IGPS Rolls Out RFID-Enabled Plastic Pallets

RFID systems integrator Xterprise is providing the RFID tags. These tags will be encoded with the GRAI serial number as the pallet passes down the conveyor belt at the factory where it is manufactured, says Dean Frew, Xterprise's president and CEO. This week, IGPS announced it had entered into an agreement with Netherlands-based Schoeller Arca Systems to manufacture several million pallets for the company.

Xterprise is also providing its XARM software to sequence, create and encode unique serial numbers for each pallet's RFID tag during the pallet-manufacturing process. Moreover, the firm is providing its Track Asset Management software to manage RFID readers used at the factory. Xterprise's Analytix software will gather information from the tag data read by interrogators installed at IGPS's facilities in the United States. In this manner, IGPS will be able to track which pallets it has in inventory, automatically recording those pallets it ships and those that are returned.

Bob Moore

Xterprise will work with IGPS and logistics systems provider Ryder System to provide the necessary RFID reader hardware, software and logistics services to IGPS customers if they wish to use the RFID capabilities of the plastic pallets.

"We're going to provide a custom solution for all our customers," says IGPS president Rex Lowe. "Once a customer says they want to move forward [with RFID technology], we will work with both Xterprise and Ryder to make that happen."

Lowe points out that many customers are already using RFID technology at some level for tracing tagged cases in the supply chain. Frew says the IGPS pallet system can integrate with a company's existing RFID and warehouse-management systems.