This document describes E-WMS support of HIBC bar codes.
HIBC (Health Industry Bar Code) is a bar code standard specifically for the health industry, as directed by the HIBCC (http://www.hibcc.org or http://www.ehibcc.com). This standard supports composite bar codes, to support the usage of (for example) item code, quantity and batch number in just one bar code. The goal is similar to GS1-128 (EAN128) bar coding; retrieve multiple parts of information in one scan. Like EAN128, is HIBC not a bar code symbologie type itself, but a standard on how the contents of a Code39 or Code128 bar code should be filled.
A HIBC bar code can contain one or two parts: a primary data structure and a secondary data structure. The secondary part is not mandatory. The primary part has a fixed structure and identifies the supplier and the item; the secondary part is indicated with the separator sign "/" and can have a variable (but specific defined) structure to contain serial or batch numbers, quantity and the item's expiration date.
The structure list for secondary data is rather extensive, please refer to appendix F (page 31-33) in the HIBCC document 'Supplier Labeling Standard', revision 2.3. ( http://www.hibcc.org/AUTOIDUPN/standards.htm )
The structures of secondary data listed below are based on above mentioned HIBCC document, these have been tested and are supported with E-WMS. The test data used is the same in all bar codes:
These are some samples of HIBC bar codes, the last character (check digit) below is not computed but just a sample character. The "*" (asterisk) prefix/suffix is only present in the human readable part of the bar code, not in the bar code itself. It is not considered a part of the bar code.
Company has batch item "1000B". In menu WMS, Setup, Scancodes scan code 'A9995900010' has been configured.
In menu System, E-WMS, Scanners, General scanner settings, both prefix and suffix are configured as "(" and ")". The following bar code is used in the warehouse: On the hand terminal, menu Counts is started and on input of 'item code', this bar code is scanned:
The complete scanned code is "(+A9995900010/$$8244150928223C001%)".
After the automatic ENTER of the scanner the item is recognized from the scan code, the batch is correctly prefilled as '3C001', and the batch end date is set to '28th September 2015'.