Canadian Industry Meets to Collaborate on Supply Chain Standards

TORONTO, ON, January 3, 2007 – The Canadian Collaborative Commerce Committee (formerly E-Commerce Committee) have announced approval of best practices for the exchange of product information between supply partners, and for communicating pharmaceutical product information. These successes, presented at a committee meeting on Tuesday, November 28, 2006, are just two of many achievements realized in 2006.

The Canadian Collaborative Commerce Committee is a cross-industry forum facilitated by GS1 Canada.   Committee representation includes include retailers, manufacturers, logistic providers, solution providers, and distributors. The committee's mandate is to collaboratively develop solutions to common supply chain issues and to align business practices with North American and global standards.

“The committee’s successes in 2006 have marked another step in the collaborative development of business standards that can be applied across multiple industry sectors and by companies of all scale,” said Mike Sadiwynk, senior vice-president, Industry Relations, GS1 Canada. “Collaboration and dedication by participants has greatly facilitated the accomplishments achieved by the Canadian Collaborative Commerce Committee.”

The Collaborative Commerce Committee is currently addressing industry issues through four main working groups. The meeting enabled these working groups to share their achievements with the full committee:

• The Data Synchronization Work Group is developing business solutions around the capture of dimensional data for cases, party synchronization, and price synchronization. This group is also working on the adoption of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) by the Canadian supply chain community;
• The Planogram Work Group approved product measurement, product naming conventions and planogram image requirements;
• The Retail Pharmacy Task Group provided a development update in best practices for the communication of product listing information. The Task Group has also developed a white paper called Dispensing Unit, which has been submitted to the GS1 Global Healthcare User Group for consideration; and
• The Technical Work Group defined achievements in 2006, which included best practices in clarifying the communication of tax information on invoices and the movement of products between manufacturers, third-party logistics providers, and retailers/distributors using warehouse transactions.

As part of the meeting, GS1 Canada and the Canadian Collaborative Commerce Committee recognized the outstanding contributions made by all committee members to supply chain standards development.

The following past Co-Chairs were recognized and awarded for their exceptional dedication and contribution to the advancement of supply chain efficiency in Canada through their leadership on the Canadian Collaborative Commerce Committee:

• Katherine Collier, Vice-President, National Data Integrity, Sobeys Inc., served as Co-Chair of the E-Commerce Committee between 2005 and 2006. Kathy has been a strong supporter of non-proprietary supply chain standards and participated in a number of industry committees;
• Pierrette De Vito, System and Business Analyst, Maillot Baltex Inc., served as Co-Chair of the E-Commerce Committee between 2005 and 2006. Pierrette has been involved in electronic commerce for 14 years. She has been instrumental in ensuring that Maillot Baltex Inc. continues to embrace global standards; and
• Serge Viau, Electronic Commerce Group Leader, METRO INC., served as Co-Chair of the Technical Work Group between 2004 and 2006. Serge has been actively involved in various industry supply chain committees for the past 14 years. Most recently he has served on the E-Commerce Committee in the Data Synchronization Work Group, Technical Work Group, as well as the Retail Pharmacy Task Group.

The benefits of supply chain standards are available to Canadian companies throughout the supply chain. Companies are encouraged to understand the standards, their linkage to global standards and how they can be applied in their businesses. 

About GS1 Canada
GS1 Canada is a not-for-profit organization that promotes and maintains global standards for the identification of goods, locations and related e-commerce communication, such as bar code issuance and maintenance. GS1 Canada is the only authorized source for globally unique company prefixes in Canada, a standard term and condition of trade globally. It provides a range of educational opportunities, maintains ECCnet Registry, Canada’s national product registry, and ECCnet Image & Validation services (ECCnet I&V), which offer one-stop access to product images and dimensional data. As technologies like Electronic Product Code™/Radio Frequency Identification (EPC/RFID) continue to drive the e-commerce revolution, GS1 Canada will provide the leadership to help ensure that Canadian companies can participate competitively. For more information, visit www.gs1ca.org.

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For more information, contact:
Noreen Awan
GS1 Canada
416-510-8039 ext. 2125
noreen.awan@gs1ca.org