Pervasive Computing

This article introduces us to the issues of drug counterfeiting and diversion problems and stringent legislature for Pedigree requirements from State and Federal government. We also propose an approach using an RFID based solution to address these problems. Though some of these issues reflect the global nature of procurement and proliferation of piracy some have come in the wake of tightening legislation, for example Florida item-level serialization and e-pedigree requirements coming from California.

We propose a tactical and strategic roadmap leveraging current investments in RFID to reap benefits from the investment in the future. By using serial and lot genealogy, companies can tag, trace and measure the progress of their goods throughout their lifecycle, even through the reverse supply chain - returns, refurbishments.

In the US Pharmaceutical, Life science & Biotechnology Market, Counterfeits & Diversions (Marketed & Distributed target market mismatch) pose a major problem in identifying that the correct product is received by the buyer. In addition, Pedigree & Serialization Vision & Legislature is also starting to clamp up to ensure that products are tracked and authenticated through the supply chain. This means that companies have to tag and trace each product/lot as it moves from Source to Destination or Consumption in some cases. In addition to issues like damage, loss etc, there is the additional problem of Genuineness of the product when it is eventually received and that there has been no tampering or fraud.

RFID applications which have the capability to store, cross reference, track, maintain an audit trace and authenticate the product, whether through serial, lot or case tracking and tagging will provide the most efficient long term solution for all geographic, economic, trade and physical requirements. Genealogy, the act of tracing a product from production to assembly and beyond is a capability that is required in order to be able to perform the required tracking, in addition, event driven tracking actions can also be used to determine shipping, transportation exceptions.

Coupled to Partner data interchange where the EPC is linked to an ASN, the same system can be used to validate authenticity of goods during receipt. Of course the authentication issue is rather best solved by a standards body and a proposal much like PGP of encrypting the code is one of the discussions on how to resolve this. the EPC Standards body could be proposed to be the holder to partner encrypting and decrypting keys which can be used to authenticate lots or serials as they are read. This undoubtedly places a burden on the application that is processing the tags and also opens up questions as to how to enable the dual purposes of event, location awareness with authentication.

Oracle RFID Logistics solutions provide customers with a proven Edge Server platform, BPEL capabilities embedded in the SES and Solutions with Oracle Supply Chain Execution products. The logistics applications allow tagging and tracking from manufacturing to assembly to distribution and shipping, while SES allows for flexibility, BPEL driven implementations with a view for the future. For more details refer to O.com and the section on RFID and Supply Chain Execution products.

Hope you find this first post interesting and food for thought.

This is a great example of how the Oracle RFID Infrastructure has been used in a real life implementation to provide Global visibility. Global visibility means different things to different people, but the goal is to provide visibility into location (geography), supply & fulfillment lifecycle and at granular enough intervals so that exceptions in the inbound chain with supplies can be ratified.

Visibility is not an end unto itself, exception events should drive the re-allocation of material along the supply line as and when matching determine issues with a supply tagged to a demand.

To quote, "Reading between the nodes" is a great way of providing custom granularity and with the investigation being done with WiFi or WiMax as a reader infrastructure, maybe companies can drive on the road and not have to build it (well not all of it anyway).

In a distribution environment where supply chains are stretched, the adoption of planned cross docking can help delivery efficiency and also labor reduction in the warehouse for receiving.

By tightly coupling transportation management and material allocation processes and events, the efficiencies afforded by Planned Cross Docking may be additionally complemented when RFID is used. Usually companies cross dock using two main policies- opportunistic and planned. Planned cross docking is done much earlier on in the lifecycle of a demand and is a great example of demand driven fulfillment. One of the uses is when companies target the reduction of working capital by reducing layover when the material sits idle in the DC.

When cross docking against an inbound shipment it is important that the epc be cross referenced against the LPN, Serial, Pallet etc so that the rfid putaway or receipt or checkout in the yard can be automated. Transportation events can be synchronized with the fulfillment system to leverage this enhanced global visibility and improve fulfillment rates and perfect fulfillment targets.

Additionally, by synchronizing events between the demand matching and the Transportation Planning and Execution System, exceptions with the shipment be they delays, damages or cancellations can be reacted to so that the Perfect Order can be achieved in terms of one of it's main level-2 metrics, which is On Time Delivery.

If cross docking is performed in a Yard which has been enabled for RFID/EPC CheckIn and CheckOut, the process may be even more efficient especially if crossdocked items form a major volume of shipments.