I work for a company that provides data and images for cpg (consumer packaged goods) products for advertising purposes. The twelve digit break down like this: 1st digit identifies the numbering system being used (regular, coupons, and such). The next 5 digits identify the manufacturer, assigned by the UCC (Uniform Code Council). The next 5 identify the product, assigned by the manufacturer. The last is a checksum.
There are lots of problems that we run into with UPC's (also known as UCC-12). A company might own several of the 5 digit manufactuer identifiers due to mergers, aquisitions, whatever. A company might have a given product use different upc's in different regions to allow them to break sales down by region. A company might give the same upc to different products that are in different regions. A six pack of beverage will have the same upc as a single can. So UPC isn't really a unique product identifier.
As the article said, the two reasons to go to more digits are more space and compliance with the rest of the world. All the standards are ecompassed in the new GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) which is 14 digits. Those standards with less digits are left filled with zeroes.
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I work for a company that provides data and images for cpg (consumer packaged goods) products for advertising purposes. The twelve digit break down like this:
1st digit identifies the numbering system being used (regular, coupons, and such). The next 5 digits identify the manufacturer, assigned by the UCC (Uniform Code Council). The next 5 identify the product, assigned by the manufacturer. The last is a checksum.
There are lots of problems that we run into with UPC's (also known as UCC-12). A company might own several of the 5 digit manufactuer identifiers due to mergers, aquisitions, whatever. A company might have a given product use different upc's in different regions to allow them to break sales down by region. A company might give the same upc to different products that are in different regions. A six pack of beverage will have the same upc as a single can. So UPC isn't really a unique product identifier.
As the article said, the two reasons to go to more digits are more space and compliance with the rest of the world. All the standards are ecompassed in the new GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) which is 14 digits. Those standards with less digits are left filled with zeroes.