GS1 general assembly attracts global business leaders to Malta

Over 300 high-calibre business leaders from 84 countries recently congregated in Malta for the general assembly of GS1, a global non-profit making organisation that develops global standards for the identification of goods and services across supply chains.

The gathering, held last month at Hilton Malta, was hosted by GS1 Malta (formerly EAN Malta) and attracted corporate leaders such as Linda Dillman, executive vice-president and CIO of Walmart; Lee Seung-Han, president and CEO of Samsung Tesco; Bob McDonald, vice-chairman of Procter & Gamble; Bernd Flickinger, COO of DHL; Hugh Roberts, president of International Commerce of Kraft Foods; and Bertrand de Senneville, operations chief of L'Oreal.

At this year's general assembly, themed 'Making Our Vision a Reality', GS1 Malta took the issue of barcoding a step further by launching its data synchronisation services, which is to see the creation of a regional data pool to serve as a hub for the Middle East and the Mediterranean region.

"Our Member Organisation (MO) has throughout its 14 years of existence always been very active. This year we have really put in a tremendous effort.

"We have organised the GA and launched the MEMA Regional Data Pool, partnered with GXS, with Malta serving as a hub to 13 countries and growing," David Calleja Urry, chairman and co-ordinator of the MEMA region, said.

"In spite of our being one of the smallest MOs within the global GS1 community, the success of this event has proved that size, in itself, is not an issue" Katya Saliba, business manager of GS1 Malta, said.

During the two-day event, a number of technical discussions, meetings for board members and networking meetings for representatives were held. Representatives from member organisations were presented with updates, critically important strategic proposals and other GS1 business during an official business session.

One of the official GA business sessions was opened by Industry, IT and Investment Minister Austin Gatt. It saw the nomination of Daniel R. Wegman as GS1 chairman.

Mr Wegman is the chief executive officer of Wegman's Food Markets, Inc., an American supermarket chain bringing in sales of US$3.8 billion last year. He replaces outgoing chairman Tim Smucker, chairman and co-CEO of J.M. Smucker Co.

Among the number of experience-sharing and informative sessions, four member organisations - GS1 China, France, Japan and Columbia - shared their experiences in making the GS1 vision a reality.

Miodrag Mitic from GS1 Global Office, spoke on the newly released GS1 Traceability Standard, a business process standard independent of the choice of enabling technology employed by companies.

The discussion presented a snapshot of traceability implementation by GS1 members and reviewed opportunities for a new suite of services to be introduced by GS1 member organisations.

Emiel Van Schaik, Industry Business Unit director for Consumer Products and Life Sciences at SAP (Germany), outlined the importance of GS1 standards in terms of collaboration between manufacturers and retailers.

He also demonstrated how SAP supports today's use of standards within its products and gave a preview of what SAP has planned for the future in the area.

A gala dinner was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, and there was also the opportunity to visit some of the more scenic attractions Malta has to offer, such as Valletta, Marsaxlokk, the Blue Grotto and the Hagar Qim temple complex.

This year's event was hosted by GS1 Malta and was sponsored by SAP and GXS. SAP is the world's largest business software company and GXS is a leading provider of B2B e-commerce solutions.

Next year's GS1 general assembly will be held in Seoul, South Korea.