GS1 Organizes Industry Standards Workshop

KARACHI: A seminar and training workshop for the industrial sector was recently organized by GS1 Pakistan in the wake of the latest directives from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). The objective of the course was to provide the industry personnel with an insight about the application and implementation of GS1 standards in a way that will add commercial intelligence, industry relevance and business credibility.

The training session provided an opportunity to learn firsthand from the expert Mr. Terry Papadis, who had flown especially from Australia to conduct this one-day workshop. It covered all major applications of the GS1 Standards in multiple sectors in Pakistan, including Pharma, Textiles, Medical Devices, Sports Goods among others. The well-attended course had supply chain professionals and senior management from the industrial sphere as participants. Pharmaceutical personnel formed the majority of those present as DRAP regulatory deadline is fast approaching.

GS1 is a critical part of standards implementation in industry, providing software, hardware, consultancy and solutions to the industry members.  GS1 Network members contribute to ongoing innovation in supply chain technologies and support efficient and effective management in current business operations and process automation.

The course covered all aspects of the GS1 system at both introductory and intermediate levels, allowing the participants a full overview of GS1 standards as they are implemented to businesses of all sizes.

The course conductor informed the professionals that the identifier used for cross reference of older products, namely Product Identification Information "AI-240" , is not used as per GS1 specs and should not even be used in the database.

At an interactive training session the speaker provided handy tips and ideas on new product and industry solutions development encouraging participants to ask questions.

The industry was introduced with solution providers such as Authentik, Procheck, Sayeed International, Zultek and Zouq.

The participants lauded the efforts of GS1 Pakistan Team led by Mr Saifuddin Bandukwala and Hossamuddin Bandukwala for organizing the much-needed informative and intelligent workshop.