You’ve heard of Becton, Dickinson and Company, right? Yahoo Finance reports the medical technology company currently employs 29,116 people developing, manufacturing, and selling medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents worldwide. In a recent news release, the company mentioned something else it is doing, and has been doing worldwide: supporting and using GS1. Here’s why:

“The ability to move medical products accurately and efficiently through the supply chain is critical.  With common, synchronized product and location data standards, we can help remove waste and errors throughout the entire supply chain to enable Perfect Orders,” said Steve Sichak, BD Senior Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain.  “To be successful, all healthcare supply chain stakeholders must adopt a common set of data standards and that is why BD has been so outspoken on the issue.”

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But the company is also looking ahead to coming FDA decisions and mandates for Unique Device Identification (UDI)standards in healthcare products and seeing the important relationship between data standards and successful UDI solutions:

Sichak also stressed the potential to use data standards as an enabler for Unique Device Identification (UDI) and patient safety initiatives because bar-coded products and point-of-care scanning help health facilities track products, record serial numbers and manage expiration dates.

You can see the full text of BD’s news release on this topic here. More about BD’s financials and operations available here.