Track and trace

Track & Trace is the process of recording the past and present whereabouts of a shipment, as it passes through different handlers on its way to its destination, through a distribution network.

Examples of start points might include an individual posting a letter or parcel, or a manufacturer making and dispatching a product.

Typical applications for Track & Trace are to identify where a product was "diverted" from its intended course (parallel importing), or where a fake product was introduced.

For postal items, it is the informal name for the international S10 standard for tracking and tracing parcels via 13-character reference numbers. The term can also more generally refer to any system for tracking shipments, such as the 18-digit Serial Shipping Container Code.

The international standards organization EPCglobal under GS1 has ratified the EPC Network standards (esp. the EPC Information Services EPCIS standard) which codify the syntax and semantics for supply chain events and the secure method for selectively sharing supply chain events with trading partners. Theses standards for Track and Tracing have been used in successful deployments in many industries and there are now a wide range of products that are certified as being compatible with these standards.

• Track and Trace - Toto-Bobo.com
• EPCglobal EPC Information Services standard
• Products certified compatible with the EPC Network standards