Acsis, a supply chain system provider based in Marlton, N.J., has launched RFID QuickStart 2, packages of hardware and software aimed at helping manufacturers meet the radio frequency identification mandates of their customers.
Acsis launched its original QuickStart products, which focused on consumer packaged goods (CPG) and pharmaceutical manufacturers, in August last year (see Acsis Unveils QuickStart Compliance Packages). Since then, more than 20 of Acsis’ customers, including Bayer’s Consumer Care Division, are deploying RFID technology. Now, Acsis maintains, a new wave of companies have begun to realize that they need to start working with RFID.
For QuickStart 2, Acsis upgraded its original RFID starter bundles for CPG and drug suppliers and added a version for suppliers to the U.S. Department of Defense.
“These packages are geared toward the second wave of companies facing mandates from retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target or the DOD,” says Steve Brown, VP of business development at Acsis.
QuickStart 2 packages include the same core hardware and software as their predecessors. Because the new packages are aimed at smaller companies that are more likely to use their own staff to deploy RFID, Acsis eliminated the technical support and installation services included in QuickStart 1 and replaced them with online learning tools that give the customer’s IT personnel information to install the system themselves.
“With QuickStart 1 we had to schedule our people to go out and work for five days setting up the system at the customer site. Now customers can implement everything themselves in their own time,” says Brown.
Each package includes an online tutorial tool, a Dell Server and Oracle Database 10g—none of which were included in QuickStart 1. The package also includes an EPC Class 0 or Class 1 fixed-reader station from Alien Technology, Intermec Technologies or Symbol Technologies; a smart-label printer from Intermec, Zebra Technologies or Printronix; light stacks that indicate successful or unsuccessful tag readings; and Acsis’ software infrastructure. The software components included are a limited-license version of Acsis’ enterprise device integration platform, Data-Link, as well as Acsis’ EPC Repack and EPC Manager modules to enable customers to control and manage EPC data and integrate that data with their existing business applications. The server comes with all the software configured and ready for deployment.
Acsis says the key difference between the three packages is that the management software of the CPG and DOD offerings is geared toward aggregating cases on pallets, while the pharmaceutical package deals with aggregating individual units into cases.
The new packages, available immediately, sell for $55,000. Class 1 or Class 0 tags and additional hardware and support are sold separately.