• Maria Palazzolo, executive director and CEO GS1 Australia; Michael Hadjion, engineering manager at Aspen Australia; and Margo Fraser, account manager - healthcare at GS1 Australia.
    Maria Palazzolo, executive director and CEO GS1 Australia; Michael Hadjion, engineering manager at Aspen Australia; and Margo Fraser, account manager - healthcare at GS1 Australia.
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In celebration of World Standards Day, Michael Hadjion, engineering manager at Aspen Australia, has received the GS1 Australia Standards in Action award, which recognises an individual who actively promotes the development and use of the Standards.

Hadjion was instrumental in implementing a serialisation system at Aspen Australia to meet the regulatory requirements of their target markets. 

This system is underpinned by GS1 Standards, including the use of GS1 DataMatrix barcodes and EPCIS traceability and messaging standards, and the case study will be used globally to showcase the management of serialised products.

By pairing GS1 Standards as foundations to their technology, Aspen is now enabled to supply serialised products into export markets, fully compliant with regulatory requirements. 

Using global standards for serialisation has enabled traceability in global markets and helps to tackle the issue of falsified medicines.

“Michael regularly speaks at industry events advocating the importance and value of using GS1 Standards to enable traceability within medicine supply chains,” said Catherine Koetz, director – healthcare at GS1 Australia.

“His willingness to share his knowledge with his peers and the wider sector shows just how dedicated he is to improving traceability within the sector, and ultimately, safety for patients and consumers.” 

Upon receiving his award from GS1 Australia executive director and CEO Maria Palazzolo, Hadjion said his win was a pleasant surprise, and that it has energised him to continue to broaden his knowledge on supply chain traceability within healthcare and across other sectors. 

“Over the next few years, we will see accelerated implementation of traceability systems, not just to meet increasing regulatory compliance, but because consumers will demand transparency of product authenticity, sustainability and ethical sourcing,” explained Hadjion. 

“To achieve these goals, organisations across supply chains must work collaboratively to develop interoperable and standardised systems. 

“This award celebrates the wilful sharing of industry best practices across organisations, and I am honoured that our efforts at Aspen and by our valuable solution providers have been recognised in this way.”

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