In simple terms, the electronic product code (EPC) is a unique number that identifies a specific item in the supply chain by linking serial numbers to the product information stored in a central database, and which is stored on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. Once it is retrieved from the tag, it can be associated with dynamic data such as where an item originated or the date of its production. Users of EPC codes will have to purchase the numbers from EPCglobal (www.epcglobalinc.org), the organization behind the evolving RFID standards, and which assigns these numbers to identify the manufacturer, product, and serial number.
EPCglobal , (the former Auto-ID Center) is a not-for-profit research organization headquartered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is designing the critical elements and creating global standards for the next generation bar code—called the EPC Network, also has causal partnerships with MIT and several leading retailers.
The technology system in development at EPCglobal could help businesses save billions of dollars in lost, stolen or wasted products. For example, EPC tags affixed to packaging could provide manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with the following benefits:
* Product authenticity—allows distributors and retailers to confirm, with pinpoint accuracy, whether or not the goods on their shelves are authentic, since users should have instant access to information indicating precisely when, where and by whom a product was made.
* Product availability—gives manufacturers a true "produce-to-demand" capability and will be able to eliminate excess inventory by drawing on the latest data.
* Greater efficiencies—combines "produce-to-demand" capability, plus inventory reduction and balance plus reduction in manual stock keeping, the supply chain could recognize cost efficiencies in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars.
* Enhanced recycling—codes a package as cardboard, aluminum or plastic, may allow the technology to greatly amplify and simplify and improve waste management and recycling efforts.
Data in a distribution center (DC), once within range of a reader, will be supposedly captured, accepted and then executed against by a supply chain execution (SCE) solution like a warehouse management system (WMS) or a transportation management system (TMS) application suite. With RFID/WMS/TMS integration, it could be possible to have totally automated logistics tracking processes, enabling products to pass through the DC without manual checking and scanning. For example, when an incoming shipment is physically moved into the four walls of the DC, the facility's antennae should capture information from the embedded RFID tags. These antennae then pass the data onto the WMS application, which accepts the information and automatically receives the inventory, thereby eliminating the manual receiving processes of counting and scanning individual items, cartons or pallets.
Real Time Inventory Control
Real time inventory control, tracking and alerting capabilities would be other very important advantages of RFID. As tagged inventory goes through ports and terminals, freight forwarders and the into a DC, the RFID tag provides real time visibility of an item's whereabouts at all times. With RFID, WMS and TMS suites will be able to track and maintain inventory with minimal supervision in an entire network of DCs in a fraction of the time currently required.
To that end, the EPCglobal mission is to create standards and assemble building blocks for the "Internet of Things" whereby all supply chain transactions will be logged and made available to the authorized recipients over the Internet. How would the EPC Network operate? An RFID reader would scan product (unit/case/pallet), and then an EPC Savant server would decode the EPCs, so that an object name server (ONS) would look up the product information address later on; ONS becomes equivalent to an Internet domain name server (DNS), an Internet service that translates more intuitive alphanumeric domain names into mere numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Thereafter, a physical markup language (PML) server would return specific product information to the enterprise application (ERP, WMS, etc.). Again back to analogy, PML would be equivalent to a web site, describing the physical characteristics of the product.
EPCglobal , (the former Auto-ID Center) is a not-for-profit research organization headquartered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is designing the critical elements and creating global standards for the next generation bar code—called the EPC Network, also has causal partnerships with MIT and several leading retailers.
The technology system in development at EPCglobal could help businesses save billions of dollars in lost, stolen or wasted products. For example, EPC tags affixed to packaging could provide manufacturers, distributors, and retailers with the following benefits:
* Product authenticity—allows distributors and retailers to confirm, with pinpoint accuracy, whether or not the goods on their shelves are authentic, since users should have instant access to information indicating precisely when, where and by whom a product was made.
* Product availability—gives manufacturers a true "produce-to-demand" capability and will be able to eliminate excess inventory by drawing on the latest data.
* Greater efficiencies—combines "produce-to-demand" capability, plus inventory reduction and balance plus reduction in manual stock keeping, the supply chain could recognize cost efficiencies in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars.
* Enhanced recycling—codes a package as cardboard, aluminum or plastic, may allow the technology to greatly amplify and simplify and improve waste management and recycling efforts.
Data in a distribution center (DC), once within range of a reader, will be supposedly captured, accepted and then executed against by a supply chain execution (SCE) solution like a warehouse management system (WMS) or a transportation management system (TMS) application suite. With RFID/WMS/TMS integration, it could be possible to have totally automated logistics tracking processes, enabling products to pass through the DC without manual checking and scanning. For example, when an incoming shipment is physically moved into the four walls of the DC, the facility's antennae should capture information from the embedded RFID tags. These antennae then pass the data onto the WMS application, which accepts the information and automatically receives the inventory, thereby eliminating the manual receiving processes of counting and scanning individual items, cartons or pallets.
Real Time Inventory Control
Real time inventory control, tracking and alerting capabilities would be other very important advantages of RFID. As tagged inventory goes through ports and terminals, freight forwarders and the into a DC, the RFID tag provides real time visibility of an item's whereabouts at all times. With RFID, WMS and TMS suites will be able to track and maintain inventory with minimal supervision in an entire network of DCs in a fraction of the time currently required.
To that end, the EPCglobal mission is to create standards and assemble building blocks for the "Internet of Things" whereby all supply chain transactions will be logged and made available to the authorized recipients over the Internet. How would the EPC Network operate? An RFID reader would scan product (unit/case/pallet), and then an EPC Savant server would decode the EPCs, so that an object name server (ONS) would look up the product information address later on; ONS becomes equivalent to an Internet domain name server (DNS), an Internet service that translates more intuitive alphanumeric domain names into mere numerical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Thereafter, a physical markup language (PML) server would return specific product information to the enterprise application (ERP, WMS, etc.). Again back to analogy, PML would be equivalent to a web site, describing the physical characteristics of the product.
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