Tag: Track and Trace

DHL and METRO Group start largest RFID rollout in France

Posted by | Aug 18, 2008 | |

DHL and METRO Group are starting the first national rollout of radio frequency identification (RFID) in France.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, DHL will equip all shipments to the 89 Metro Cash & Carry self-service wholesale stores in France with RFID transponders and read them out along the entire supply chain.

Some 1.3 million pallets per year will be fitted with the RFID tags to facilitate contactless and automated monitoring of the supply chain. In taking this step, DHL and METRO Group are initiating the largest RFID rollout in French retail logistics.

METRO Group is also the first retail company to join the DHL Innovation Initiative, whose members as yet are primarily technology companies.

DHL expects the major project to send a signal to the entire area of retail logistics as well as to other segments of the logistics industry.

With this project METRO Group continues to drive forward the international deployment of the technology.

In the RFID project, five DHL food logistics centers will equip all shipments to the self-service wholesale stores with RFID tags. These RFID transponders are read out during the loading process, and the data are electronically transmitted to the individual stores.

When the shipments arrive at the recipient’s facilities, the tags are read out again and the data are automatically checked against the order.

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IT Resellers, Systems Integrators Still Face RFID-Related Hurdles

Posted by | Aug 15, 2008 | |

A CompTIA survey finds that 75 percent of IT companies say they will or might offer RFID products and services in the next three years—a drop of 14 percentage points.

Although most IT resellers, systems integrators, distributors and consultants do not currently offer RFID products and services, that’s likely to change in the next three years, according to a recent survey conducted by IT industry organization CompTIA.

“The State of RFID—Fourth Annual Member Survey,” based on online interviews of 155 CompTIA members regarding their current and future RFID intentions, found that while only 13.5 percent presently offer RFID products and services, that figure is likely to grow to 75 percent within three years. Nearly one-quarter (24.5 percent) of respondents said that although they don’t currently offer RFID products and services, they plan to do so within the next three years, and 37.4 percent said they might, if clients express an interest. Only 24.5 percent indicated having no plans to offer RFID products and services.

Although this suggests 75 percent of all respondents will or might offer RFID products and services during the next three years, that total represents a drop compared with the results of previous surveys. In 2007, 84 percent of respondents said they will or might offer RFID products and services over the next three years, while in 2006, that number was 89 percent.

Hardware installation and maintenance continues to remain the top choice in terms of RFID product and service offerings, with 62 percent saying that’s what they believe their company’s RFID offerings will focus on (89 percent chose that response in 2007). Forty-six percent said they believe their company’s RFID offerings will focus on providing consulting services, 43 percent picked training and 40 percent chose software implementations. (Companies were allowed to choose more than one category.)

Among those respondents currently offering RFID products or services, 71 percent said they provide hardware installation or maintenance, 62 percent conduct software implementations and 52 percent offer consulting services.

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Spanish Postal Service to invest EUR 11 million in PDAs

Posted by | Aug 14, 2008 | |

Correos is planning to invest EUR 11 million in PDAs for delivery workers in Spain this year. It now plans to buy a further 7,000 in line with technical improvements to Spain’s postal network (with a budget of EUR 8.9 million).

Correos said it would enable mail workers across Spain’s rural and urban areas to provide a modern and up-to-date service and improve the quality of mail delivery including registered mail.

PDAs are similar to hand-held digital scanners but provide unique facilities such as digital signatures, which means the sender can know that an item has been delivered, and when. The addition of communication between postal workers and delivery offices will also improve the quality of Spanish postal services.

Royal Mail in the UK is also rolling out the use of PDA units to its entire delivery network as part of its modernisation plans. Similar equipment has already been installed in many Royal Mail vehicles.

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India Postal dept to write off PIN system

Posted by | Aug 13, 2008 | |

The department of post (DoP) proposes to introduce postal address locator (PAL) to replace the existing postal index (PIN) code. The DoP plans to make the PAL code, the standard universal post code. The existing PIN code system is getting outdated and tedious as it is primarily based on delivery post office (DPO) and not on geographical location, wherein a unique code is permanently allotted to a location.

Moreover, incomplete PIN code is of no use. In India, a district is the most well known administrative or geographical entity and since no code is allotted to a district in the PIN code system, it appears to have destroyed the district based sorting, which was the norm before 1972 when PIN was first introduced, he added. “In the new PAL code system, a unique code has to be allotted to each geographical location including village, town, locality, building, street, road, zone and city. Each digit in the code has to denote some location and most importantly, any addition of digits to the code must lead to simplification of solution and not compounding the problem,” the official noted.

The official also said that the intellectual property right for the concept and design on the PAL code is with the DoP and that no postal administration across the world could adopt it for its postal code without the prior consent of the DoP. He said, “We are undergoing a major transformation. What we need is ‘appropriate technology’ including integrated postal software, networked post offices, GPS-based mail van fleet and a fleet of aircraft for quick transmission of mails between cities and states.” He also said that if the proposal gets through, the process of introducing the PAL code will barely take 2-3 months.

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BCC Software Announces Release of Mail Manager Full Service

Posted by | Aug 7, 2008 | |

BCC Software, a BÖWE BELL + HOWELL announced the creation of a new upper tier of its mailing technology software products. With the release of Mail Manager Full Service, a comprehensive offering designed to deliver a complete suite of mail-processing functionality in a single powerful package, the highest-level mailing operations and document-processing giants now have an alternative in their search for an in-house solution.

Inspired by recent USPS announcements regarding different levels of Intelligent Mail barcode functionality-in which Full Service and Basic Service IM barcode categories have been announced-Mail Manager Full Service represents BCC’s commitment to serving all tiers of the mailing community with unique and distinctive product configurations. “As its name implies, our Full Service solution provides the optimal combination of product development and premiere-level services with the unlimited, best-in-class support that every BCC customer has always received,” said Chris Lien, BCC Executive Vice President.

Mail Manager Full Service uses as its foundation the USPS CASS/PAVE certified core technology that has made BCC’s Mail Manager 2010 presorting and list-management software a mailing-industry mainstay for the past decade.

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