 Australia on 1300 366 033. 

SMART 2009 

CONFERENCE 

10 - 11 June 2009 

Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre 

Darling Harbour Sydney Australia 

BRIDGING THE GAP 

with innovation & new business strategy 

23 

32

get smart 

24 

Masters Students 

to get GS1 Australia 

32 

Certification 

The University of 

Wollongong’s Sydney 

Business School (SBS) 

recently announced 

the introduction of 

a post-graduate 

course in supply 

chain management 

with material on the 

GS1 System. 

This is the latest initiative in a 

series of partnerships in education 

and training GS1 Australia has 

formalised, signing memoranda of 

understanding with 12 universities 

and TAFE institutions. One of 

the main purposes of these 

relationships is to introduce 

students in eCommerce, Supply 

Chain Management, Transport and 

Logistics and Business to the GS1 

System, including using the Supply 

Chain Knowledge Centre. The SBS 

initiative will provide students with 

the opportunity to complete the 

GS1 Certificate while studying for 

the Masters of Science (Logistics) 

from June 2009. 

“We are thrilled with the offer to 

students and the collaboration 

with Sydney Business School. It 

is a first such initiative, and will go 

to advancing Australia’s skills in 

retail, logistics and supply chain 

management,” said Steven Pereira, 

GS1 Australia CIO 

and head of the organisation’s 

education initiatives. 

Business School is also offering 

entry pathways for people in retail 

who do not have a first degree. 

The recent memorandum of 

understanding between GS1 

Australia and Wollongong aims at 

developing opportunities between 

the two organisations for mutual 

benefit of members and students. 

For the students, the advantage of 

certification is the added bonus of 

recognition from a global supply 

chain standards-based organisation, 

which could possibly increase their 

employment prospects both locally 

and overseas. 

Sue Mathews, Business Manager 

of the Sydney Business School, 

commented: “We are committed 

to offering our students not only 

a quality education, but equipping 

them with the skills necessary to 

make them competitive for vacant 

positions. Our agreement with GS1 

is one way we are adding value 

to the students’ experience at the 

Sydney Business School”. 

The Sydney Business School 

has also agreed to offer GS1 

Australia certification to all students 

undertaking its Master of Retail 

Management program. This postgraduate 

degree is the only nationwide 

masters-level program focused 

on retail management currently 

available in Australia. The Sydney 

This initiative will help establish 

an understanding among future 

supply chain professionals of how 

the GS1 Standards can be used 

within a business and provide an 

insight into best practice supply 

chain management for young 

professionals. 


12th – 14th of May 2009 

Come and see us at CeBIT! 

Sydney Exhibition & Convention Centre 

Stand Number: H20

GUSI NEWS 

Focus 

moves 

upstream 

with 

GUSI 

launch 

Fast- moving consumer 

goods (FMCG) 

manufacturers, their 

suppliers, the Australian 

Food and Grocery Council 

and GS1 Australia took the 

next step in transforming 

the supply chain in 

Australia with the launch 

of the Global Upstream 

Supply Initiative (GUSI) in 

March. 

More than 100 manufacturers, 

suppliers and supply chain solution 

providers gathered in Sydney and 

Melbourne to discuss the potential 

benefits to their business. 

The term “upstream”, when used 

in a supply chain context, refers 

to the relationships between 

manufacturers and their raw 

materials and packaging suppliers. 

“Upstream” 

is thought of as being closer to 

the source of supply chain items, 

on their way further “downstream” 

to retail and end consumption. 

This GUSI initiative, which extends 

eCommerce to the head of the 

supply chain through the use of the 

GS1 System, has been endorsed 

by Australian industry. This follows 

a project by the Australian Food 

and Grocery Council, GS1 Australia 

and key fast-moving consumer 

goods (FMCG) manufacturers and 

suppliers, to assess the application 

of the GUSI model in the Australian 

FMCG supply chain. Lion Nathan, 

Unilever, Simplot and Sugar 

Australia participated in a working 

group to asses the application of 

the model in Australia and reported 

back to a reference group of some 

35 businesses resulting in the 

endorsement of the GUSI standard 

by Australian FMCG manufacturers. 

GS1 Australia's General Manager 

– Sales & Business Development, 

Marcel Sieira, said now is the time 

for FMCG manufactuers and raw 

materials & packaging suppliers 

to achieve the operational and 

financial gains stemming from the 

GS1 System that were already 

being enjoyed by downstream 

supply chain participants. 

The benefits of the GUSI model 

are faster integration with 

up to 75 per cent reduction 

in the time taken to connect 

to new partners, reduced IT 

costs, and improvements in 

product availability, lead times, 

forecasting, order processing, 

financial settlement, data 

management and operational 

processes, he said. 

“At the end of the day, by 

implementing the GUSI standards, 

both suppliers and manufacturers 

can make a real impact on their 

bottom line.” 

GS1 Australia has launched a 

website outlining GUSI with online 

resources and an online upstream 

implementation toolkit at http:// 

www.gs1au.org/industry/upstream/. 

For more information contact Rachel 

Kairuz on 1300 366 033. 

25 

32

alliance partner 

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26 

32 

Markem-Imaje enhances SmartDate ® 

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advertorial 

New South Wales Department of Health Deploys 

Sterling Commerce eProcurement Solution 

Sterling Commerce recently announced that it 

will supply a standards-based eprocurement hub 

solution to the New South Wales Department of 

Health (NSW Health). 

Gentran Integration Suite (GIS), an 

integration platform for businessto-business 

(B2B) collaboration 

based on a service-oriented 

architecture (SOA) from Sterling 

Commerce, will help standardise 

and simplify the department’s 

purchasing processes providing 

users with a platform for 

eProcurement which will ultimately 

unlock greater quality, safety and 

efficiency benefits. It will replace a 

previous manual system, which was 

prone to human error, and provide 

the organisation with a single 

“source of truth” for all 30,000 

internal items and potentially 

millions of vendor items purchased 

annually across the state. 

GIS will provide effective business 

collaboration to enable NSW 

Health to extend secure, managed 

process visibility to suppliers and 

other government departments. 

Specifically, GIS will supply the 

department with the capability to 

maintain internal data for each 

product, while enabling receipt and 

management of vendor data via 

a direct interface to the National 

Product Catalogue (NPC), an 

online data pool managed by GS1 

Australia and administered to NSW 

Health by the National E-Health 

Transition Authority (NeHTA). 

The NPC allows institutions in all 

states and territories to obtain 

essential information about the 

medicines, medical devices and 

healthcare products they use, from 

one electronic source. It also holds 

information about non-medical 

products, such as office supplies 

and food items. 

NSW Health users will be able to 

directly log in to the catalogue, 

receive and manage contract data 

from NSW Commerce, and publish 

files to other systems, including the 

NSW Health Oracle ERP system 

and the Department of Commerce 

Smartbuy application. 

“We selected Sterling Commerce 

because it has the unique 

expertise, proven track record and 

ability to deliver success within the 

budget and timeframe required. 

GIS will enable us to solve 

complexity in the procurement 

process and provide us with 

a robust platform to manage 

processes surrounding data 

management, thereby increasing 

productivity, and improving data 

quality,” said Valentino Bulaon, 

Manager, Procurement Information 

– Health Support Services, New 

South Wales Department of 

Health. 

Sterling Commerce won the 

tender as part of a consortium 

in conjunction with Fusion 

Management and e-Centric 

Innovations. With the design 

stage already having commenced, 

testing and user acceptance are 

scheduled for February 2009. The 

system is due to go live in March 

2009. 

Michael Vulcan, Managing Director, 

Sterling Commerce Australia/ 

New Zealand said: “GIS will help 

NSW Health to reap the benefits of 

significant efficiency gains in the 

public health supply chain. With the 

considerable cost pressure to meet 

current and future demands for 

services, GIS has all the features 

required to build a sustainable 

information infrastructure that 

can move and manage critical 

information quickly, securely and at 

low cost”. 

Sterling Commerce has now 

successfully completed the 

GS1net Certification Program with 

GS1 Australia. The company’s 

certification is for the “supplier 

side” (data source) sychronisation, 

making Sterling Commerce the first 

Health Data Recipient Buyer Side 

GS1 partner to be accredited. 

For more information, contact: 

julie_christie@stercomm.com, 

or visit: www.sterlingcommerce. 

com.au. 

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32 

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advertorial 

Integrating RFID: The 

28 

32 

The biggest difference 

between RFID and other 

automatic and manual data 

collection techniques 

for those operating in 

the retail sector is the 

technology’s ability 

to recogniSe multiple 

items simultaneously, 

regardless of orientation. 

That means RFID systems can 

be largely automated, reducing 

the need for manual scanning. 

Therefore RFID is advantageous 

in operations that require labourintensive 

data collection or where it 

is difficult to guarantee line of sight 

between the object and the reader. 

RFID tags can also be updated 

and can hold much more data 

than linear bar codes traditionally 

used for item and shipment 

identification. These differences 

can provide advantages in 

operations where faster processing 

or more information is desirable. 

Successful RFID implementations 

enhance data collection and 

processing applications in the retail 

industry rather than replacing them, 

and require careful planning to 

produce the desired impact. Bar 

code is and will remain the easiest 

and least expensive method to 

identify individual consumer goods 

and bar coding is not disappearing 

as RFID use grows. RFID 

creates options for capturing and 

communicating information. A wellthought-out 

infrastructure allows 

you to take advantage of RFID 

while keeping other data collection 

and communications options open. 

In some cases the combination of 

RFID, bar coding and voice/speech 

may be the best approach. Flexible 

equipment, such as RFID readers 

capable of processing tags with 

different frequencies, and mobile 

computers that can be upgraded to 

support RFID are excellent tools for 

creating a flexible infrastructure. 

Returnable Container 

Tracking 

By tracking pallets, totes and 

other containers with RFID, and 

building a record of what is stored 

in the container, users can have 

full visibility into inventory levels 

and locations. With visibility and 

control, retailers can easily locate 

items within distribution centres 

necessary to fill orders and fulfil 

rush orders without incurring undue 

managerial or labour time. 

By adding tag interrogators, a fruit 

or vegetables grower, for example, 

can track loads of produce to a 

specific retailer to help speed 

payment, or a retailer can make sure 

the first produce into the system is 

the first to go on the shelves. 

What does an extra 3% equal? 

Winning. 

With the razor-thin margins of 

warehousing, even the slightest advantage 

can make all the difference in the world. 

Intermec is the world leader in installations 

of automated data collection systems 

for the warehouse, providing costeffective 

solutions and technologies that 

improve performance metrics. It’s just 

the edge you need to attract and retain 

customers, and to beat the competition. 


3% 

Copyright © 2008 Intermec Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved. Intermec is a registered trademark of Intermec Technologies Corporation. 

Take the first step to improve 

your critical metrics now! 

Download the free white paper 

Using Technologies to Increase 

Perfect Order Metrics at: 

www.intermec.com.au/wms3 

Intermec Freecall within 

Australia 1800 333 120 

New Zealand +61 2 9330 4400

key issues 

Inventory Control 

The main benefits to using RFID 

in the supply chain come from 

improved inventory tracking, 

especially when the technology’s 

capabilities are used to collect 

information and provide visibility 

in environments where tracking 

was not done before. Retailers, 

wholesalers, distributors, logistics 

providers and manufacturers 

can all use RFID for inventory 

applications, and in carefully 

planned systems may share 

the same tags to reduce 

implementation costs. RFID can 

remove blind spots from inventory 

and supply chain operations due 

to its ability to be read through 

packaging and being able to 

withstand exposure to heat and 

moisture for example. Confidence 

will be improved in their inventory 

to enable overall inventory levels, 

labour costs and safety stocks to 

be reduced. 

Shipping & Receiving 

The same tags used to identify 

work-in-process or finished 

goods inventory could also trigger 

automated shipment tracking 

applications. Items, cases or pallets 

with RFID tags could be read as 

they are assembled into a complete 

customer order or shipment. 

The individual readings could be 

used to automatically produce a 

shipment manifest, which could be 

printed in a document, recorded 

automatically in the shipping 

system, encoded in an RFID tag, 

printed in a 2D bar code on the 

shipping label, or any combination. 

The new RFID application could 

be very effectively integrated 

into existing business processes 

because it takes advantage of 

data structures that are already 

supported in enterprise databases 

and software applications. 

Recall Management 

Retailers could take advantage 

of automated reading and group 

selection functionality to quickly 

identify and locate products 

affected by a recall. Using RFID 

to automatically capture serial 

numbers or lot codes on cartons 

processed at distribution centers 

and received in retail environments 

provides a new level of traceability 

without requiring time-consuming 

manual data collection. By 

accurately and efficiently capturing 

lot codes, retailers could target 

their recalls so unaffected products 

would not have to be pulled from 

stores. 

There are many excellent 

opportunities to benefit from 

RFID right now. Careful planning 

will yield a system that provides 

immediate benefits and longterm 

competitive and total cost of 

ownership advantages. 

Tony Repaci, Managing Director, 

Australia / New Zealand for 

Intermec Technologies 

29 

32 

Make the NPC work for you. 

Preparing product data for the National Product Catalogue is just the first 

step toward electronic trading. 

For State Health Departments to order your products online they must use 

a secure and reliable gateway such as the Pacific Health Exchange. 

The PHE offers fast, reliable and secure delivery of electronic business 

documents between customers. 

Utilise your NPC data for electronic trading, call us today on 

+61 2 9468 3333 or visit www.pacificcommerce.com.au


advertorial 

30 

32 

Delivering Management 

priorities for the Supply Chain 


A study of nearly 300 

executives by McKinsey 

Research showed that 

reducing supply chain 

costs, not surprisingly, 

is strongly at the top of 

their priority list with 57 

per cent of respondents 

citing this as a key concern. 

According to Nick Morton, Pronto 

Software General Manager, Victoria 

and Tasmania, this is driven in 

part by the pressure rising energy 

and commodity prices are putting 

on the bottom line. Perhaps 

more surprisingly, reducing the 

corporation’s carbon footprint 

scored extremely low on the priority 

scale with only 4 per cent citing 

this as of major concern. “While 

going green clearly dominates the 

press headlines, reality is that top 

executives are looking increasingly 

at the supply chain to reduce costs, 

improve customer service, speed 

to market and reduce supply chain 

risks,” Mr Morton said. 

The key challenges facing supply 

chain managers are: 

Visibility – management needs 

visibility and control to make 

strategic decisions especially 

in growing businesses 

Efficiency – for competitive 

advantage, improved customer 

service and to reduce stock and 

inventory delays 

Collaboration – for industry 

compliance 

Integration – many businesses 

are using disparate, legacy systems 

with a reliance on manual systems 

and a lack of integration between 

storefront and back office. 

The answer to these challenges is 

an Enterprise Resource Planning 

(ERP) solution, an enterprisewide 

information system which 

coordinates all the resources, 

information, and activities needed 

to complete business processes, 

Mr Morton said. 

An integrated ERP solution such 

as PRONTO-Xi Supply Chain 

Management helps reduce costs, 

improve customer service, speed 

to market and reduce supply chain 

risks, he said. 

Pronto Software has a strong 

track record of implementing ontime, 

on-budget ERP solutions for 

growing businesses in Australia 

and PRONTO-Xi’s broad functional 

scope, tight integration, flexibility 

and ease of use enabled customers 

to maximise productivity, streamline 

supply chains and deliver superior 

customer service, he explained. 

“Pronto is proud to be the industry’s 

first ERP vendor to achieve 

GS1net Certification for our data 

synchronisation tool PRONTO- 

Xi iSupplyGlobal. This is a data 

integrity and synchronisation 

module for sharing product 

information with selected trading 

partners via a data pool such as 

GS1net,” Mr Morton said. 

“It allows for the timely, accurate 

and automatic updating of correct 

product and location information 

within and between companies and 

eliminates costly manual processes, 

reduces the cost of managing 

the transaction and the cost of 

providing product information to 

trading partners.” 

To counter information overload, 

Pronto has developed an enterprise 

alert system (EAS) which instantly 

alerts managers to an event or 

exception that they need to know 

about, as it happens, via email 

or an SMS. “The amount of data 

generated by an ERP system 

can be hard to make sense 

of. Let’s face it, when life gets 

more complex, we demand more 

simplicity. New intelligent and 

automated features in world-class 

ERP systems have the potential to 

revolutionise IT by making it easy to 

spot an exception despite the everincreasing 

volume of data. 

“By sending targeted information 

in real time to the right person, 

managers can make fast and 

informed decisions, which can have 

extensive impact on companies’ 

operations. Rather than overload 

managers with information they 

do not need, EAS makes available 

to the relevant people information 

that they can act on. By enabling 

“Management by Exception”, 

technology becomes a strategic 

asset, adding greater value, more 

innovation and true competitive 

differentiation for businesses,” 

he said.

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