HansdG at 09:49, 21 June 2026

2026-06-21T09:49:56Z

HansdG: Created page with "The '''Measurements''' information model defines the technology neutral structure for describing the physical size and quantity of trade items and packaging. It has two subsections: '''Trade Item Measurements''', aligned with the GS1 Package and Product Measurement Standard, and '''Packaging Measurements''', captured per Packaging Element using a shape aware model. Material Thickness is held separately at material level. This page describes t..."

2026-06-21T09:19:31Z

Created page with "The '''Measurements''' information model defines the technology neutral structure for describing the physical size and quantity of trade items and packaging. It has two subsections: '''Trade Item Measurements''', aligned with the GS1 Package and Product Measurement Standard, and '''Packaging Measurements''', captured per Packaging Element using a shape aware model. Material Thickness is held separately at material level. This page describes t..."

New page

The '''Measurements''' information model defines the technology neutral structure for describing the physical size and quantity of trade items and packaging. It has two subsections: '''Trade Item Measurements''', aligned with the GS1 Package and Product Measurement Standard, and '''Packaging Measurements''', captured per Packaging Element using a shape aware model. [[Material Thickness - TX|Material Thickness]] is held separately at material level.

This page describes the Information Model only. The Unit of Measure code list and Shape Type code list (L4), and the data schemas in XLS, XML and JSON (L5), are described on their own pages. Minimum Critical Dimension and recyclability roll up logic are out of scope here.

== Scope ==

The Measurements Data Topic has two subsections in this release:

* '''Trade Item Measurements''' for Sales Units, Grouped Units and Transport Units, using GS1 definitions.
* '''Packaging Measurements''' for Packaging Elements, using a context aware, shape driven model, with Material Thickness held at material level.

Packaging is described using Sales Packaging, Grouped Packaging and Transport Packaging.

== Where measurements attach ==

Measurements attach at distinct points in the packaging hierarchy, and this separation is the backbone of the model.

'''Trade Item Measurements''' describe the trade item as placed on the market or moved through logistics. They attach to the Sales Unit, the Grouped Unit and the Transport Unit, which are the levels carried in GS1 and GDSN.

'''Packaging Measurements''' describe the physical packaging itself. Outer dimensions attach to the Packaging Element, the lowest functional packaging part, while thickness attaches to the material.

{| class="wikitable"
! Level !! Meaning !! Measurement attached
|-
| Packaging Unit || Complete physical packaging defined by the Bill of Materials for one Sales, Grouped or Transport Unit. || Roll up of element measurements (optional)
|-
| Packaging Assembly Unit || A physical packaging component or SKU item in the BOM (jar, lid, label, carton, tray, flowwrap, cap, sleeve, pallet wrap). || Roll up of element measurements (optional)
|-
| Packaging Element || Lowest functional packaging part, separate or integrated. || Packaging Measurements, outer dimensions (primary input level)
|-
| Packaging Material || One or more materials that make up a Packaging Element. || Material thickness (total)
|-
| Composite Material || Individual layers within a composite material. || Layer thickness
|}

Each trade item level (Sales Unit, Grouped Unit, Transport Unit) carries its own Trade Item Measurements. Because a Sales Unit = Product + Packaging, a Sales Unit can also carry Product Measurements, which are a separate subsection of this Data Topic.

== Trade Item Measurements ==

Trade Item Measurements follow the GS1 Package and Product Measurement Standard and the GDSN trade item measurements module. The goal is a global, unambiguous and repeatable definition of the nominal size and quantity of a trade item, whether packed or unpacked.

=== Default front and the measurement process ===

Before height, width and depth can be determined, the default front of the consumer trade item must be identified. The default front is the surface with the largest area used by the brand owner to promote the product to the consumer. Where GS1 defines a specific rule for the product or packaging type, that rule is used. Where no clear promotional surface exists, the largest surface is treated as the default front.

Measurements are taken while facing the default front, with the trade item resting naturally on a flat surface. The maximum distance is always measured, including projections, caps, lids and any attached complementary products such as on packs or samples.

{| class="wikitable"
! Dimension !! GS1 definition
|-
| Height || Distance from the bottom most point to the top most point, measured facing the default front.
|-
| Width || Distance from the left most point to the right most point, measured facing the default front.
|-
| Depth || Distance from the default front to the farthest opposite surface (front to back).
|}

=== Alternative dimensions for round and irregular items ===

GS1 always derives height, width and depth from the bounding box around the trade item. For a round or cylindrical item the width and depth equal the sides of the rectangle drawn around the circle, so for a perfect cylinder width equals depth equals the diameter. To capture this explicitly, the model supports an alternative attribute, diameter, which records the widest circular cross section. Diameter is provided in addition to or instead of width and depth depending on the receiving system and the GS1 rule for the product type.

* Rectangular and box shaped items: use height, width and depth.
* Round, cylindrical or oval items: use height plus diameter, and where required also width and depth as the bounding rectangle.

=== Trade Item Measurement attributes ===

Each linear attribute is a measured value with a unit of measure from the Unit of Measure code list (length subset). Weight and content attributes use the mass and volume subsets. The GDSN mapping gives the GS1 attribute used for data exchange.

{| class="wikitable"
! Attribute !! Definition !! Type / unit !! Card. !! GDSN mapping
|-
| height || Vertical outer dimension facing the default front. || Measurement, length || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/height
|-
| width || Horizontal outer dimension facing the default front. || Measurement, length || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/width
|-
| depth || Front to back outer dimension facing the default front. || Measurement, length || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/depth
|-
| diameter || Widest circular cross section for round or cylindrical items. || Measurement, length || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/diameter
|-
| netContent || Declared content of the consumer unit, including liquid where applicable. || Measurement, volume or mass or count || 0..n || netContent
|-
| netWeight || Weight of the trade item contents excluding packaging. || Measurement, mass || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/netWeight
|-
| grossWeight || Weight including packaging. || Measurement, mass || 0..1 || tradeItemMeasurements/grossWeight
|-
| drainedWeight || Weight of solid content excluding packing liquid, for items packed in brine, syrup or oil. || Measurement, mass || 0..1 || drainedWeight
|}

'''Applies to:''' Sales Unit, Grouped Unit and Transport Unit. The same attribute set is reused at each trade item level; the level is identified by the parent object, not by separate attributes.

== Packaging Measurements ==

Packaging Measurements describe the physical outer dimensions of a single Packaging Element. The input is context aware: the user first selects or inherits an Outershape, and the shape then determines which dimension fields are shown, which units apply by default, and which optional attributes such as nominal capacity are relevant. Thickness is not part of the shape; it is held on the material.

=== The Outershape concept ===

Every Packaging Element has one Outershape, for example Box, Cylinder or Sheet / Film / Band. The Outershape is usually derived automatically from the selected Packaging Element Type (a bottle resolves to Cylinder, a tray resolves to Box) and is user overridable. The shape controls which of the four dimension fields are presented and the default unit of each field. A Packaging Element cannot record dimensions until its Outershape is set.

=== Dimension field codes ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Code !! Field !! Notes
|-
| L || Length || Longest planar dimension.
|-
| W || Width || Second planar dimension.
|-
| H || Height || Vertical dimension.
|-
| D || Diameter || Widest circular cross section.
|}

Thickness is deliberately not a dimension field. It is a property of the material, not of the outer shape, and is modelled at material level.

=== Shape registry ===

The shape registry is stored once as reference data (an L4 code list). Each shape declares the ordered set of dimension fields it requires. Because thickness is held on the material, the Sheet / Film / Band shape covers all flat forms, from broad sheets and films to narrow bands and straps, which are geometrically identical to a sheet.

{| class="wikitable"
! Shape !! Dimension fields !! Typical packaging examples
|-
| Box || L, W, H || Carton, tray, case, folding box, rigid box
|-
| Cylinder || D, H || Bottle, can, jar, tube, cup, cap
|-
| Sheet / Film / Band || L, W || Label, film, foil, laminate web, lidding, liner, layer pad, sleeve, tape, band, tear strip, pallet strap
|-
| Cord || D, L || Tie, string, drawstring, handle cord
|-
| Sphere || D || Ball, bead, spherical closure
|}

=== Units and defaults ===

Each dimension field carries its own unit of measure. Allowed length units are m, dm, cm and mm. Allowed capacity units are l, dl, cl and ml. The default unit is mm for all dimension fields. Thickness is handled separately at material level, with its own unit handling including um (micrometre) for thin films and foils.

{| class="wikitable"
! Field context !! Default unit
|-
| Dimension fields (L, W, H, D), all shapes || mm
|-
| Nominal capacity (container class only) || ml
|}

When the Outershape changes, values for fields that exist on both shapes are preserved and units for removed fields are cleared. For example, changing Box to Sheet / Film / Band keeps L and W and drops H.

=== Element class and conditional attributes ===

Whether a Packaging Element can record a nominal capacity depends on its element class. Containers hold a product and therefore carry a nominal capacity; closures and other elements do not.

{| class="wikitable"
! Element class !! Dimensions !! Nominal capacity
|-
| Container (bottle, jar, can, tube, cup) || Yes || Yes
|-
| Closure (cap, lid, stopper) || Yes || No
|-
| Other (label, sleeve, tray, insert) || Yes || No
|}

=== Packaging Measurement attributes ===

Dimensions are stored as two parallel maps on the element: a value per field code and a unit per field code. Only the fields declared by the Outershape are populated.

{| class="wikitable"
! Attribute !! Definition !! Type / unit !! Card.
|-
| outershapeCode || Reference to the Outershape in the shape registry. || Code (Shape Type list) || 1..1
|-
| dimensionValue[field] || Measured value for a declared dimension field (L, W, H, D). || Decimal || 0..1 per field
|-
| dimensionUnit[field] || Unit of measure for that dimension field. || Code (length subset) || 0..1 per field
|-
| nominalCapacity || Declared filling capacity of a container element. || Decimal || 0..1
|-
| nominalCapacityUnit || Unit of measure for nominal capacity. || Code (capacity subset) || 0..1
|}

== Material Thickness ==

Thickness is a property of the material, not of the element outer shape. This follows the [[Material Thickness - TX|Material Thickness]] taxonomy, which separates thickness from outer dimensions such as length, width, height, depth and diameter. Modelling thickness at material level keeps the shape registry purely geometric and matches current GDSN practice, where thickness is reported only for selected materials such as aluminium and is carried on the material.

=== Where thickness lives in the hierarchy ===

A Packaging Element consists of one or more Packaging Materials. A Packaging Material can be simple or composite. A composite Packaging Material consists of two or more Composite Materials, which are the individual layers of a laminate or multilayer structure. Thickness therefore has two variants.

{| class="wikitable"
! Level !! Thickness variant !! Meaning
|-
| Packaging Material || Material thickness || Total thickness of the material or the complete material structure.
|-
| Composite Material (layer) || Layer thickness || Thickness of one individual layer within a composite material.
|}

A simple, non composite material carries only material thickness. A composite carries a layer thickness on each Composite Material, plus a material thickness on the Packaging Material that represents the total structure.

=== Total thickness versus the sum of layers ===

For a composite, the material thickness (total) may be measured directly or derived from the sum of the layer thicknesses. Treat the layer thicknesses as the source of truth where layers are modelled. Enter the total directly for a simple material, and for a composite validate the total against the sum of the layers, flagging a mismatch rather than overwriting, so that a measured total and a calculated total stay reconcilable.

=== The Thickness type ===

Thickness reuses one shared type, applied at both the Packaging Material and Composite Material levels. The nominal value is the primary figure and is the value published for data exchange. Minimum and maximum are optional and used when a tolerance or range is required, mainly for films and foils. The default unit is mm, with um available for thin films and foils.

{| class="wikitable"
! Attribute !! Definition !! Type / unit !! Card.
|-
| nominal || Declared nominal thickness; the value published for data exchange. || Measurement, length (mm or um) || 0..1
|-
| minimum || Lower bound of the thickness range, when a range is specified. || Measurement, length || 0..1
|-
| maximum || Upper bound of the thickness range, when a range is specified. || Measurement, length || 0..1
|}

A separate average attribute is intentionally not introduced. The nominal value already represents the declared figure. If measured quality control statistics are captured later, model them as a distinct measured value rather than overloading nominal, so that the declared specification and the measured result never collide. A single nominal value satisfies the current GDSN requirement for materials such as aluminium today.

== Data model summary ==

The Measurements information model resolves to the following entities. The model is technology neutral and maps directly to relational tables, to JSON objects and to XML complex types.

{| class="wikitable"
! Entity !! Key attributes !! Attaches to
|-
| TradeItemMeasurement || height, width, depth, diameter, netContent, netWeight, grossWeight, drainedWeight (each value plus unit) || Sales Unit, Grouped Unit, Transport Unit
|-
| PackagingMeasurement || outershapeCode, dimensionValue[ ], dimensionUnit[ ], nominalCapacity, nominalCapacityUnit || Packaging Element
|-
| MaterialThickness || nominal, minimum, maximum (each value plus unit) || Packaging Material (total) and Composite Material (layer)
|-
| ShapeType (reference) || code, name, dimensionFields[ ] (subset of L, W, H, D), sortOrder || Referenced by PackagingMeasurement
|-
| UnitOfMeasure (reference) || code, name, quantityKind (length, mass, volume, count) || Referenced by all measurement values
|}

'''Reusable Measurement type.''' Every measured quantity is a pair of a decimal value and a unit of measure code. One shared Measurement type keeps Trade Item Measurements, Packaging Measurements and Material Thickness consistent and makes schema generation in XLS, XML and JSON straightforward. Material Thickness reuses this type with optional minimum and maximum, applied at the Packaging Material and Composite Material levels.

[[Category:Information Model]]

Measurements - IM - Revision history

HansdG at 09:49, 21 June 2026