Understanding EPCs

The EPC is a simple, compact "license plate" that uniquely identifies objects (items, cases, pallets, locations, and so on) in the supply chain. The EPC is built around a basic hierarchical idea that expresses a wide variety of different, existing numbering systems, like the EAN.UCC System Keys, UID, VIN, and other numbering systems. Like many current numbering schemes used in commerce, the EPC is divided into numbers that identify the manufacturer and product type. But, the EPC uses an extra set of digits, a serial number, to identify unique items. The EPC is the key to the information about the product it identifies that exists in the EPCglobal Network. When you create EPCs, ensure that you are complying to the standards for EPCglobal. The example in the table describes some common segments which relate to the version of the EPC Tag Data Standards called General Identifier (GID-96):

Header

The header segment provides the version number of the standard and identifies the length, type, and structure of the EPC. You must set up the header segment before setting up the segment definitions, manager, and serial number. Segment lengths combined, including header length, must match the overall length in the header definition.

General Manager

The general manager segment, also called the Domain, represents the manufacturer or brand owner manager number.

Object Class

The object class segment represents the manufacturer's stock keeping units (SKU), to identify the item.

Serial Number

The serial number is a unique number of an item within an object class of the EPC.

The length of each segment is defined by how many bits are required to fill that segment. This example describes the bit lengths per segment of an EPC:

Segment	Header	Manager	Class	Instance
96-bit	8	28	24	36

This example is a typical EPC:

Header	Manager	Class	Instance
01	0000A89	00016F	000169DC0

The system represents and stores the header value, manager code, and EPC serial number in decimal format. Lengths are represented in bits. The system converts the decimal values (base 10) to bits (base 2) and generates and stores the EPC number in hexadecimal (base 16) format.

You set up the EPC for GID-96 based on the values for customer ship to/sold to and carton type. The system stores the EPC number in the Carton Serial Number field in the Carton Detail Information - (F4620).

You can use the Label Serial Numbers (Preference Type 38) preference in combination with the Carton Label (Preference Type 39) preference and the Carton Reorganization (P4620) processing options to specify how the system processes EPCs. If you do not specify a preference type and indicate to use the preference, the system uses the value established in the Serial Number Creation processing option on the Serial Number tab in the processing option for Carton Reorganization (P4620).

You can use an EPC number in addition to a UCC-128 or label next number.