How to define, design and implement bar code, rfid, in warehouse management, inventory management software providing supply chain visibility and inventory control.

Get started. drill down from layman to technical understanding of rfid, bar code applications, benefits and tradeoffs. Get started and drill down from layman to technical understanding of bar code and rfid applications, benefits and tradeoffs. Best practices, benchmarking, and cost payback enable you to define, design and implement cost effective global supply chain systems. Fundamentals of global supply chain flow and how rfid and bar codes and Internet communications are used to optimize your system. Introduction and drill down for supply chain standards retail, paper, automotive, airframe, DoD, military GS1, UPC, UPC.EAN, GTIN, EAN, AIAG, DoD, Spec. 2000, UID, EPC.

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The Supply Chain Implementation Series, Guide #1: Using Industry-Compliant Bar Codes

[Home] [Introduction] [The Trend: What and Why] [What This Could Mean for Your Company] [What You Must Do] [Implementation Path] [Support Materials]

[ Appendix 1 ] [ Appendix 2 ] [ Appendix 3 ] [ Appendix 4 ] [ Appendix 5 ] [ Appendix 6 ] [ Appendix 7 ] [ Appendix 8 ] [ Appendix 9 ] [ Appendix 10 ]

Appendix 1: TRADING PARTNER CONTACT

[ App1-1 ] [ 1-2 ] [ 1-3 ] [ 1-4 ] [ 1-5 ] [ 1-6 ] [ 1-7 ]

1.2 Letter To Suppliers

A letter explaining the need to use bar code, and in some cases supply products with bar codes on them, should be sent to your suppliers, and a dialogue should begin.  Your company should develop a “helpful” relationship with suppliers.  Offer to help them comply with total supply chain-wide bar code and U.P.C. requirements.

This is a model letter to suppliers explaining the company bar code program and surveying their readiness to comply.  Wholesaler-distributors may use this with their suppliers.  Manufacturers may use it with their suppliers of raw material, subassemblies, OEM, or general trade items.

Subject:  U.P.C. numbering and bar code labeling

Dear [Customer Contact]

We would like to share our plans with you and gather some information about your bar code plans.  We are striving to improve customer service by controlling our inventory and material handling costs.  Our company is preparing to implement bar code scanning in several areas within our facility.  We will provide them to customers that request them.  We are in the planning phase now, but we hope to be fully operational within [XXX months].

This program requires all our suppliers to apply a bar code label to the products we purchase from them.  After considering alternatives, we have decided to base our bar code program on the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) standard numbering system administered by the Uniform Code Council (UCC) in Dayton, OH.  We chose this system for several reasons:

  • Our industry, like many related distribution channels, uses the U.P.C. guidelines.

  • The U.P.C. standard numbering system is the most widely used, internationally accepted standard today.  More than 95,000 manufacturers are using this system, and it is supported by nearly every industry we’ve examined.  We believe that by employing the U.P.C., our suppliers will meet our needs as well as the needs of their other customers.  With such widespread support, we felt that our suppliers would have less difficulty justifying the use of the U.P.C. to their management.

  • The U.P.C. structure and part numbering rules are appropriate for general trade items in our industry.

  • The U.P.C. is compatible with EDI standards, which we may implement in the future.

  • The U.P.C. standard requires the manufacturer of general trade items to assign U.P.C. numbers to all their items and to use the intermediate and shipping container codes.

The purpose of this letter is to survey all our suppliers to better understand how easy or how difficult it will be for them to comply with this request.  We want to estimate when they will be in compliance.  In that regard, please review the attached material and then fill in the survey.  We ask you to complete and mail or FAX the survey to us as soon as possible.

If you have questions about our company’s bar code program, please call [PERSON]. 

Thank you for your support.

 

Note: send this with Appendix 1.1 and 1.3.

 

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