Getting Started - Manufacturers

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1. Get a manufacturer identification number.

If you are a manufacturer/supplier, or if you are selling a private label product with your label affixed to the product, you will need to get a manufacturer identification number from the Electronic Commerce Council of Canada: 

One week after the ECCC receives your completed application and membership fee, you will receive your manufacturer identification number along with various ECCC publications^* mentioned throughout this document.

2. Assign a U.P.C. number to your products.

Once you have received your manufacturer identification number, you need to assign a five-digit item number to each one of your products. These five-digits will be combined with your manufacturer's identification number and the check-digit to form the 12-digit U.P.C. number. (Check-digits are explained in Appendix A.)

A few suggestions when assigning your numbers:

• Keep it simple. For example, start with 00001 and simply increment the number by one for the next product.
• Allow for the possibility of acquiring other products from a merger/acquisition.
• Refer to the product number, both internally and externally, as the full 12-digit number.
• Store the U.P.C. in your database as a 14-digit number (00 + the 12-digit U.P.C. number).

3. Assign an SCC-14 case code to each case configuration

after you have assigned U.P.C.s to each item, you need to assign SCC-14s to the shipping cases.

Remember that the SCC-14 is based on the U.P.C. item code contained within the case. Use the packaging indicator to indicate different case sizes of the same item. For example:

When a buyer wants to order the inner pack of item A, they order with the appropriate U.P.C. for that inner pack, e.g. 0 12345 67891 2. If they wish to order a case of item A, they order with the appropriate SCC-14 for that case of item A, e.g. 1 00 12345 67890 1.

 4. Send a list of your U.P.C. and SCC-14 numbers to your trading partners.

The following is an example of an SCC-14 communication:

5. Store the numbers in your database as 14-digit numbers.

As recommended by the ECCC and UCC, ensure that your database can accommodate the 14-digit global numbering structure.

When entering your numbers, left fill the 12-digit U.P.C numbers with two zeros, and any EAN-13 numbers with a single zero. The 14-digit SCC-14 will fill the complete 14 fields within the database.

The sample database below shows how the U.P.C., EAN-13 and the SCC-14 are stored within a 14-digit database.

Once numbers have been assigned and communicated to your trading partners, these numbers should then be encoded in the appropriate barcode symbologies and applied to the item/case. It is recommended, individual items and database integrity be addressed first, case barcoding second and pallet barcoding would be third.

6. Decide how you will print the barcode symbols.

You can print the barcode symbols:

• directly on the packaging material.
• on a label that will be applied on the product packaging.

7. Contact a "film master" or "barcode EPS" supplier.

Contact a supplier to create a film master or barcode EPS for each of your products. (The ECCC can provide a list of suppliers.)

A "film master" is a is an extremely accurate photographic representation of a U.P.C. that printers use to make printing plates in offset printing. A "barcode EPS’’ is the electronic equivalent of a film master, and is used with desk-top design software for direct printing. There will be one film master or barcode EPS per each product.

8. Determine where the barcode will be placed on the package.

9. Ensure that the film master is compatible with the printing process.

Contact both the printer and the film master supplier and confirm that the film master is compatible with the printing process being used by your packaging printer. The printed barcode must comply with the specifications outlined in the UCC's Guidelines for Providers of EAN/U.P.C. Symbol Design Software.

10. Verify that the barcode symbols meet scanning requirements.