Unilever is to be the first company to use a new RFID
(radio frequency identification) standard developed by IBM and
T3Ci.
The standard is designed to help better enable retailers,
manufacturers and organisations throughout the supply chain to
overcome information overload and share information to improve
business processes.
The two suppliers have developed the Electronic Product Code
Information Services (EPCIS) standard, and the pair now co-chair
the EPCglobal EPCIS Working Group.
EPCglobal oversees RFID standards and the new working group will
promote interoperability of the standard across RFID hardware and
software in the market.
Unilever North America has announced it will use the EPCIS
standard to query RFID data provided by retailers. Unilever will
conduct a trial using IBM's EPCIS implementation to collect and
access information from within the company's manufacturing
environment and from trading partners.
By using IBM and T3Ci reports and analysis solutions, Unilever
is looking to create additional business value in the areas of
promotion management, supply chain visibility and metrics, as well
as RFID readability.
James Jackson, Unilever vice president of IT, said, “This
standard hits at the pressing need to allow more effective exchange
of data among trading partners and simplifies interoperability
among different RFID applications, data stores and product
information management systems.”
Jackson said, “By replacing manually intensive data exchange
tasks with automated processes, more time is available for analysis
and value creation.”
EPCIS is expected to be a ratified standard by the fourth
quarter of this year.
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