RFID Enables Process Improvement At HP Distribution Centers

RFID mandates are in the works in a variety of industries and many companies are testing the RFID waters. Technology solutions provider Hewlett- Packard Company (HP) began examining Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology more than three years ago, when the company's logistics council identified RFID as a technology that should be investigated, reports Greg Edds, manager of HP global operations. Based in Houston, Edds works within HP's program management office in global logistics, and has been a program manager in the company's RFID program from the very beginning.

HP began its first proof of concept effort in December 2002. "This was before EPCglobal was formed," Edds observes. "There were a lot of different standards for frequencies, and the EPC standard as we know it today did not exist." The company decided to use 13.56 MHz technology with 1 KB tags in its initial effort. The proof of concept was conducted at HP's product completion center and DC for consumer printers. Located adjacent to each other in Memphis, Tenn., the two facilities are connected by a 100-foot conveyor.

At the product completion center, "we connected RFID at the end of the line with the shop floor system," Edds says. "As each printer case was placed on the pallet, we would scan the serial number and bar code." This action triggered the shop floor system to interface to an RFID handheld reader and write information that included the printer part and serial numbers as well as date and time of manufacture onto the RFID tag. The pallet tag was tracked from manufacturing to the DC. Then, when the pallet was ready to be shipped, the pallet tag was scanned at the dock door.

Through this proof of concept initiative, Edds says, "we learned a number of things about the technology's capabilities, including how we could interface with existing systems in our factory, and what data could be made available at that time." HP concluded from the initiative that the technology did offer value and commissioned two follow-up pilots.