Australian pilot demonstrates how to implement RFID

A multi-industry Australian consortium has released the results of a world-class pilot, called the National EPC Network Demonstrator Project Extension (or NDP Extension). This is the business case for RFID: guaranteed visibility of assets along their entire supply chain, paperless delivery, electronic proof of delivery (ePOD), and improved inventory management.

Using technology from multiple solution providers, the pilot proved that global standards created by GS1 (including EPCglobal standards) facilitates compatibility of RFID technology and allows integration of RFID with existing business processes to greater effect. The pilot achieved 100% read rates for tags, confirming the success of electronic proof of delivery (ePOD); customers in the pilot reported productivity gains of 14.3% and 22.2% when comparing old processes to new EPC/RFID-enabled processes; and, using Six Sigma Kaizen analysis, Chep estimated that 28% of end-to-end processing time could be saved per delivery journey.

"The GS1 System, incorporating Electronic Product Code (EPC) standards, provides businesses with greater control and options of what can be achieved with RFID today. Holistic integration is possible as is compatibility between different technology providers and between RFID processes and pre-existing processes," said Maria Palazzolo, CEO of GS1 Australia.

GS1 Australia and RMIT University co-managed the project with pallets supplied by Chep Asia-Pacific and NEC Australia. ACCO Australia, Capilano Honey, Franklins/Westgate Logistics, Procter & Gamble/Linfox, and MasterFoods were the customers and Telstra and Retriever Communications were the service providers. The report details why each organisation chose to join the consortium, what they learnt and what they plan to do next.

"GS1 Australia's role is to support and guide Australian businesses during their piloting and implementation of the GS1 System, including EPCglobal standards — and that is what we did in this project," said John Hearn, general manager, member & industry support, GS1 Australia.

Telstra and Retriever worked together to provide the communications solution used in the pilot. Telstra's solution enabled the EPC/RFID reads to be recorded at each site and these reads were reported via the Telstra AAM website. The website was also used for periodic reporting of RFID read events and troubleshooting during pilot trials.

Chep's truck drivers and service centre staff use rugged handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) running a retriever application to monitor the issuing, delivery and return of pallets; these PDAs provided efficiency to the ePOD process. The PDA software was modified for the NDP Extension to integrate with Telstra's AAM and to display the results of RFID reads. Within a few seconds and without any manual counting, the number of pallets loaded could be checked and matched to the number of pallets in the order. Office-based logistics staff also had real-time load information.

The report also covers a number of key challenges and learnings such as the discovery that RFID tags need to be optimised for the correct substrate prior to the implementation stage.

The pilot was also supported by the Australian government through the Information Technology Online (ITOL) program of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA).

GS1 Australia regularly runs education and training sessions about how EPC/RFID works, including real-life interactive demonstrations at Its Sydney and Melbourne Supply Chain Knowledge Centre facilities. The not-for- profit organisation works with businesses to examine their supply chain processes and identify where global standards can improve efficiencies and cut costs. It also acts as a central point for industry and trading partner collaboration and encourages business leadership through the EPC/RFID Australian Advisory Group.

Free copies of the National EPC Network Demonstrator Project Extension are available from GS1 Australia.