RFID-Enabled Tracking Ensures 100% Visibility

Some companies need supply chain visibility that goes beyond just knowing where a package or product is in transit. Companies such as Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., a $9.5 billion office equipment manufacturer, have some temperature sensitive products that have to stay within a certain temperature range from the time they leave the distribution center (DC) to when they reach their final destination.

Active Tags Monitor Ocean Container Environment
Technology consultant and investor Mitsui & Co., LTD presented Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) with a proposal to use RFID in an intermodal, global environment to achieve three criteria: automated item-level tracking, tamper-resistant shipping, and product monitoring throughout the supply chain. After receiving grant approval, Mitsui met with Fuji Xerox and implemented the project using Fuji Xerox' Hong Kong shipping port and warehouse as the end destination for the test.

The project took six months to implement and entailed designing a customized RFID software platform and mounting RFID readers (which cost up to $5,000 each) on dock doors and gantry cranes (large cranes used to move ocean containers from the container yard to the vessel). Mitsui selected Savi Technology RFID readers and Savi e-Seal security devices (433.91 MHz ISO 18000-7 active tags) for the project. The active tags cost about $100 each and have a read/write range of 50 meters (about 164 feet). "The tags were affixed to ISO standard 20-foot ocean containers," says Yoshibumi Kotsuka, former project manager of the RFID trial at Mitsui and currently a director at Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc. "The active tags featured built-in sensors that detected changes in light, temperature, and humidity." The tags receive constant sensor data input and can store several weeks' worth of data. Once an ocean container arrives in Hong Kong, authorized users read the data and confirm a controlled environment was maintained throughout the trip.