Supply Chain
To book your company visit to the Canadian RFID Centre download the instruction form 
from our Members' Site.
Canadian RFID Centre newsletter – February 2006.
Our Industry Affairs team is in constant pursuit of supply chain efficiencies through collaborative industry initiatives such as ECCnet, RFID and Can-Trace, which will reduce costs and enhance speed to market for FCPC member companies.
What is EPC/RFID?
In brief, the Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a naming standard that can be used to uniquely identify objects from pallets and cases to individual items. The EPC is coded into a microchip, which can be activated and read via Radio Frequency (RF) waves. The combination of the microchip, antenna, and label is referred to as the RFID tag. EPC code data typically reside behind the firewalls of companies along the product's supply chain.
The global implementation of RFID is currently being led through high profile efforts of global retailers, such as Wal-Mart, and is focused on the dry grocery sector. FCPC, in collaboration with Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), established a working group to assess and develop an industry roadmap to implement RFID technology.
As a result of these initial meetings, it was determined that an RFID test centre would best meet the needs of Canadian industry. On September 21, 2005, FCPC along with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and its supply chain partners joined forces to launch the Canadian RFID Centre -- a unique learning and testing facility in Canada created by industry for industry to help understand RFID, its benefits and implications. The Centre's goal is to enable Canadian companies to better understand, experience, experiment with and test the latest RFID technologies and demonstrate the potential business case for tracking products.
For more information in general on EPC/RFID, visit:
- EPC Global Canada
- IBM
- GMA white paper on implementation entitled
A Balanced Perspective: EPC/RFID Implementation in the CPG Industry
ECCnet
ECCnet, Canada's National Product Registry, is a central repository for information about all products that manufacturers sell to retailers. The registry offers trading partners a single, accurate source of product information such as size, shape, weight and hundreds of other critical product attributes. Manufacturers enter product information into the registry, while retailers accessing that data can 'synchronize' the product information to existing procurement systems for dramatically improved electronic commerce communication.
The registry is now a business standard for electronic commerce with retail pharmacy chains, grocers and the foodservice sector with more than 60 thousand individual products in the database. ECCnet is an industry sponsored initiative, developed and managed by GS1 Canada, the national standards body for electronic commerce.
Having been at the table from the start, FCPC is an ardent supporter of ECCnet and has been promoting this service to its members since its inception. In partnership with supply chain partners, FCPC succeeded in gaining manufacturing andretail commitment in the grocery, pharmacy and foodservice channels. ECCnet has gained critical mass in the grocery channel and efforts continue to bring in the other sectors.
To learn more about ECCnet, e-commerce and global standards for bar codes, visit www.gs1canada.org.
GS1 Canada Enters Strategic Alliance With 1SYNC To Provide North American Data Synchronization Services
GS1 Canada recently announced that it is entering an alliance with 1SYNC, a wholly owned subsidiary of GS1 U.S., facilitating the acceleration of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) in Canada. GS1 Canada will provide new and existing members access to the 1SYNC data pool, allowing multinational Canadian retailers to exchange data through GDSN with trading partners worldwide.
To read more on the full details of this announcement, click here.
Read FAQs [
Members only].
GTIN Allocation Rules
This PDF [ Members only] tells you everything you need to know about the international GTIN Allocation rules.
Can-Trace: A Tracking and Tracing Initiative
Can-Trace is a collaborative initiative committed to developing traceability standards for all food products grown, manufactured and sold in Canada. In July 2003, FCPC and other major Canadian trade associations, along with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and GS1 Canada convened this initiative in response to the federal, provincial and territorial governments' objective of 80% traceability by 2008.
The objective of Can-Trace is to identify and develop minimum requirements for a whole-chain Canadian food industry traceability (tracking and tracing) program based on internationally recognized standards. Managed by a Steering Committee, composed of trade association and government representatives and funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the initiative fosters open dialogue within the supply chain ensuring that the necessary framework for Canadian traceability is designed for implementation.
In December 2004, Can-Trace announced the completion and validation of the first version of the Canadian Food Traceability Data Standard for single ingredient products. A standard document provides a detailed breakdown of recommended data attributes that should be collected, kept, and shared between partners in the supply chain.
FCPC continues to represent members' interests on the Steering Committee and is participating in a newly created working group to explore the issues and challenges surrounding the application of the Can-Trace standard to multi-ingredient products.
To learn more about Can-Trace, visit www.can-trace.org.
Supply Chain Initiatives
ECR (Efficient Consumer Response in the Grocery Channel)
EFR (Efficient Foodservice Response)
ECRx (Efficient Consumer Response Drug Channel)