Pervasive Computing

Was browsing through youtube and I found a couple of very interesting viewpoints and recordings of RFID usage in supply chain, fulfillment and logistics.

The first one is a presentation from Patrick Dixon, here is that video.

this excellent video on how RFID is used in the warehouse. Since the video is recorded in a warehouse, it's a great visual learning video, here is the video

         The demands on Supply Chain Execution nowadays involves integration to sensor, mobile devices and automation equipment including conveyors, sortation equipment to enable uninterrupted, streamlined work in the DC's, yards and manufacturing centers to name a few. Very few companies offer a flexible open architecture for software applications to "talk" to these systems. InSync Software offers a patented rules based Edgeware/Automoware that provides just this capability.

I recently had an opportunity to chat with Ashish Chona, CEO and Founder of InSync and to discuss how InSync complements Oracle SCE suite and how this will benefit our customers.

Oracle and InSync recently a partnership marrying InSync’s RFID, GPS and Sensor-driven applications with Oracles eBusiness Suite.

I had a chance to ask Ashish Chona, InSync’s CEO, about what InSync Software delivers, and what the partnership means for Oracle customers.

So InSync…Isn’t that a Boy-Band?

(laughs) Yeah, we certainly get that a lot, but no, sorry. In reality the last thing you would want is to hear me sing.

Tell me a little about InSync and your products.

InSync was founded in 2004 by myself and Ravi Panja, our Chief Technical Officer. We’re headquartered in San Jose, CA, with offices in India and Asia. Both Ravi and I had worked extensively with RFID in our past lives, and we saw a lot of opportunity and excitement in this evolving area of technology.

InSync provides customers and partners with solutions to locate and track assets, improve operational efficiencies, and reduce risks.

InSync uses a common software platform, Edgeware, for all our applications with specific add-on packages like GREENTrace, and Yard Manager that complement our  Edgeware. Our products are hardware agnostic and we support all forms of AIDC, including , RFID, GPS, barcode, wireless sensors, environmental sensors, actuators, scales, conveyers and more. Our products also support mobile devices, and our applications can run on handheld devices for mobile personnel in warehouses and beyond.

We target three distinct markets, they are supply chain, asset management, and food safety. In the supply chain category, provide solutions for warehouse automation, returnable container tracking and more. In asset management we focus on yard management and data centers. Finally, for food safety we’ve developed the GREENTrace™ solution which is used to provide customers with field-to-fork  track and trace capability for perishable foods.

What aspects of InSync technology will Oracle Customers be able to now Leverage?

Oracle customers can take advantage of InSync’s many applications as well as our patented Edgeware development platform to develop and deploy applications for locating and tracking assets, inventory visibility and management,

and much more.

InSync’s technology provides Oracle customers with a device to dashboard solution.  InSync’s products allow customers to configure, monitor and maintain sensory devices such as RFID antennas and readers, barcodes, etc. onsite-or remotely. Data gathered at sensory points, such as a dock door entrance, shipping line etc, is filtered by InSync’s application against pre-defined business logic and workflows. The result is actionable and relevant information that is integrated into Oracles eBusiness Suite, and can then be leveraged to automate processes such as sending ASNs or Invoices, alerts, or triggering additional events - All based on real-time asset movements, condition and processes.

InSync’s applications also provide real-time process metrics and process optimization capabilities. For example, in the Fresh Food industry we find that our systems bring to light logistical bottlenecks,  that in the end cause increased levels of scrap and spoiled product.  Using our system these fresh food customers are able to optimize the order truckloads of fresh produce are weighed, and unloaded into a cooler based upon the amount of time the produce has spent since harvest, maximizing freshness, and minimizing waste.

How will the Oracle and InSync relationship benefit Oracle’s customers?

InSync is basically enhancing the capabilities of Oracle’s products. Oracle customers can now incorporate sensory-based applications seamlessly into their business systems to better manage and track assets, inventory and business processes. Our products allow for scalability, so customers can prove a concept locally then scale rapidly without incurring additional deployment and integration costs.

More multi-modal goodness, this is an example of voice picking in a warehousing environment. Here a check digit is used to attach location to the item picked for inventory reconciliation later on or in Oracle's case real-time into the Warehouse Management application. There is a similar solution using voice-insight available from Oracle. You can find the demo and booth at Open World, the booth id#: 218 Moscone South.

In much the same way, the voice solution from Oracle partners also has voice directed picking and it is embedded on the Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Application - this can be either a mobile java (andriod like) or a terminal emulators for example the LXE MC7 or the Motorola MC9000 among others.

Go ahead and see the amazing capabilities of this multi-modal platform which allows you to speech enable your applications on the same mobile device & platform that runs your mobile applications!

We may even have an RFID enabled voice transaction for you which can be achieved through the mobile personalization capability in Mobile Applications - if there is interest, so is anyone interested in seeing an RFID/Speech demo on a multi-modal platform?

For inquiries email me at: daio.syngkon@oracle.com

http://bbc.co.uk/thebox

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2008/the_box/default.stm

While watching Top Gear, this particular news item caught my interest - the BBC essentially wanted to explain the global supply chain and in inference - globalization (or is it the other way around?). Their intention was to track a container all over the world for a year! and in the process demonstrate how linked we all are.

Now this kind of technology and tracking capability is certainly available right now and it is possible to "see" where your goods are at any point in time. Of course we can improve on cost of the GPS, signal fidelity, clarity and strength and I foresee a time when these containers will come embedded with one or more tracking chips. The technology used to track them will evolve from a combination of GPS, RFID, RTLS/WiFi into other manifestations, but the essence is auto-id which is not only information on what but also where, where-to, where-from and with a mature infrastructure -- how fast?