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Live from GS1 Connect: J&J Beating 2027 Sunrise on UDI

The healthcare giant continues its nine-year migration from UDI to 2D GS1 DataMatrix.

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The EAN/U.P.C. barcode has offered price lookup functionality for decades. However, the traditional barcode no longer meets today’s growing demands for greater product information transparency, traceability, and authentication. Thus, industry is moving toward two-dimensional (2D) barcodes that can carry more information. 2D barcodes allow for a single standardized way to meet both supply chain needs and evolving consumer requirements, are much smaller than a linear barcode, can populate several fields at once in an inventory management system, and remains legible even when printed at a small size or etched onto a product.

Industry has set a date to transition to accepting 2D barcodes at point-of-sale (POS)—referred to as Sunrise 2027. GS1 US® is helping supply- and demand-side organizations and solution providers start migrating toward the “next dimension” of barcodes.

Screenshot 2023 06 08 At 4 06 37 PmTransitioning to 2D barcodes for POS is a multi-step process. The GS1 US Sunrise 2027 initiative lays out a plan to help ensure 2D barcodes will be usable at any retail POS by the end of 2027. With this plan as its impetus, Johnson & Johnson has fully embraced the change and moved products to the GS1 DataMatrix code. Johnson & Johnson’s Diane Riccardi walked the GS1 Connect 2023 audience through the transition and how Johnson & Johnson settled on the 2D code it chose.

“Let's talk about the QR code, introduced in 1994, and ideal in the consumer marketplace to help get information quickly,” said Riccardi. “In the medical and pharmaceutical space, Johnson & Johnson must comply with regulatory requirements: unique device identification and serialization of contents. For those reasons alone, Johnson & Johnson cannot use that QR code.”

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