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How to avoid the leading zero issue

There are a number of layers of software systems involved in serialization: line- and plant-level serialization systems, ERP-level serial number management systems, and network-facing EPCIS systems.

It’s important to understand how each of these systems represents, processes, and transforms serial numbers internally.

It turns out that some systems express serial numbers as character-based entities (letters), others express them as numeric entities (numbers).

What may seem like a quotidian trifle of interest only to math geeks can actually turn into a major business issue. Why? Character-based formats preserve any leading zeros that may be present in a serial number. As you were taught in grade school, numeric formats don’t. For example, “00012345” in a character-based system would become “12345” when stored in a numeric-based system.

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