HP announced on August 24th the release of GS1 Canada Product Recall service.
Initially focused on enabling faster, more efficient and less costly product recalls for all supply chain partners in the Canadian food industry - and I truly mean ALL parties from retailers to their suppliers - the initiative compliant with GS1 supply chain standards aims at improving the consumer experience in an economically sustainable fashion.
The real-time nature of the underlying cloud platform should lead the way for a standardized, functionally rich approach to drive supply chain efficiencies. Moreover, the track & tracing function could be augmented by the widespread adoption of RFID.
Earlier this year we discussed in Boston with HP MDI (Manufacturing and Distribution Industries business unit) a practical use of the cloud for retailers: the global food traceability solution (see the attached Figure below).
The solution - developed by HP, Microsoft and GS1 - is intended to allow retailers and manufactures to quickly identify products' location and recall them whenever needed, while meeting data privacy concerns. The latter remains both a key industry requirement and a largely unresolved challenge; watch out for our forthcoming report on Consumer Privacy and Payment Security from the retailer perspective.
Firstly, we acknowledge HP's efforts for keeping the promise communicated in March this year, as witnessed by the August announcement with GS1 Canada.
Secondly, we will keep monitoring HP's developments in bringing to the market a higher scale adaptive infrastructure at lower cost in 2010 - again announced in March 2009 at the worldwide analyst summit.
Looking ahead near-term, the same global traceability platform could be opened to include additional information beyond the traceability features - for example dietary and other rich product information, carbon footprint, and expiration date. This will not only respond to increasingly tightening regulatory requirements for consumer safety, but also will unlock new opportunities for retailers to interact better with consumers and drive increased brand value recognition.
Open question to the retailers: what are your technology-enabled customer service elevations plans?
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