GS1 Hong Kong Launches Online Track-and-Trace Platform

By Dave Friedlos

June 19, 2008—GS1 Hong Kong has launched an online track-and-trace platform to provide end-to-end supply chain visibility for global businesses operating out of Hong Kong and China.

Last year, the organization completed a two-year pilot project to test the use of Electronic Product Code (EPC) and RFID infrastructures between manufacturers, logistics providers and retailers in China, Hong Kong and the United States (see EPCglobal Hong Kong Wraps Two-Year, Multi-Company RFID Project). Four companies tested EPC RFID tags, interrogators and systems integration services as goods crossed borders and traversed supply chains from China's Pearl River Delta region to Hong Kong and several overseas destinations. The Pearl River Delta region is home to vast amounts of manufacturing companies that export goods overseas.

GS1 Hong Kong's chief executive, Anna Lin, at a press conference announcing the launch of ezTrack.

GS1 Hong Kong wanted to build an RFID infrastructure employing EPCglobal standards and services, including the Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS), a standard enabling businesses to exchange RFID and product data in real time, and the EPC Network, a suite of network services for sharing RFID data. The online platform ezTrack, also based on EPC RFID standards, allows companies to plug into a Web application without further IT investment; businesses can then trace goods from the point of manufacture, in transit, through to the point of sale.

Anna Lin, GS1 Hong Kong's chief executive, says the online platform will enable smaller firms in the region to adopt EPC-based RFID. "A shared software infrastructure online will allow companies of different sizes in the Pearl River Delta region to access RFID," she says. The companies will still need to invest in RFID hardware, including EPC tags and interrogators, but they will not have to spend huge amounts on software and licensing.

"It will be particularly useful for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do not want to invest in substantial back-end systems," Lin says. "But it will also help big businesses that do not want to tightly integrate their back-end systems with RFID software. With very little investment, companies will be able to take up RFID."

The ezTrack platform enables companies to access information regarding RFID-tagged goods moving through the supply chain, such as inventory data, progress status and delivery schedules. For an annual subscription fee, businesses receive access to ezTrack. The plug-and-play Web application ezTrack requires no IT infrastructure investment to implement or upgrade, and is scalable to incorporate future EPC-based technologies and services. The platform is interoperable with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and warehouse management software (WMS) systems, provided they comply with the EPCIS standard, and allows smooth connections with existing international standard-based network platforms to exchange real-time supply chain data.