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Merchandising - Bar Code Fundamentals
This online Bar Code Handbook will assist Ace vendors in meeting the requirements of properly bar coding and marking your products and packages based on the global standard, not only for Ace, but all of your other customer's scanning requirements.
In order to move your products efficiently through Ace's Supply Chain, the correct and unique Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) in a correct and highly scannable bar code symbology, must be provided, for each retail and non-retail quantity or packaging level (hierarchy). The Global Standards 1 US [GS1 US - formerly the Uniform Code Council, Inc.], is the national governing organization on bar code quality standards for properly marking and coding retail products and services.
This fundamental information is only a small supplement contained in the industry guidelines on assigning bar codes to products, available to you. It is being provided to assist you in correctly developing your scannable bar codes. Ace wishes for all vendors to fulfill their inherent responsibility by educating themselves on this trade item identification methodology and the governing guidelines for print quality.
There are two hierarchical levels of Bar Code symbologies used by Ace's Retail Distribution Centers in providing a superior order fulfillment for the Ace Retailers.
The lowest trade level symbologies are the Retail Point of Sale (POS) bar code. The second is the inner and/or master carton container code (EAN/UCC-14 group of symbologies). All of these symbologies encode the GTIN numerical data, with no punctuation, symbols, alpha characters, or spaces. Each symbology has specific size and dimensional attributes that must be adhered to for global acceptance.
Ace requires a bar code for each quantity level in which the product is available. To review the basic GTIN assignment guidelines please see our condensed presentation or visit the GS1 US web site:
The supplier holds the underlying responsibility for the accuracy and printed quality of the bar code. Therefore Ace recommends you use a bar code verifier versus a bar code scanner. A verifier is purposely designed to measure and evaluate that bar codes adhere to and meet established global specifications of adopted standards parameters.
No matter what type of bar code is being printed (label or directly on corrugate), strive for the highest ANSI graded printed quality possible. Ace recommends this grade to be "C" or better, especially on those direct corrugated printed, to ensure the bar code will scan.
If there are any questions regarding what bar code symbology to use, check our FAQ, call someone on the Ace Bar Code Team, or write to us at barcodes@acehardware.com.
Ace Bar Code Team