In 2012, incorrect labels were increasing costs in the B2B supply chain. While they are still an issue today, a new industry cloud-based tool is changing that. And it’s free. Samantha Schelling writes.
Ten years ago, distribution centres (DCs) and the supply chain were increasingly moving towards automation.
Back then, with the high volume of goods they handled, it made correct labelling critical. Fast forward a decade, and DCs are even more automated with an ever increasing volume of goods. So what’s happened to the labelling errors?
Well, they’re still there.
Matthews Australasia CEO Mark Dingley says, “Label non-compliance is one of the biggest issues in the supply chain. We hear this from retailers frequently. It costs money, it wastes time and it’s so avoidable.”
Dingley says he’s also been asked if it is so avoidable, why does it happen so much?
“Easy to answer,” he replies, “it comes down to education about labelling and having the right tools.”
With the support of GS1 Australia and the industry, Matthews set about fixing both those issues a few years ago.
iDSnet Cloud
Firstly, creating the right tools. In 2020, the coding and labelling specialist launched iDSnet Cloud.
While initially aimed at the fresh produce and the food and beverage manufacturing sectors as a platform, iDSnet Cloud has turned out to be a great Australian success story in how to launch a freemium SaaS product into the B2B category.
“We launched iDSnet Cloud after around 18 months of development and testing with GS1 Australia and major retailers. iDSnet Cloud is a tool for suppliers to produce GS1-compliant carton and pallet labels, thus avoid retailer rejection due to compliance errors, and get their products onto supermarket shelves.”
And, Dingley says, they decided to make the tool free.
“I’ve been asked ‘why’ on that one many times. Basically, one of Matthews’ aims as a company is to be part of improving Australia’s manufacturing industry as a whole. All our solutions, no matter if it’s coding or labelling, help businesses in supply-chain management, which, in turn, helps towards improving Australia’s manufacturing industry.
“iDSnet Cloud was a tool we developed in tandem with GS1 and major supermarkets to help the industry overall. Today, we are still seeing almost 50 per cent of compliance issues at retailer DCs are still the SSCC pallet label. To me, it then made sense for us to offer that tool in its current form to the entire Australian manufacturing industry as ‘forever free’. It means we’re truly meeting our aims.”
Dingley and the Matthews team were chuffed to find out the iDSnet Cloud solution tool was a finalist in this year’s APPMA Awards of Excellence at AUSPACK.
“The APPMA Community Contribution category had a very worthy winner, but the whole team was proud of the fact we were a finalist. It also meant Matthews was recognised for our wider industry aims.
“It’s interesting too, and I’m not sure whether the attention was a spin-off from the AUSPACK recognition, but we’ve already had some noteworthy informal discussions with businesses outside manufacturing about iDSnet Cloud as a SaaS product. It’s certainly something we’re open to more with the software and tech communities.”
2D Barcode Learning Centre
The other part of the equation is education.
“Earlier this year, we launched our 2D Barcode Learning Centre, which built onto the original barcoding educational tool we’d already developed.”
The learning centre, available on the Matthews website, breaks down 2D barcodes by both application and industry, and has information from the basic through to the complex.
“If you’re not sure what an application identifier is for instance, well, that’s in there in a simple video. Looking for information on getting started in 2D codes? That’s in there too. Like we did with the original Barcode Learning Centre, we collated the questions we were asked the most and used that as a guide to prepare educational information on what people are looking for. It’s freely available for anyone, not just Matthews’ customers.”
And he knows it’s being used.
“We know we have major supermarkets advising their suppliers who are having challenges with labelling to use Matthews’ Barcode Learning Centres. Last week in a meeting with one retailer they said they were noticing changes, with a reduction in labelling errors into their DC. They’re very happy for the support in reducing labelling errors – and supply chain labelling errors in particular, with pallet SSCC labels.”
Community value
Dingley says the fact both the 2D Barcode Learning Centre and the Barcode Learning Centre, along with iDSnet Cloud, are free, and non-proprietary, makes the tools accessible and highly useful.
“Big company or small company, they can use these tools to get the right labels on their products and get them into retailers.”
Maria Palazzolo, executive director and chief executive officer of GS1 Australia, concurs.
“GS1 Australia appreciates the extra tools and solutions that our solution provider partners are making available to our members.
“Tools such as Matthews’ Barcode Learning Centre are a valuable resource for businesses looking to implement the GS1 system of standards to improve their supply chains,” Palazzolo says.
Large footprint
Dingley notes the work Matthews has done is reaching more and more businesses.
“In recent years, along with our ongoing strategic partnership with GS1, we are also becoming more involved with the Australian Food & Grocery Council, and more recently, the Produce Marketing Association.
“We’ve seen some great success stories from businesses in our partnerships with these industry bodies.”
To date, Dingley says that the full range of iDSnet product suite is now used in more than 2,000 production lines nationwide.
“It’s an impressive number, but what’s really pleasing about it is that it shows that the software helps businesses. During the height of the pandemic, food and beverage businesses that implemented the iDSnet package code management software clearly saw its benefits.
“In fact, since the beginning of the pandemic, sign-up numbers to register for iDSnet Cloud have increased substantially. With the sudden focus of a strong, self-sufficient domestic supply chain being so important, we’re very pleased that iDSnet Cloud was part of facilitating that supply-chain resilience – particularly at a time when food and beverage logistics were critical for the nation.
“That digital connection was a bright spot, and we feel very pleased to see how iDSnet did its part in helping keep the food and beverage industry running with our digital technologies.”
Industry difference
In line with making strategic partnerships that benefit the industry, at AUSPACK 2022 Matthews announced a farm-to-fork traceability partnership with FreshChain Systems.
“This strategic partnership combines the strength of Matthews’ best-in-class, on-demand printing and labelling solutions, with FreshChain’s Australian-owned and recognised digital end-to-end fresh food traceability and provenance platform.”
For Dingley, it’s another step towards meeting Matthews’ aim as a company to be part of improving Australia’s manufacturing industry as a whole.
“Whether that’s through our free industry tools of iDSnet Cloud and the Barcode Learning Centres, or our strategic alliance with GS1 Australia, or our partnerships with the AFGC and PMA, or the strategic partnerships with FreshChain Systems, they’re all towards the one purpose: helping the industry improve their coding and labelling and ultimately traceability solutions, and, therefore, being part of the solution that’s strengthening the Australian manufacturing economy.”
This story first appeared in the August issue of Food & Drink Business magazine.
