Growth Markets
Changes affecting the markets in which Zetes operates can have a significant impact on the processes of companies active in those markets. This is the case with the food & beverage sector, where consecutive crises (BSE, dioxin-contaminated chicken) have given rise to stricter regulations with regard to traceability. In the pharmaceutical industry, traceability is an essential tool in the fight against counterfeiting. Postal services are faced with liberalisation, which is encouraging them to invest more in optimising their processes through automatic identification solutions.
The pharmaceutical sector: traceability is key
Zetes has developed a datamatrix marking system that can be integrated into the production lines of pharmaceutical companies.
The World Health Organisation estimates that in industrialised countries, up to 1% of medications are falsified. In order to fight this problem, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) is working on a system for checking products based on stock serialisation – i.e., the use of a unique identifier for each individual product. Those recommendations are based on the use of datamatrix code, which makes it possible to store more information than the traditional barcodes can. The impact on European production chains is already noticeable: the datamatrix has been mandatory to use in France and Turkey since January 2011, and foreign companies working with these two countries must comply with the new regulations. Moreover, in February 2011 the European Parliament adopted a directive that will have to be integrated into the legislation of EU Member States within the next few years. To meet this challenge, Zetes has developed a datamatrix marking system that can be integrated into the production lines of pharmaceutical companies. This solution can then be supplemented with other technologies (voice, image-based) at different stages in the supply chain, to ensure complete end-to-end traceability.
Postal services: market deregulation and diversification
Zetes' experience in mobility solutions can help the postal sector find new sources of income and obtain a competitive edge.
With the advent of the Internet, the proliferation of electronic communication and social media, the postal services sector is seeing new types of competitors springing. Moreover, the liberalisation of the market, instigated by the European Union several years ago with the distribution of parcels, now makes it possible for private companies to compete in the delivery of mail weighing less than 50 grams, which was traditionally monopolised by national postal services. In order to keep their position on their market, postal service organisations are being forced to improve their traditional activities and to diversify. One way of achieving this is by making use of their key competitive advantage: proximity to the end customer. By equipping employees on the ground with adapted terminals, it is becoming possible to offer a very wide range of postal services to the public. With regard to more traditional activities, solutions for tracing packages or electronic proof of delivery are ways, in which they can offer a better service to their clientele. At the same time, postal companies are able to reduce administrative work and encoding errors. In all these scenarios, Zetes’ experience in mobility solutions can help the postal sector find new sources of income and obtain a competitive edge.