The Future of the Supply Chain Is (Almost) Here

The Importance of Standardization
From RFID to file management and emerging forms of digital production and distribution, standardization of data platforms is a key element in building new efficiencies into the supply chain.

“We’ve done a lot of work over many years, standardizing the way product information is communicated between trading partners,” notes Michael Healy, executive director of the BISG. “That goes back 10 years to the development of [Online Information Exchange (ONIX)], which is an XML expression of product information. We did that to standardize the way in which parts of a book can be described. By embedding that standardized expression in XML text, I’m enabling computer-to-computer communication and attempting to minimize touch points where humans have to intervene.”