Tokyo, February 28, 2008
- NEC Corporation has participated as a
solutions provider in an international transportation and logistics
pilot carried out on a route from Shanghai to Los Angeles. The pilot
was conducted by the Transportation and Logistics Services Industry
Action Group of EPCglobal(1), the global RFID standards organization.
Utilizing WebOTX RFID Manager, the RFID middleware product, NEC has
significantly contributed to the success of the pilot by playing a
leading role in the development of pilot systems complying with
EPCIS(2) specifications created by EPCglobal.
The goal of the pilot was to determine whether technical
specifications created by EPCglobal contributed to realization of more
advanced and efficient international logistics processes, with a view
toward the application of these specifications in practical systems.
The pilot was supported by numerous international logistics companies,
solutions providers, hardware vendors, and others.
Specifically, the pilot targeted processes related to the
transportation of tires - produced in China by a leading American
agricultural equipment manufacturer - from China to the U.S. The
pallets and containers used for loading the tires were equipped with
RFID tags conforming to EPCglobal standards. Information based on the
RFID tags read by RFID reader/writers installed at various checkpoints,
including factories, warehouses and port terminals, was shared in real
time among the companies involved, in order to track and trace the
cargo throughout the transportation process.
The results of the pilot confirmed that it was possible to share and
visualize, in real time, the time, date, location, and status of the
cargo at every step throughout the transportation process, including
handover of cargo by shippers and logistics companies and the arrival
of containers at port terminals.
A number of functions to fulfill the requirements from real-world
operations were evaluated in the pilot. For example, based on standard
transport times between checkpoints and time limits set by the shipper,
an alarm sounds if the specified time limit has expired and the cargo
has not reached the next checkpoint. In this way, the pilot confirmed
that a distribution model using EPCIS was effective in resolving
issues faced by the international logistics industry, such as creating
more accurate distribution plans and enabling a rapid response to
changes in these plans.
NEC contributed to the success of the tests as follows:
(1)Dramatically increased the efficiency of the system development
through the utilization of the RFID middleware product WebOTX RFID
Manager.
The system was constructed in a short time using the WebOTX RFID
Manager Information Service application development framework,
which was one of the first RFID middleware products in the world to
obtain EPCIS certification from EPCglobal in October, 2007.
(2)Played a leading role in the development of pilot systems suited to
real-world operations.
Using its extensive know-how in the development of products
conforming to EPCglobal specifications and its experience in the
implementation of such products, NEC contributed to the testing of
the international distribution system model's effectiveness by
designing and developing an EPCIS-based logistics management
application system that was suited to real-world logistics
processes.
"NIPPON YUSEN KABUSHIKI KAISHA（NYK LINE）and Monohakobi Technology
Institute are extremely pleased that NEC actively supported this
project and contributed to the success of the international
transportation and logistics pilot which were conducted by the
EPCglobal Transportation and Logistics Services Industry Action Group,
"said Naotaka Ishizawa; Project Manager, Technical Strategy Group,
Monohakobi Technology Institute.. "We are confident that NEC and its
WebOTX RFID Manager, an RFID middleware product that conforms to
EPCglobal specifications, will play an important role in the
development of RFID solutions in the transportation and logistics
industry."
"There are many parties involved in international transportation and
logistics industry, including shippers, forwarders, carriers, trucking
companies, and port terminal operators, in fields such as settlement
(banks for international settlement) and official procedures (customs
and quarantine). As a result, it is considered that standardization in
this industry is difficult. In this global pilot project, it is not
only shown directions for improvements in the practical aspects of
international standards developed by EPCglobal, but also taken a
significant first step toward applying these standards in a more
complex field of door-to-door (international multimodal) transport,
"said Shin-ichi Ishii; Senior Consultant, Business Transformation
Consulting Department, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. "It has also
made a very notable contribution to the creation of international
standards originating in Japan. This pilot project has been extremely
successful, and EPCglobal's activities in the industry have gained
worldwide acclaim. We would like to express our appreciation to NEC,
which played a leading role in the development and operation of the
system used in this pilot project, and ask for their continued
assistance with regard to the Transportation and Logistics Services
Industry Action Group."
Monohakobi Technology Institute is a part of the NYK LINE Group and
one of the co-chairs of the EPCglobal Transportation and Logistics
Services Industry Action Group (TLS IAG). Nomura Research Institute,
Ltd. is one of the co-chairs of the EPCglobal TLS IAG Import/Export
Working Group. Monohakobi Technology Institute and Nomura Research
Institute, Ltd. were members of the project leadership team for this
international transportation and logistics pilot.
Based on the results of the pilot, NEC will continue to actively
develop and offer products that support EPCglobal standards, thereby
contributing to greater traceability in global transportation and
logistics operations using RFID technologies.
Notes
(1) EPCglobal:
The world's largest standardization organization; involved in the
standardization of RFIDs. Positioned as a subsidiary organization of
GS1, a non-profit international standardization group, EPCglobal
promotes the proliferation of EPC (Electronic Product Code), which are
industry-leading standardization specifications that enable the
visualization of supply chains.
(2) EPCIS (EPC Information Services)
An international standard interface, specified by EPCglobal to enable
companies to share data regarding the movement and status of "objects"
that have been supplemented using RFID tags.
About NEC Corporation
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