UCC APPOINTS JUCKETT FULL-TIME STAFF PRESIDENT

MATT NANNERY

DAYTON, Ohio -- The Uniform Code Council appointed longtime executive vice president Hal Juckett to be council president Jan. 1.

The appointment is considered especially important since the title of UCC president had in the past been conferred as an honorary position to volunteer board members. With Juckett's promotion, it is now a full-time, on-site staff position.

"The job has grown in stature to the point that the UCC had to re-evaluate its importance," Juckett said.

He said the council will focus heavily in the next several years on supporting the supermarket industry's Efficient Consumer Response initiative with widely accepted barcode, container code and computer communications standards.

"ECR is really the fulfillment of what the UCC has been trying to do over the past few years," Juckett said. "We want to give the industry the support it needs to make the technological changes that will reduce cost and improve efficiency. We are involved in nine different ECR projects now."

Promotion of such standards as the UCC/EAN-128 code for use on shipping containers and SIL (Standard Interface Language) as a standard for EDI communications are among those projects.

Bob Rich Jr., president of Rich Products Co., Buffalo, N.Y., formerly held the title of UCC president. He has replaced retiring David Jenkins as chairman of the council. Craig Schnuck, chief executive officer of Schnuck Markets, St. Louis, has assumed the post of vice chairman.

"We are fortunate to have the kind of leadership we have on a voluntary basis," Juckett said.