The success of the EAN system for the identification of products and services led to increasing requests from the users for an expansion of the system beyond primary identification. In response to these demands, EAN has focused its activities on the development of solutions enabling companies to encode, in bar code form, more information than basic identification. This type of supplementary information (such as, best before date, batch number, etc.) can be used to improve the management of the supply chain.
The goal is to have a global and open system that meets the logistic requirements of business.
The two main components of any bar code are data architecture and symbology.
 - EAN APPLICATION IDENTIFIER
- THE UCC/EAN-128 SYMBOLOGY
|
|
1. EAN APPLICATION IDENTIFIER
|
- What is an EAN Application Identifier (AI) ?
An Application Identifier is a prefix used to identify the meaning and the format of the data that follows it (data field).
AIs have been defined for identification, traceability data, dates, quantity, measurements, locations, and many other types of information. The data presented can be alphanumeric or numeric.
Example
AI 10 identifies a batch number with a format of n2 + an..20. This means that the data field following the two digit AI 10 will always be a batch number of variable length but not exceeding twenty alphanumeric characters.
|
(AI)
|
Batch Number
|
|
(10)
|
123ABC456789
|
|
-
What are the benefits of EAN Application Identifiers ?
An open standard
EAN Application Identifiers provide an open standard which can be used and understood by all companies in the trading chain, regardless of the company that originally issued the codes.
A stable standard
To meet business needs, new AIs are made available in standardised form. The construction of the system guarantees its integrity. New AIs can be released without affecting existing users. Companies wishing to include new functionalities can easily incorporate new AIs in their existing system.
- What data can be encoded using EAN Application Identifiers ?
A large number of AIs covering the majority of industry requirements have already been defined. The principal AI categories include :
Identification numbers
These AIs contain data to identify:
- an item, the data field includes the EAN-8, EAN-13 or EAN-14 item identification number.
- a logistic unit, which must be given a unique serial number called the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC). It provides companies with a facility to identify logistic units (pallets,drums, rolls) for tracking and tracing purposes.
- a returnable asset, the data field includes the EAN-13 number of the asset plus an optional serial number.
Example of a SSCC and a "Ship to" code
AI 00 - Serial Shipping Container Code
Data format : n18
AI 00 identifies uniquely individual transport packages to support tracking and reception operations with the use of EDI.
AI 420 - Ship to (deliver to) postal code
Data format : an..20
AI 420 can facilitate shipment sorting, consolidation and general automated package handling.
|
(00)
|
354123451234567892
|
(420)
|
1000
|
|
Traceability Numbers and Dates
These AIs enable to encode data which provides for the traceability of individual products and/or despatch units throughout the supply chain and the maximum efficiency of recall procedures. This category includes Batch/Lot Number, Serial Number, Production Date, Minimum Durability Date and Maximum Durability Date.
Measurements and Quantities
These AIs enable to encode quantities and trade measurements for items which may vary in content (quantity, length, weight, etc.) and logistical measurements for warehouse space management systems and transportation services.
Example of a variable weight despatch unit and its net weight of 35,5 kilograms
AI 01 - EAN Article Number
Data format : n14
AI 3100 to 3109 - Net weight, kilograms (the last digit in the AI is a decimal point indicator)
Data format : n6
|
(01)
|
91234567890121
|
(3101)
|
000355
|
|
Transaction References and Location Numbers
These AIs enable the encoding of transaction references and location numbers facilitating the delivery/order/invoice reconciliation process, identifying shipping origin, sorting shipments, etc. Such AIs include Customer's Purchase Order Number, Bill to (invoice to) Location Number and Ship to (deliver to) postal code.
|
|
2. THE UCC/EAN-128 SYMBOLOGY
|
The symbology specified for the representation of Application Identifier data is UCC/EAN-128, a variant of 'Code 128', which use is exclusively reserved to EAN International and the Uniform Code Council (UCC).
It is not intended to be used for data to be scanned at the point of sales in retail outlets.
- What are the benefits of the UCC/EAN-128 symbology ?
UCC/EAN-128 offers 3 major advantages, it is:
- Complete : It is one of the most complete, alphanumeric, one-dimensional symbologies available today. The use of three different character sets (A, B and C), facilitates the encoding of the full 128 ASCII character set.
- Compact : Code 128 is one of the most compact linear bar code symbologies. Character set C enables numeric data to be represented in a double density mode. Here, two digits are represented by only one symbol character saving valuable space.
- Concatenatable : This enables to combine multiple AIs and their fields into a single bar code.
- Reliable : Code 128 symbols use two independent self-checking features which improves printing and scanning reliability..
Note :
The character represented is a 15 alphanumeric data string using the same narrow bar/space "X" dimension.
- What is UCC/EAN-128's format?
UCC/EAN-128 bar codes always contain a special non-data character known as function 1 (FNC 1), which follows the start character of the bar code. It enables scanners and processing software to auto-discriminate between UCC/EAN-128 and other bar code symbologies, and subsequently only process relevant data.
The UCC/EAN-128 bar code is made up as follows :
- a light margin
- a start character A, B or C
- a FNC 1 character
- Data (Application Identifier + data field)
- a symbol check character
- a stop character
- a light margin
|
|
