BRIDGE

Newsletter - March 2008

BUILDING RADIO FREQUENCY

IDENTIFICATION SOLUTIONS

FOR THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Welcome to the BRIDGE Project Newsletter !

This newsletter is published every two months to keep you updated on the happenings

within the BRIDGE project. Each edition contains topical information arising from the

various Work Packages within BRIDGE as well as other BRIDGE related information.

In this issue, updates are provided on:

♦ WP8 - Manufacturing Process Application

♦ WP9 - Reusable Assets Business Application

♦ Report on the Inter-project Training Workshop

♦ Agenda of events

♦ Latest news

♦ About the BRIDGE project

Any feedback or questions contact emilie.danel@gs1.org

WP8 - Manufacturing Process Application by Alexandra Brintrup (University of Cambridge, WP8 Leader)

This work package provides a basis for introducing RFID technology within the manufacturing environment to improve production processes

Background The WP8 ‘Business Application Manufacturing Process’ is examining ways in which the role of RFID can provide accurate and complete information in a timely manner to enhance the management of production processes within a factory from raw materials to finished product. The main objective of WP8 is to enhance manufacturing processes through RFID enabled track and trace of manufacturing resources and work-in-process products. As a result, every product could carry batch level information associated with it throughout its lifecycle. The movement of goods across the manufacturing supply chain however, falls outside of this initiative as we are primarily focused on improving processes within the four walls of a manufacturing facility. The work package offers the opportunity for near real-time monitoring and management of products, processes

and functions such as personnel, materials, and testing and quality assurance procedures by integration of RFID into production planning and control systems.

A structured methodology for RFID in manufacturing WP8 team has developed and is following a structured methodology to identify RFID opportunities, aiming to provide a valuable roadmap and a number of case studies for European manufacturing organisations that are considering implementing RFID technology. An overview of the WP8 Roadmap is given in Figure 1.

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Requirements Analysis

Business

Case

Problem Analysis

Deployment

Figure 1: Methodology

• The problem analysis phase examines a list of

the uses of RFID in the general manufacturing sector. The list of uses was populated through an industrial survey encompassing JIT manufacturing of automotive assemblies, MRP controlled FMCG batch manufacturers and customised one-off products using cell manufacturing layouts. Furthermore centralised and distributed control environments were compared to examine how RFID enables a paradigm shift to holonic manufacturing. This phase therefore involves drawing a number of potential manufacturing processes from the organisation in question in which RFID technology could be used.

• Requirements Analysis phase examines the requirements for a selected number of manufacturing processes and selects a single process based on various criteria including potential improvements in the value stream, operational reliability, economic viability, organisational compatibility, and technical feasibility. In addition to process specific requirements the phase is also used to draw a number of information system and human factors requirements, inherently shaping activities that need to take place leading to the pilot.

• A Business Case is then developed to compare the costs of implementing a networked RFID system in the selected process, against the projected savings over a pre-determined time horizon, outlining the risks associated with the implementation.

This methodology was applied to Nestlé processes. The filtering of 21 processes resulted in 7 processes to be analysed in the requirements analysis phase. As a result of the subsequent positive business case for Quality Street Management, the WP8 team started preparing the trial implementation with the aim of achieving a pilot that will remain adaptable and robust for the whole duration of the pilot.

Pilot Application

Nestlé’s Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) Management process involves the set of processes required to produce the Quality Street mixed sweets brand (Figure 2). IBC are bulk containers that carry batches of work-in-progress products along to the various processes in the Nestlé factory (Figure 3). These processes include the filling and weighing of manufactured wrapped sweets to the IBC, their storage and then tipping contents on the Quality Street packing lines. The process is currently tracked using a barcode scan system with a highly seasonal volume of transactions. RFID opportunities include improvements on un-captured or wrongly captured goods issues by eliminating barcode scan errors, maintaining high level of tracking accuracy by minimising human error, ensuring quality associations between offline tested batch samples and the actual batches.

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Figure 2: Quality Street

IBC

Figure 3 : RFID set up using forklifts: Both location and IBC ID can be detected

Issues exist with the high volume of transactions and inaccuracies in the scanning operation. The solution proposed by the WP8 team includes the automation of this data capture process by forklift mounted RFID readers, eliminating the reliance on the operator for scan transactions and quality checks. Further the number of scan transactions will be increased by capturing parts of the process that is not currently captured, increasing visibility on the process and visibility on work-in-process inventory.

Prototype status Due to the complexity of routes and high numbers of capture points, it was decided to use forklift mounted RFID readers to replace handheld scanners and automate the scanning process. Locations will be tagged as well as the IBCs. Tests at the factory pointed to the use of passive Gen 2 tags. Currently various vendors are being considered and key performance indicators for monitoring the pilot activities are being determined. The pilot is envisaged to start early May, continuing for the remaining duration of the BRIDGE project. Since the start of the BRIDGE project, WP8 has prepared three reports: D8.1 Problem-Analysis Report, D8.2 Requirements Analysis, and D8.3 Business-Case Report.

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For more information on this work package please contact Alexandra Brintrup

(University of Cambridge, WP8 leader), Tel: +44 1223 765605, Fax: +44 1223 464217,

Email: ab702cam.ac.uk

The WP8 team in alphabetical order: Mark Astle (Nestlé), Paul Bowman (BT), Alexandra Brintrup (University of Cambridge),

Erica Dubach (SAP Research), Chris Kuerschner (SAP Research), Paul Roberts (Nestlé).

WP9 - Reusable Asset Management by Nicolas Poiret and Bruno Julien (GS1 France, WP9 Leader)

The objective of this work package is to improve information exchange between supply chain partners and therefore, reduce loss and costs of reusable assets. The consortium is lead by GS1 France. Participants include Carrefour, Benedicta and GS1 Germany.

Background Returnable Transport Items (RTIs) are used to assemble goods for transportation, storage, handling and product protection in the supply chain. These assets are returned to the owner for further usage. Reusable assets include: pallets, crates, barrels, gas cylinders, beer kegs, rail cars, trailers and others. We have decided to focus on the most commonly used which are pallets and crates, managed by pool operators.

Challenges of Returnable Transport Items There is a real challenge regarding the management of returnable assets. Pool providers are losing between 5% and 6% of their pallets in each of their 3 or 4 annual rotations. The pallets are principally stolen or lost. Suppliers are eager to minimize pallet storage which ensures they save on space but this results in the loss of assets. RFID plays an important role in recovering pallets. For the manufacturers, traceability is a tool for keeping track of their client’s pallets utilization. For the suppliers, it is more a tool to increase their own control of the pallet use. According to European Regulation (EC) N. 1935/2004, traceability of materials which are in contact with food is necessary (crates fall in this category).

In the context of this work package, partners only work with RTIs that are rented from pool providers (e.g. LPR or SmartFlow Pooling involved in the pilot). The returnable assets are not owned by the suppliers or retailers. The main goal is to develop a secure track and trace solution that is based on EPCglobal Network and on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

The Pilots The work package is divided into several parts. The first step was to carry out a problem analysis which led to a list of defined requirements. In order to examine operational efficiency, various business cases were analyzed. Currently, applicability within the Downstream and Upstream pilots led by Carrefour is being explored. The Downstream pilot is internal to the logistic process; it manages the movement of pallets between the distribution center of Brignoles and the store of Aix-les-Milles (in the South of France). The objective of the Upstream pilot is to track and trace a manufacturer’s RTIs from its factory to the retailer warehouse (Carrefour at Brignoles).

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These pilots strive to meet the following targets: • A better management of the pallets pool with

an improved control of information (unitarily identified): losses reduction, turnover acceleration

• An automation of the receipt, sending and inventory processes.

• An improvement in traceability process by recording the link between shipped products marked with a Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) and returnable assets marked with a Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI).

There are also some technological objectives for Carrefour: • Validate RFID performances within the context

of pallet tagging • Compare the use of wood and plastic pallets • Test different kinds of tags (particularly

rewritable tags) • Ensure the EPCIS standard relevance for the

events sharing • Explore the ONS and DS dimensions

A best practice guideline on the management of the RTI identification will also be delivered. The consortium will take into account different pilots with a similar scope e.g. the German EPAL project. (The project will focus on the traceability and management of RTI’s, specifically the wooden pallets of EPAL. EPAL is an open pool system with more than 500 millions pallets in circulation.) Regarding the RFID tagging solution the group identified different options and did a pros and cons analysis of each of them. First of all we thought that the 4 EPC UHF Gen2 tags solution (2 SSCC and 2 GRAI) would be too expensive and complex within the framework of the repair process. But this solution offers really strong technical advantages (in terms of performances). The second solution, to position 2 tags, with GRAI in fixed data and SSCC in rewritable, had a major inconvenience. On today’s market a tag which allows for encoding both the 96 bits SSCC and the 96 bits GRAI does not yet exist. Use of 512 bits UHF Gen2 tags would be required. For the Downstream pilot, we have chosen to position the 4 tags, 2 SSCC and 2 GRAI, in the angle blocks. For the Upstream pilot, we decided to choose the mix provided by the first and the second solution, with 2 tags with a blocked GRAI and a rewritable SSCC, on 512 bits, in order to do a case research. Recently, Carrefour indicated that the tests on the LPR’s pallets have shown that 4 tags work well and that gates were installed at the Carrefour’s Brignoles warehouse and Aix-les-Milles store. Therefore, the pool provider LPR has delivered Carrefour with 594 wood pallets. The next step for LPR and Carrefour will be the delivery of the buffering stock in a near future and delivery of SmartFlow Polling plastic pallets. Carrefour will undertake complementary tests with its RFID integrator. It will then be possible to compare the operability of the RFID tags on wood pallets versus plastic pallets and to provide a complete study on the performance. Pallets from the pilot

In early January, the work group of the Upstream pilot agreed on the data that will be sent to the EPCIS at each read point: Product code, Place (Reading Point), Business Step, Date and Hour. Four EPCIS events (business steps) have been identified: “shipping”, “receiving”, “holding” and “to be collected”. For holding pallets, 3 statuses have been defined: “damaged”, “to be washed” and “tag not readable” in order to explain why the pallet is not usable. The EPCglobal Network and the ONS Root developed by GS1 France will be tested to share this information. The Carrefour partner for the Upstream pilot has not yet been selected. Carrefour is looking for a supplier that could fit with the flow demands. Carrefour wishes to deal with entirely homogeneous pallets which don’t need to be opened on the logistics hub. Two suitable kinds of flows have been identified.

The first one is permanent, in homogeneous pallets and perfectly controlled. Most of these pallets are built with big products (papers for example). The value of products does not justify the use of RFID at the moment. The second one is about promotional pallet with “promotional boxes (displays)”. It would be composed of different products but with a unique destination. It could be complete pallets or only half pallets. This flow presents much more benefit. The aim is to place RFID at the best moment, early enough to implement, the right partner is yet to be found. The pilots will end by June 2008 and will be followed by an analysis and results report. WP9 will provide a recommendations report by the end of October. One of the key objectives by the end of the project in June 2009 is to compile a Technical Guideline for Reusable Asset Management.

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For more information on this topic, contact: Bruno Julien

Tel: +33 1 40 95 54 66;E-mail: bruno.julien@gs1fr.org or Nicolas Poiret

Tel: +33 1 40 95 54 50; E-mail: nicolas.poiret@gs1fr.org

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DYNAMITE - PROMISE - BRIDGE Inter-Project Training Workshop by Alexandra Brintrup (Cambridge University)

A three day inter-project training workshop was held in Lausanne on 18-20 February 2008. The workshop was organised by the members of the DYNAMITE (Dynamic Decision in Maintenance), PROMISE (Product Lifecycle Management and Information Tracking using Smart Embedded Systems) and BRIDGE (Building Radio frequency IDentification solutions for the Global Environment) projects as well as representatives from the IMS (Intelligent Manufacturing Systems) consortium with international partners of PROMISE from Japan, Australia, USA and South Korea. Participants discussed advances in wireless sensing, tracking and smart information processing technologies for Product, Asset and Maintenance Lifecycle Management and looked into the latest developments and achievements of the three organising FP6 projects. The discussions focused on commonalities across the various projects and comparisons on emerging technologies across various stages of development. BRIDGE was represented by the University of Cambridge, British Telecom and SAP, PROMISE by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, InMediasP, INDYON, ITIA, Politecnico di Milano, University of Bremen, and DYNAMITE by Centro Ricerche FIAT, Växjö University, Martechnic, Université Henri Poincaré, Zenon Automation Technologies, Prisma Electronics, and RC Athena. Participants expressed that the workshop provided an ideal platform for discussion, training and networking. Given the success, it is planned to repeat the workshop on an annual basis as the projects continue to progress.

Further information on the workshop and future workshops, please contact: Alexandra Brintrup, BRIDGE project - ab702@cam.ac.uk

Christos Emmanouilidis, DYNAMITE project - christosem@ceti.gr Dimitris Kiritsis, PROMISE project - dimitris.kiritsis@epfl.ch

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

RFID Journal LIVE! Europe 2008 4th Annual Conference & Exhibition Nov. 3-5, 2008 * Clarion Congress Hotel * Prague http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/liveeurope/

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Internet of Things 2008 26-28 March 2008 Zurich, Switzerland http://www.internet-of-things-2008.org/ BRIDGE is Bronze Sponsor of this major event and will present 2 demos during the exhibition.

EPC Technology Forum 3 April 2008 - Malaga, Spain http://www.gs1es.org/epc/aecoc_congresi.html Several members of the BRIDGE consortium are planned to speak at this conference

RSA Conference 2008 7-11 April 2008 - San Francisco, USA http://www.rsaconference.com/2008/US/home.aspx WP4 on Security will be presented at this conference

RFID Journal LIVE! 2008 - 6th Annual Conference & Exhibition April 16-18, 2008 - The Venetian Resort Hotel * Las Vegas http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/

European Supply Chain and Logistics summit 2008 13-15 May 2008 Düsseldorf, Germany http://www.supplychain.eu.com

RFIDsec 08 9-11 July 2008 Budapest, Hungary http://events.iaik.tugraz.at/RFIDSec08/index.htm BRIDGE is official sponsor of this event

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**New in the BRIDGE project**

New deliverables published With the official completion of tasks on Discovery Services, new deliverables have just been made available on the BRIDGE website, including a prototype on serial lookup services. A wealth of deliverables from other work packages have been published, among others a textile industry requirement analysis and business case, business case report and pilot preparation plan of the Pharma traceability pilot, a business case report on anti-counterfeiting, etc.

Launch of the Portable Demo BRIDGE launched an innovative software tool showing how the EPC/RFID network works in real supply chain conditions. This new tool, developed by GS1 Poland with the support of GS1 China, is expected to significantly improve the understanding of the EPC/RFID technology and contribute to increasing the use of this technology along European supply chains and beyond. The portable Demo package includes a downloadable software as well as a user manual to get rapidly started. The Portable Demo serves presentation and educational purposes and can be downloaded from the BRIDGE website.

BRIDGE General Assembly and Review Meeting At the occasion of the EPC Technology Forum to be held in Malaga, Spain on 3 April, BRIDGE will organise its General Assembly on the 2nd of April and its 3rd review meeting on 3 and 4 April.

Cluster of European RFID Projects At the occasion of the 5th CERP meeting organised on 13 February 2008, the CERP welcomed 5 newly funded projects: GRIFS, CASAGRAS, CUTELOOP, ASPIRE and EURIDICE. Patrick Guillemin from ETSI (partner of the GRIFS, CASAGRAS and CUTELOOP projects) was officially appointed new coordinator of the Cluster. More information on CERP: http://www.rfid-in-action.eu/cerp

BRIDGE is a European Union funded 3-year Integrated Project addressing ways to resolve the barriers to the implementation of RFID and EPCglobal technologies in Europe. Seven Business work packages have been set up to identify the opportunities, establish the business cases and perform trials and implementations in various sectors including anti-counterfeiting, pharmaceuticals, textile, manufacturing, re-usable assets, products in service and retail non-food items. The project includes an important research and development program in various aspects of RFID hardware, software, network and security. A series of horizontal activities will provide training and dissemination services, enabling the adoption of the technology on a large scale in Europe for the sectors addressed by BRIDGE and beyond.

ABOUT THE BRIDGE PROJECT

http://www.bridge-project.eu If you have questions regarding the BRIDGE project contact:

info@bridge-project.eu