Tag Archives: Ken Traub

Sad News

Ken Traub (1963 – 2017)

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Photo of Ken Traub
Ken Traub

Like all of you, I was incredibly shocked and sad to hear that my friend and occasional collaborator Ken Traub passed away on Sunday.  My heart and prayers go out to his wife and son.  Ken will be remembered for a long time by people all over the world because of  the depth of his technical knowledge, the clarity of his writing, the impact of his succinct speaking, the creativity of his thinking, the passion he had for solving complex problems, and the love in his heart. 

According to Brezniak-Rodman Funeral Directors, the memorial service will be held at Temple Isaiah, 55 Lincoln Rd., Lexington, on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 11:00 am.  Memorial contributions may be made to any cancer charity.

I’ve known Ken for a few Continue reading Ken Traub (1963 – 2017) →

EUDR, Randomization

Pharma Serial Number Randomization Under The Falsified Medicines Directive

Drug companies who serve markets within the European Union (EU) have until February 9, 2019 to add serial numbers within a Data Matrix barcode to their drug packages, among many other specific requirements (see “The ‘Unique Identifier’ in the EU Delegated Act”).  The specific requirements are outlined in the EU Delegated Regulation (EUDR).  I’ve written a lot about the EUDR over the last few years (see RxTrace: Delegated Regulation).  Today I want to highlight and explain a problem that may be brewing in the implementation of the system of repositories as established by the non-profit European Medicines Verification Organization (EMVO).  The potential problem is related to the way the EMVO Continue reading Pharma Serial Number Randomization Under The Falsified Medicines Directive →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 5: Other Approaches

???????????????????This is the last of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization (this essay)

This week Ken talks about other approaches to serial number randomization.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 5: Other Approaches →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 4: The Algorithmic Approach

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iStock_000016749706SmallerThis is the fourth installment of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis 
  4. Algorithmic Approach (this essay)
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

In this installment, Ken explains the algorithmic approach to serial number randomization.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 4: The Algorithmic Approach →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 3: Threat Analysis

Hacker typing on a laptopThis is the third of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization
  3. Threat Analysis (this essay)
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

This week Ken introduces the concept of threat analysis.  – Dirk. Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 3: Threat Analysis →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 2: Properties of Randomization

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iStock_000011797297SmallerThis is the second of a five part interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant, on GS1 serial number randomization.  The full series includes essays covering:

  1. GS1 Serial Number Considerations
  2. Properties of Randomization (this essay)
  3. Threat Analysis
  4. Algorithmic Approach
  5. Other Approaches to Randomization

This week Ken introduces three properties of randomization.  — Dirk.

Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 2: Properties of Randomization →

Randomization

Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 1: GS1 Serial Number Considerations

Ken Traub
Ken Traub

Over the next two weeks I have a very special treat for RxTrace readers.  It is an interview with Ken Traub, GS1 standards expert and independent consultant.  The subject is GS1 serial number randomization, something so important that I think pharma companies ought to give deep thought to it before they turn on their serial number applications.

Pharma manufacturer who sell into the E.U. and/or Brazil markets will be forced to randomize their serial numbers because of regulatory requirements, but even those who only sell into the U.S. market should strongly consider randomization.  I’ll have more to say about why in a follow-up essay after this series is over.

Because the interview with Ken covers the topic so thoroughly, it is long.  That’s good, because it provides readers with an easy to understand explanation of everything they need to know about randomizing.  But it also makes for a very long essay, so I have broken the interview down into five RxTrace essays.  Read sequentially, they contain the complete interview.  The subtopics covered by those essays include: Continue reading Randomization—An Interview with Ken Traub—Part 1: GS1 Serial Number Considerations →

Barcodes, RFID

InBrief: RFID and Barcode Interoperability

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There is a new and valuable resource available for anyone who needs to make use of both GS1 RFID and GS1 barcodes–or even just one or the other–on any product or shipping container and in any supply chain.  It is called “RFID Bar Code Interoperability, GS1 Guideline” and it is available as a free PDF download here on the GS1 website.

This is a guidance document, which means that it isn’t a standard itself but draws contents from GS1 standards documents to better explain the subject.  In this particular case it draws primarily from the GS1 General Specifications and the Tag Data Standard.  Both of those source documents are huge and so you will find this new guidance document a relative joy to read if you need this kind of information.

Even if you are already familiar with GS1’s RFID and barcode standards, intermingling them so that they are fully interoperable in a single application isn’t Continue reading InBrief: RFID and Barcode Interoperability →