Edex Food

How Edex Food, an importer of food and beverages from the Balkans for major Benelux retailers, labels its pallets without errors with GS1-compliant SSCC labels and GS1-128 barcodes, through an automated integration between Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Loftware Cloud Business.

About Edex Food

Edex Food imports food and beverages from the Balkans and supplies major retailers in the Benelux. For such a chain, with international supply and delivery to distribution centers, food safety and traceability are not extras but basic conditions.

The challenge: meeting GS1 standards and traceability requirements

Edex Food wanted to deliver professionally to large distribution centers. To do so, the company had to meet the international GS1 standards. The main requirement: standardized pallet labels (SSCC), which considerably speed up goods receipt at customers, because distribution centers can process each pallet in one scan.

Traceability was also a hard requirement. In a recall, it must be immediately clear which batch was shipped to which customer. Manual registration was not an option: too error-prone and too slow for the scale at which Edex Food operates.

The solution: Dynamics 365 and Loftware Cloud Business integration

The digital transformation started with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, implemented by Aptean. Giesbus built on this with an automated integration between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Loftware Cloud Business. This connection ensures an error-free flow of data from ERP to label:

• Automatic SSCC generation: Dynamics 365 generates a unique SSCC code as soon as a pallet is ready for shipment.
• Fast data transfer: all batch numbers, expiration dates and destinations go directly from Dynamics 365 to Loftware Cloud Business.
• Validated printing: Loftware creates an official GS1-128 barcode and sends it directly to the printer, with no employee needing to retype data.

The result: a faster chain, stronger traceability

Edex Food now meets all the requirements modern retailers set for incoming goods. Concrete benefits:

• Faster goods receipt at customers: SSCC labels are processed in one scan, with no more manual checks on either side of the chain.
• Full traceability from source to end customer: in the event of a recall, it is immediately clear which batch was shipped to which retailer.
• Lower risk of errors: data comes directly from Dynamics 365, with no typos and no outdated batch data.
• Scalable with growth: new products, retailers or destinations are added in the existing Dynamics 365 and Loftware environment without reconfiguration.

Frequently asked questions about GS1 labeling and Dynamics 365 connections

What is an SSCC label and why do retailers use it?

SSCC stands for Serial Shipping Container Code, an internationally standardized 18-digit number that uniquely identifies a transport unit (such as a pallet). Retailers use SSCC labels to speed up goods receipt: one scan of the pallet immediately gives all content information. For suppliers such as Edex Food, GS1-compliant SSCC labeling is virtually mandatory to deliver to large distribution centers.

What is a GS1-128 barcode?

The GS1-128 barcode is an internationally standardized barcode type that combines multiple data elements in one code, such as SSCC, GTIN, batch number and expiration date. Application Identifiers (AI) tell a scanner what type of information is in which part of the barcode. Loftware generates these GS1-128 barcodes automatically based on data from Dynamics 365.

How do you connect Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to Loftware Cloud Business?

The connection between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Loftware Cloud Business works through an API integration: Cloud Business supports REST and web service connections that retrieve data directly from Dynamics 365. As soon as a pallet is ready for shipment in Dynamics 365, the system automatically triggers Loftware to print the right GS1-compliant label, including the SSCC code and all batch data. No manual steps and no file transfers.

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Read more about this route on the page connecting Loftware to Business Central. Are you also looking for a seamless connection between your ERP system and your labeling process? Contact Giesbus for an analysis with no obligation.

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