Customized ABI EC sessions addressed the needs of our unique industry, illustrating how leading brand owners and distributors are currently utilizing standards to improve their businesses and highlighting emerging applications. In addition, we enjoyed a private, ABI EC members-only lunch networking reception and a tour of a leading ABI distributor's warehouse.
The sharing of real life experiences both at the luncheon, the ABI track sessions, and the other more broad industrial sessions were available for the attendees. This is the one event were you can meet your customers and counterparts from other industry verticals that are attempting to solve the same issues that you are.
John Roberts of GS1 US provided a session on the 2005 Sunrise date and the Alcohol Beverage Industry. The January 2005 sunrise date was the date that all retailers in the United States were to be able to scan the GTIN-13 (formerly EAN/UCC-13) in addition to the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.). Before this date, any product shipped to the United States required a U.P.C., while the remainder of the globe used an GTIN-13 at point of sale. The good news is that the majority of the large retailers can scan the GTIN-13 at mid year. The bad news is that some smaller chains cannot. The caveat for manufacturers and distributors is to ensure that your customers are ready prior to shipment of GTIN-13 encoded products.
More information on 2005 Sunrise
Bill Fitch of Southern Wine and Spirits, Mike Ward of Constellation Brands, Inc., and Rob Signore of 1SYNC, formerly UCCnet and Transora, addressed the special challenges of data synchronization in a three tier system [(1) brand owner (2) distributor/wholesaler (3) retailer]. For data synchronization to occur between multiple players in the supply chain, the brand owner publishes to the distributor / wholesaler and the distributor / wholesaler publishes to the retailer. In March, the ABI Executive Committee had sent out a letter to the ABI industry encouraging adoption of data synchronization prior to year's (2005) end. At mid year, the ABI pioneers are still struggling to find suitable partners for data synchronization. The largest retailers are in the vanguard but there has been significant if uneven progress. This was an interactive session with the panelist taking prepared questions from the facilitator and from the audience at large. This session had a 100% request from attendees to be repeated in 2006.
This session included interrelated presentations on government agency/industry interaction. Robert Hughes and Jessica Baumgard of the Tariff and Trade Bureau (TTB) provided examples of electronic interfaces to make the government (TTB)/ABI industry interaction easier and quicker, Martin J. Stutsman, Esq. of the Division of Plant Product Safety, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) highlighted new policies affecting ABI. Specifically, the review of the Bioterrorism Act's establishment and maintenance of records. The presentations were followed by a short but spirited question and answer period.
Rob Signore of 1SYNC and Michele Southall of EPCglobal US™ explained the differences between the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) and the Electronic Product Code (EPC). While the GDSN includes the information that describes what the product is, the EPC is used for track and trace, telling us where it comes from and where it is going. Pilot and production times were outlined, and major complaints from brand owners, such as "Where is the return on investment (ROI)?" and "What is the business value?" were discussed. This session had the second largest attendance of the four ABI sessions, prompted partly by the April ABI EC Council 2005 data synchronization letter and the realization that data synchronization is an inevitable initiative within all customer based industries.