GS1 is a interdependent federation of independent member organizations in different countries around the world with one vision, speaking with one voice and acting as one organization. GS1 is a fully integrated global organization with currently 110 member country organizations (MO) representing all points in the supply chain. It provides global standards and services for over a million companies doing business in more than 156 countries. It operates in over 20 sectors – ranging from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) to healthcare, transport and logistics, defense, and aerospace. Recently two new sectors – Financial and Automotive – have started work with GS1 MO to find ways to apply the GS1 System or how to integrate their existing system into the GS1 System.
Its Vision and Mission are
- VISION: is a world where things and related information move efficiently and securely for the benefit of businesses and improvement of people’s lives, everyday, everywhere.
- MISSION: To be the neutral leader enabling communities to develop and implement global standards providing the tools, trust and confidence needed to achieve the vision
It provides a global integrated system of standards for identifying trade objects, capturing information about trade objects and sharing information about trade objects called GS1 System.
It is governed by its Belief and Principles. Thus,
- It is a not for profit organization,
- It is neutral from business partners in the supply chain,
- It is user-driven,
- It serves all companies, both multi-nationals and SMEs,
- It offers a platform for collaborative agreements between business partners
In a nut shell, GS1 is a neutral non-for-profit organization that facilitates collaboration amongst trading partners and technology providers, in order to solve together business challenges that leverage global standards and to ensure visibility along the entire value chain.
For more than 30 years, GS1 (formerly EAN International and UCC) has been dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards for use in the supply chain. GS1 standards provide a framework that allows products, services, and information about them to move efficiently and securely for the benefit of businesses and the improvement of people’s lives, everyday, everywhere. Our standards ensure effective exchanges between companies, and act as basic guidelines that facilitate interoperability and provide structure to many industries. For most of the past three decades, GS1 was primarily focused on retailers and manufacturers in fast-moving consumer goods. In the last several years, however, our efforts to develop targeted solutions for other sectors have surged. For example, work has been done for healthcare and Transport and Logistics.
The Global Office and at its more than 100 GS1 Member Organizations (MO) around the world are devoted to helping you find solutions to your business concerns, with the right mix of our global, neutral standards. The GS1 integrated approach means that specific requirements of the GS1 System User can be met with an engagement that is holistic and business-focused rather than technology-focused. Supply chains are unique: so must be the solutions deployed across them. GS1 solutions that leverage global standards will reduce cost, complexity and support interoperability across the industry.=)