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EPCglobal Certifies EPCIS Software, Foresees Stronger RFID Adoption
The EPCIS support will enable companies using the Wide-Area WIP Visibility solution to share RFID data with suppliers and customers in the supply chain. "We're leveraging EPCIS so a supplier, for example, can share notifications of every work order with its customer that has a date when goods are promised and needs to know if that delivery date can be met," says Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, VP of business development for Omnitrol Networks. "They want to know if any work-in-process is behind that may affect their own manufacturing operations."
Looking ahead, a panel of EPCglobal executives said they are optimistic that EPC deployments will continue to increase, albeit slowly, while generating a return on user investments and improving efficiencies throughout the supply chain. Chris Adcock, president of EPCglobal, said he sees promising growth in the European and Asian markets. A revision to the European Union's UHF usage regulations has made large deployments of EPC technology significantly more viable than they were just one year ago, he noted, and users there are responding.
"In the [European] consumer packaged goods and retail industry, Metro and Rewe are moving ahead with supplier programs—with Metro announcing major item-level [tagging] movement," Adcock said. In Asia, the completion of UHF regulations in China and the support of many governments, including those in Korea and Japan, are moving EPC deployments forward.
According to the panel, EPCglobal expects to complete its candidate standard for a high-frequency air-interface protocol—which could be used for item-level tagging, ticketing or other applications—in the first quarter of next year. The organization also indicated it is currently researching a means for incorporating electronic article surveillance technology, used in retail stores to thwart theft, into the EPC infrastructure for retail applications.
Still, despite the progress being made, Art Smith, CEO of GS1 Canada, acknowledged that EPCglobal had played a part in generating a level of hype surrounding the speed and evolution of EPC technology in the supply chain, which has not yet been realized. "Progress is being made," he said, adding that looking back, "we overpromoted this technology."
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Looking ahead, a panel of EPCglobal executives said they are optimistic that EPC deployments will continue to increase, albeit slowly, while generating a return on user investments and improving efficiencies throughout the supply chain. Chris Adcock, president of EPCglobal, said he sees promising growth in the European and Asian markets. A revision to the European Union's UHF usage regulations has made large deployments of EPC technology significantly more viable than they were just one year ago, he noted, and users there are responding.
"In the [European] consumer packaged goods and retail industry, Metro and Rewe are moving ahead with supplier programs—with Metro announcing major item-level [tagging] movement," Adcock said. In Asia, the completion of UHF regulations in China and the support of many governments, including those in Korea and Japan, are moving EPC deployments forward.
Still, despite the progress being made, Art Smith, CEO of GS1 Canada, acknowledged that EPCglobal had played a part in generating a level of hype surrounding the speed and evolution of EPC technology in the supply chain, which has not yet been realized. "Progress is being made," he said, adding that looking back, "we overpromoted this technology."
