GS1 Japan

GS1 Japan was founded in 1972 mainly through the efforts of the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry (present Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI) as the Distribution System Research Institute (DSRI), a non-profit organization for promoting the introduction of distribution systems and rationalizing and increasing the effici... ency of supply chains. At first, the institute conducted studies on the standardization of national product codes for apparel and grocery. Following the move towards standardized symbols as well as product codes in the U.S. and Europe, the institute started working to build a system for standardized product codes and symbols in Japan. Then in 1978, it applied for participation in EAN Association and was admitted as the first member except European countries. In the second half of the 1970s, GS1 Japan paved a way to adopt EAN system in Japan, starting with the introduction of EAN symbols into the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS). Source marking was tested with cooperation from Kikkoman Corporation (a soy sauce manufacturer), Coca-Cola Japan, Kai Corporation (a cutlery manufacturer), while retailers began to conduct storefront experiments with POS system. In the 1980s, Jusco Co., Ltd. (present AEON Co., Ltd.), Co-op supermarket stores and other retailers conducted pilots on the POS system. GS1 Japan held many seminars on EAN system and POS system throughout Japan and encouraged stakeholders to adopt source marking. The important milestone for the widespread use of source marking was the fact that, in 1982, Seven- Eleven Japan, a convenience store chain, adopted POS system at all of its stores (which totaled 1,650 at that time, but are about 12,800 at present). Another factor contributing to the diffusion of POS system was the introduction of consumption tax in 1989. GS1 Japan created study groups for several industries in the 1980s and worked together with these industries to study how to improve their business process using computer systems. These industries ...Read More