The global language of business

GS1 is a leading global organisation dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve efficiency and visibility in supply and demand chains globally and across sectors.

GS1 - The global language of business

SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGIES & GS1 STANDARDS

 

Traceability can be achieved with various technologies. Depending on the choice or constraints of each trading partner, items may be tracked and traced at different levels of precision: generic, by batch or serialized. Barcodes and RFID can be used to automate data capture. “One up, one down” is often considered as the information exchange model to achieve full chain traceability yet some supply chains choose to go further because of specific objectives. In this context of multiple technologies available, GS1 Traceability enables each company to choose what is the most relevant in its environment. It is the solution to ensure interoperability between all traceability systems and to facilitate the implementation.

To further develop GS1's capability to assist GS1 System users, we have defined key traceability principles and produced the implementation grid shown below, which links them to enabling technologies and relevant GS1 System tools.