Popular product coding convention in EDI

UPC Code
There are a variety of different types of bar codes. However, the U.P.C. symbol is the most recognized bar code in the United States, established in 1970’s, since it appears on almost every retail product. The U.P.C. symbol is the bar code representation of the GTIN-12. (Universal Product Number) which consists of twelve numeric characters that uniquely identify a company's individual product. Although, the initial U.P.C. usage was focused on retail point of sale (POS), many other industries have adopted this coding structure This code is designed to uniquely identify a product and its manufacturer and allows it to be scanned and read in virtually any major retail establishment.

Pattern of UPC Code Formation
The first 6 digits represent the manufacturer of the labeled item, as assigned by the Uniform Code Council. The next 5 digits identify a particular product assigned by the manufacturer. The twelfth digit is a check character, based on an algorithm using the previous 11 digits.

Variations of UPC Code:

UPC/EAN Case Code(2-5-5)
A 12 digit number identifying the manufacturers shipping unit. The code division is 2-5-5. Its qualifier is UA The code is formatted as: 2 digit number system character(U.S. Grocery and General Merchandise=00,06 or 07; US Drug=03)(EAN=2 digit country flag); 5 digit manufacturing identification number; 5 digit item number

UPC Consumer Package Code(1-5-5)
The 11 digit Universal Product Code that uniquely identifies each customer unit. The code division is 2-5-5. Its qualifier is UI. Multipacks should use qualifier UB. The code is formatted as: 1 digit number system character(U.S. Grocery and General Merchandise=0,6,7; US Drug=3; 5 digit manufacturing identification number; 5 digit item number

UPC Consumer Package Code(1-5-5-1)
The 12 digit Universal Product Code that uniquely identifies each customer unit. The code division is 2-5-5. Its qualifier is UP. The code is formatted as: 1 digit number system character(U.S. Grocery and General Merchandise=0,6,7; US Drug=3; 5 digit manufacturing identification number; 5 digit item number; 1 digit check digit

UPC/EAN Shipping Container Code(1-2-5-5-1)
The 14 digit code that identifies the manufacturer’s shipping unit, including the packaging indicator and check digit. The code is formatted as: 1 digit packaging indicator; 2 digit number system character (U.S.Grocery and General Merchandise=00,06,07; U.S.Drug=3; 5 digit manufacturing identification number; 5 digit item number; 1 digit check digit

Benefits of UPC
Provides Item Identification
Speed at retail checkout
Reduce data entry costs
Reduced errors

Check digit calculation
In the UPC-A system, the check digit is calculated as follows: 1. Add the digits in the odd-numbered positions (first, third, fifth, etc.) together and multiply by three. 2. Add the digits in the even-numbered positions (second, fourth, sixth, etc.) to the result. 3. Find the result modulo 10 (i.e. the remainder when the result is divided by 10). 4. If the result is not zero, subtract the result from ten. For example, a UPC-A barcode (in this case, a UPC for a box of tissues) "03600029145X" where X is the check digit, X can be calculated by adding the odd-numbered digits (0+6+0+2+1+5 = 14), multiplying by three (14 × 3 = 42), adding the even-numbered digits (42+3+0+0+9+4 = 58), calculating modulo 10 (58 mod 10 = 8), subtracting from ten (10 - 8 = 2). The check digit is thus 2.

UPC Case Code
A barcode symbol for physical distribution in U.S., which is the prototype of Standard Symbology for Physical Distribution. On concentrated packages, like the cardboard case, adding 0 before UPC code of content product, for correspondence with EAN; and more, adding before that a 1-digit distinction code for indicating quantities, to display both content product and quantities in the package.

Contribution of EDI in UPC generation/transportation
An EDI 832 Transaction Set can be used to load the catalogs with UPC information or by the registration number ie maufacturer’s block ID, UPC can be generated and loaded in the catalogs. A supplier can load their product codes one time and all of their retailers can pull the information.

EAN Code
The European Article Number is the European version of the UPC (Universal Product Code) bar code of retail food packaging that enables this linear bar code to be used internationally. Like the U.S. equivalent UPC code, there are two different types of EAN codes, EAN-8 and EAN-13

EAN-8:
EAN-8 has a left-hand guard pattern, four odd parity digits, a center guard pattern, four even parity digits, and a right hand guard pattern with a total of eight symbols.

EAN-13:
EAN-13 has 13 characters or symbols. It is very much like the UPC code and has the 13th character as a means of identifying in what country the product will be used.



European Article Number(EAN) (2-5-5-1)
13 digit code used by countries, other than the United States and Canada, to identify each consumer unit. Code is formatted as: 2 digit country flag; 5 digit company identification number (assigned by European Coding authorities); 5 digit article identification number (assigned by the company); 1 digit check digit.

NDC Code
The National Drug Code (NDC) serves as a universal product identifier for human drugs and biologics. The NDC is presented in several formats. The 11-position format was adopted as the standard. The NDC is divided into 3-segments. The 11-digit format is the format adopted by the Final Rule as noted in the Preamble: “We are adopting the 11-digit NDC in order that the format is distinctive and will be in place until the Secretary decides to adopt a new code system.” The first segment is the labeler code that identifies any firm that manufactures, repacks/distributes a drug product. The second segment is the product code. It identifies the strength, dosage form and formulation. The third segment is the package code. This segment identifies package size. P0106=ND*11-Digit code

ISBN Number
An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation (except reprintings) of a book. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned after January 1, 2007, and 10 digits long if assigned before 2007. An International Standard Book Number consists of 4 or 5 parts: 1. For a 13 digit ISBN, a GS1 prefix: 978 or 979 2. the group identifier code, (group of countries sharing a language) [3] 3. the publisher code, 4. the item number, and 5. a checksum character or check digit.




By using variable block lengths, a large publisher will have few digits allocated for the publisher number and many digits allocated for titles; like-wise countries publishing much will have few allocated digits for the group identifier code number, and many for the publishers and titles. Here are some sample ISBN-10 codes, illustrating block length variations.



Check digit in ISBN-13
The 2005 edition of the International ISBN Agency's official manual[10] covering some ISBNs issued from January 2007, describes how the 13-digit ISBN check digit is calculated. The calculation of an ISBN-13 check digit begins with the first 12 digits of the thirteen-digit ISBN (thus excluding the check digit itself). Each digit, from left to right, is alternately multiplied by 1 or 3, then those products are summed modulo 10 to give a value ranging from 0 to 9. Subtracted from 10, that leaves a result from 1 to 10. A zero (0) replaces a ten (10), so, in all cases, a single check digit results.

Purpose of an ISBN
The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.

Format of the ISBN
Every ISBN consists of ten digits and whenever it is printed it is preceded by theletters ISBN. The ten-digit number is divided into four parts of variable length, each part separated by a hyphen.

Meaning of ISBN numbers
The four parts of an ISBN are as follows: Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic grouping of publishers; Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a group; Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a title; Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates the ISBN.

SKU
SKU (stockkeeping unit, sometimes spelled "Sku") is an identification, usually alphanumeric, of a particular product that allows it to be tracked for inventory purposes. Typically, an SKU (pronounced with the individual letters or as SKYEW) is associated with any purchasable item in a store or catalog. An SKU is not the same as a product model number from a manufacturer, although the model number could form all or part of the SKU. The SKU is established by the merchant. Successful inventory management systems assign a unique SKU for each product and also for its variants, such as different flavours or models of product or different bundled packages including a number of related products. This allows merchants to track, for instance, whether blue shirts are selling better than green shirts.

Example SKU system
An imaginary product, called a widget, has a part number of 1234. It is packed 20 to a box, and the box is marked with the same part number 1234. The box is then placed in the warehouse. The box of widgets is the stock keeping unit (SKU), because it is the stocked item. Even though the part numbers are interchangeable to mean either a widget or a box of widgets, the box of widgets is the stocked unit. There may be three different colors of widgets; each of these colors will be a separate SKU. When the product is shipped, there may be 50 boxes of the blue widgets, 100 boxes of the red widgets, and 70 boxes of the yellow widgets shipped. That shipment would be said to have been a shipment of 220 boxes, across three SKUs. Another example is a product given an article number 4321. Within the last 2 years Vendor X has been making article number 4321. Vendor X is going out of business, yet the plans for making article 4321 still belong to the selling company. The selling company now has two companies making the same product during the transition phase. Instead of tracking variants by maker, it uses UPCs, and possibly "color" or "dye" or similar. It will still hold the same article number for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly profit margins. SKUs link UPCs from the vendor to the retail company. A single SKU can have many UPCs. Makers use UPCs to see if it is worth making green when red accounts for 99% of the market. Selling companies use SKUs to see which company performs better with the same item. Another example is if a particular product has an MRP of x & there is a revision in price, say the price now becomes y. Then x & y will have to be stocked separately & billed separately so they become two different SKUs

For any query, mail me at :
madhurima@crossroadtechnologies.in