| RFID technology is facilitating a major innovation | | | | level. Goods assembled in these vessels are then |
| to supply chain management. From an article by | | | | tracked in batches defined at the source. The |
| John Lorinc in the December, 2006 edition of the | | | | benefits, here, are that fewer tags are needed, |
| Globe & Mail Report on Business Magazine, | | | | since a single tag is identified with a |
| “Every year, according to an expert cited | | | | ‘batch’ of goods instead of the |
| by the Federal Trade Commission, American | | | | individual unit of product. Another benefit of |
| merchants lose as much as $300 billion (US) in | | | | tagging the pallets and containers is to |
| revenues because they’ve lost track of | | | | continuously track the whereabouts of these |
| goods somewhere on the journey between | | | | vessels used to move the goods and this helps to |
| factory and store shelf.” Lost revenues | | | | cut down these assets being lost in the supply |
| are not the only concern in the supply chain, | | | | chain and needing to be replaced. Another reason |
| improving the productivity in transporting goods | | | | to start an RFID solution at the container level is |
| and securing the source of goods are also of | | | | because many individual products pose challenges |
| concern to professionals managing the supply | | | | for RFID technology by the way they are |
| chain. RFID technology delivers solutions to all | | | | packaged. Metal goods, goods that contain liquids |
| these needs. | | | | and very small items pose a challenge to doing |
| Overview: | | | | individual item tracking. RFID solutions are available |
| Where does an organization start to realize the | | | | here, but the cost goes up considerably. The |
| benefits of RFID? To answer this, an overview | | | | direction of the technology is toward tracking all |
| on the technology is a good start. The concept | | | | individual units of products. With advances in RFID |
| behind RFID is simple; an item (the product, or a | | | | technology, costs per tag will be driven lower and |
| pallet) has an RFID tag attached to it. The tag | | | | this will allow more RFID tagging of individual |
| contains a small integrated circuit (IC) chip that | | | | product units. |
| contains a unique ID and an antenna that allows it | | | | Open Standards: |
| to communicate to an RFID reader. When the tag | | | | The realization of the benefits of RFID technology |
| is attached to the product or pallet and then | | | | is also very dependent on open standards in the |
| ‘read’ by the RFID reader, that | | | | industry. Open standards will allow manufacturers, |
| unique ID is then associated with the product or | | | | distributors and retailer to use a common type of |
| pallet through your enterprise resource planning | | | | tag(s) and reader(s) while allowing this hardware |
| (ERP) system. This unique ID stays for the | | | | to interact with their own ERP needs and deliver |
| remaining part of product’s journey from | | | | the efficiencies promised by RFID technology. |
| the factory, right through the consumer’s | | | | EPCglobal Inc., the standards body that manages |
| purchase at the retailer. The RFID readers are | | | | UPC (Universal Product Code) information in bar |
| then placed at all key junction | | | | codes, sets the standards for how basic product |
| GAO – G2HE RFID for metal surface | | | | information is encoded in the RFID chips. The |
| GAO 5700 GEN 2 portable reader/writerpoints in | | | | standard set for supply chain management is |
| the supply chain. As the products or pallets pass | | | | referred to as “GEN 2”. GEN 2 has |
| through these readers, your ERP system is | | | | brought significant advantages over the previous |
| updated immediately on the flow of goods. This | | | | evolving standards of “Class 0” and |
| automation in the process reduces time spent | | | | “Gen 1” and these include: |
| with manual entry and the potential for human | | | | (a) GEN 2 can write to tags multiple times, |
| error of bill-of-lading details, provides real time | | | | (b) GEN 2 has longer read ranges, |
| updates on where goods are, makes more | | | | (c) GEN 2 has greater data storage capacity and |
| secure the integrity of your product shipments | | | | (d) GEN 2 has more reliable and faster read rates. |
| and helps you address bottlenecks in the system | | | | GAO RFID Solutions for SCM: |
| faster. | | | | For more information on how RFID technology |
| A Starting Point: | | | | can help your challenges in the supply chain, please |
| Therefore a good starting point to deploy RFID | | | | contact us at or call us at (416) 292-0038, ext. |
| technology is at the pallet or carton/container | | | | 601. |