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S & T Technology
Published: September 23, 2012 23:37 IST | Updated: September 23, 2012 23:37 IST

RFID-enabled services for supply chain management

M. Soundariya Preetha

A handheld RFID device used by an employee for supply chain management at a retail outlet in Coimbatore. Photo: K. Ananthan

The Hindu

Now, one can have real-time data of goods on smart phone

RFID-enabled services are increasingly used in supply chain management by fixing RFID tags on the pallets or products and using special readers to track the products. Modern tags, which can be reused any number of times, are also available now. If a retailer who sources his products from several locations and has operations in different cities wants to have real-time data of the goods in his warehouses and at the outlets, he can go in for the Radio Frequency Identificationenabled services. Dubai-based Hexomatrixx has taken the technology forward by integrating the RFID reader to smart phones. It has already tested this in some of the overseas markets and plans to launch it in India too. Raghu Menon, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hexomatrixx Corp, says solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning can be configured on the smart phone and the RFID reader can also be integrated to it. Thus the reader will send the signal and register the data on the phone. This is user-friendly and supervisors, who are on the move, can have easy access to real-time data of the inventory and details of other information about the goods at any location. Some of the large businesses are already using RFID technology, apart from bar coding. The potential is huge in supply chain management and logistics, especially in the manufacturing, life sciences, and retail segments for asset tracking, ensuring security of the products, increasing productivity and removing operational hitches. In a modern logistics facility, every process within the warehouse and distribution centre can be tracked to the pallet. The pallets are tagged with RFID. When it is ready to be moved, it is picked up on a forklift that has an RFID antenna. A portable computer on the forklift identifies the pallet, reads the RFID label and communicates the information to the warehouse management system and the data can be verified too. Hexomatrixx, which participated in the recently held Emerging Kerala meet, is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing low-cost RFID tags in India and providing the solution to small and medium-scale enterprises. Keywords: Radio Frequency Identification, RFID, RFID tags, supply chain management, bar coding, logistics, pallets

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The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Technology : RFID-enabled services for supply c...

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/rfidenabled-services-for-s...

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