Supply chain, printer vendors gear up for RFID's Gen 2 electronic product code
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2004 7:00:00 AM
One of the most awaited standards in the RFID market wasn't finalized in time for September's Frontline Solutions Conference & Expo, but that didn't stop vendors from announcing partnerships aimed at simpler compliance with retailers' RFID mandates.
The show—held September 13-15 at Chicago's Navy Pier—preceded finalization of Gen 2 electronic product code (EPC) specifications, expected during Q4 2004. EPC is an RFID technology that can uniquely identify pallets, cases, or items in a supply chain. Retail giants including Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, Ark., will phase in mandates for EPC tagging at the pallet and case level over the next two years.
RFID vendors at Frontline say although Gen 2 tags and readers won't be ready until the first half of next year, techniques learned in pilots with earlier-generation technology will not be wasted.
"There is definite value to the piloting that's gone on already," says Chris Warner, marketing director with Matrics, a tag and reader vendor acquired by Symbol Technologies just before Frontline. "Some of the basic factors—such as the best location to place the tag on cases and pallets—won't change much."
Manuel Albers, director of business development, identification for Philips Semiconductors, which makes chips for EPC tags, says Gen 2 should have increased performance versus earlier generations, and will make the tags compatible with tag specifications in Europe. "It should be a fairly seamless migration [to Gen 2 tags]," says Albers.
Philips already is developing silicon in keeping with draft specifications for Gen 2, Albers says, and once these are turned into tags by partners and tested, a volume supply should be ready in Q2 2005. Other RFID technology vendors at Frontline also expect to be able to ramp up production of Gen 2 products.
While the standards evolve under the auspices of EPCglobal ( www.epcglobalinc.org) RFID technology vendors and enterprise application vendors are busy forging partnerships. Case-in-point is supply chain execution vendor RedPrairie Corp., which, at Frontline, announced integration of its compliance applications with an EPC printer-applicator solution from Weber Marking Systems that uses a print engine from Zebra Technologies to encode an EPC label. Rising demand for such print-and-apply solutions is expected as EPC mandates kick in, and suppliers look for efficient ways of applying the tags.
"We don't make the tags, the readers, nor other hardware for EPC," says Ken Finkel, strategic accounts group leader with RedPrairie. "Instead, we bring a business-solutions focus to compliance. That means focusing on how EPC will affect the way you run your warehouse and other operations, what software integration you'll need, and what third parties need to be brought in."
