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UCC/EAN-128
UCC/EAN Application Identifiers and the UCC/EAN-128 Symbology
The success of the EAN·UCC system for the identification of products and services
led to increasing requests from the user companies for an expansion of the system
beyond primary identification. In response to these demands, EAN·UCC 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 requirements of business.
The two main components of any bar code are data architecture and symbology.
I. EAN/UCC Application Identifier
What is an EAN/UCC Application Identifier (AI)?
What are the benefits of EAN/UCC Application identifiers?
What data can be encoded using EAN/UCC Application Identifiers?
II. THE UCC/EAN-128 Symbology
What are the
benefits of the UCC/EAN-128 symbology ?
What is UCC/EAN-128's
format ?
EAN/UCC Application Identifier
What is an EAN/UCC 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, trace ability data, dates, quantity, measurements,
locations, and many other types of information. The data presented can be alphanumeric
or numeric.
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Example
AI 10 identifies a batch number with a data format 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.
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What are the benefits of EAN/UCC Application identifiers
?
An open standard
EAN/UCC 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 standardized 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/UCC 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:
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an item, the data field includes the EAN-8, EAN-13 or EAN-14 item identification
number.
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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.
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a returnable asset, the data field includes the EAN-13 number of the asset plus
an optional serial number.
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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.
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(00)
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354123451234567892
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(420)
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1000
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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.
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Example of a variable weight despatch unit and its net weight of 35.5 kilograms
AI 01 - GTIN
Data Format : n14
AI 3100 to 3109 - Net weight, kilograms (the last digit in the AI is a decimal point
indicator)
Data format : n6
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(01)
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91234567890121
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(3101)
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000355
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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.
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 GS1.
It is excellent in hospital or logistic applications but 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 4 major advantages, it is:
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- Complete:
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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.
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- Compact:
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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.
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-Concatenatable:
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This enables to combine multiple AIs and their fields into a single bar code.
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- Reliable:
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Code 128 symbols use two independent self-checking features which improves
printing and scanning reliability..
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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
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