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Meeting Minutes
January 28, 2002
General Summary
The meeting had record attendance with 50 people attending. There was great representation from all segments of the supply chain: Retailers, Retail Solution Providers, Carriers, Manufacturers, Suppliers, Fabric Suppliers, General Solution Providers,
AFMA, NHFA, HFIA and the Uniform Code Council.
1. The Furniture Industry can no longer say that there are no standards. With the approval of the schemas at this meeting, the fundamental standards for e-commerce are in place and ready for implementation. Actual testing between some business partners is currently in process.
2. The presentation by AFMA and the subsequent discussion on the Furniture Standard
UCC/EAN SSCC-18 Bar Code label cleared up misunderstandings related to the label and its use in the Logistics Process of e-commerce. This is another piece of e-commerce that simply needs to be implemented. There are a growing number of Retailers and Manufacturers that have already implemented this technology and are reaping the benefits.
3. There were a number of other issues that need to be resolved that were clarified during the meeting. It was exciting to see the growing commitment to working together to solve furniture supply chain problems.
Minutes
FIDX - January 28th, 2002
Holiday Inn Airport
Charlotte, NC
Introduction - Dwight Ball
Reviewed Agenda - Ron Martell
Review UCC approval status - Geoff Mack - The submitted standards have to go through several UCC committees. There have been a few recommended changes that have been adopted. The UCC is developing its review process at the same time that our standards are being developed. The process is slow. We are making progress. But, as of yet, FIDX standards have not been approved by the UCC.
UCC 128 Bar Code Process - David Purvis - David reviewed the UCC128 Bar Code label as part of the ASN shipping process from shipping dock to receiving dock. Several of the issues with the SSCC-18 Bar Code label were cleared up and it became apparent that we were trying to use the label for things other than what the label and UCC process were designed to do.
Discussion of the UCC 128 Bar Code Process - Ron Martell - Ron led a spirited discussion on the topic that David had just presented. The following issues were discussed
· Multiple cartons for one item - the AFMA IT Division has agreed to change the UCC 128 specification to require that a unique UPC be assigned to each item in an assembly in order to eliminate this problem.
· Multiple items in a carton - this issue was not resolved and it will be discussed at a future meeting.
· Unique product identification - some of the retail representatives expressed a need for product serial numbers in addition to a UPC. All manufacturer representatives agreed they would be willing to explore physically attaching both the UPC and serial number to products in order to meet the retailer's needs. All parties agreed that the UPC and serial number data could be provided via the ASN. The UCC recommended that all parties plan to use the 14 digits GTIN in lieu of the 12 digits UPC in the future. This issue was not fully resolved and it will be discussed at a future meeting.
Also, during this session it became apparent that several pieces of the e-commerce architecture were working and could be used as designed.
Order Status Inquiry Schema - Rick Killen - Rick reviewed the schema including the changes there were made at the previous meeting. Some additional changes were made. Later the schema was approved with the changes.
Order Status Schema - Rick Killen - Rick reviewed the schema including the changes there were made at the previous meeting. Some additional changes were made. Later the schema was approved with the changes.
Transmission & Envelope Schema - Manoj Nigam - Manoj reviewed the entire transport architecture and reemphasized the reason for going to ebXML. He then took the group through the ebXML/SOAP envelope. There were no changes. Later the transport and envelope were approved as is.
Vote on new schemas - Ron Martell - Ron walked us through the voting process for each schema. The Order Status Inquiry, the Order Status and the Transport and Envelope schemas were all approved with the discussed changes.
Provider Reports - Each of the listed companies gave either a verbal report or had Ron read a written report of what they currently offer and their future plans.
Retail Management Systems Reports
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GERS - Roy Martin
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Myriad - Russell Higgins
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Storis - Kevin Hond
Exchange Services Reports
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Exim - Manoj Nigam
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FurnishNet - Geoff Mack
Retail Management Systems Reports - Read
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