THE Gen2 RFID pilot run between Patties Foods and Montague Cold Storage was a first for Australia.
The private pilot was designed to trial RFID technology in practice, and see if it would survive in the supply chain.
Matthews Intelligent Identification supplied the software and hardware for the pilot, with input from GS1 Australia and VeriSign, and the trial wrapped up in April.
Matthews identification systems manager Mark Dingley said the aim of the pilot was to determine the reliability and integration ease of RFID
Class 1 Gen2 technology in a production environment, in a true business-to-business setting.
The pallets were tracked and traced from Patties Foods until they reached Montague.
The design phase was complete, including design of labels and tags, and a build and test phase was undertaken.
This also includes software development, integration and testing.
Matthews developed a web portal displaying the system’s precise status – such as which pallets have been produced, where they are in the supply chain, elapsed time from manufacture to supply, and so forth, according to Dingley.
The pilot used labels that looked standard and were designed to remain compatible with Woolworths’ labelling standards.
Any other authorised organisation in the supply chain receiving that pallet could gain access to a range of data including manufacturing and transport details, although not as part of the trial.
Matthews pilot project manager Owen Baker said two of the biggest challenges were ensuring the labels with embedded RFID tags survived the freezer environment, and interfacing to the VeriSign EPC-IS system.
The pilot proved trading partner companies with no electronic relationship can communicate information effectively.
- Laine Lister