Manufacturers with multinational supply chains are gaining supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of the EPCglobal Network, a combination of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, existing communications network infrastructure and the electronic product code (EPC), a system of unique identifying numbers.
Advancing the process is EPCglobal Inc. (Brussels, Belgium), the nonprofit organization charged with developing standards for the EPCglobal Network and driving its adoption worldwide. Mike Meranda, president of EPCglobal U.S. (Lawrenceville, NJ), and Hallie Forcinio, MA contributing editor, recently discussed the progress the organization has made.
MA: How is EPCglobal structured to provide worldwide coverage?
Meranda: EPCglobal is a joint venture between GS1 (Brussels, Belgium), formerly EAN International, and GS1 U.S. (Lawrenceville, NJ), formerly the Uniform Code Council. They are the organizations that commercialized and governed the use of the universal product code (UPC) for more than 30 years around the world.
EPCglobal Inc. has 103 country-based member organizations that help companies adopt and implement EPC technology and the EPCglobal Network in their regions. EPCglobal U.S. is one of those organizations.
MA: How global is EPCglobal's membership?
Meranda: EPCglobal's membership is made up of more than 600 companies from around the world. These companies represent end users such as Procter & Gamble, Abbott Laboratories, Metro, Tesco, Wal-Mart and Target as well as solutions providers such as Phillips, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft.
Even more importantly, subscribers represent multiple industries, from retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to pharmaceutical, automotive, high-technology and apparel companies.
EPCglobal has strong representation from multiple regions of the world, including the United States, the European Union and Asia. In recent months, Asia has been the fastest growing region.
MA: How does growth in member numbers correlate to geography? In other words, where is EPCglobal membership growing the fastest?
Meranda: Our records show that Asia's membership grew 410% between June 2004 and June 2005. North America's membership grew 161% during the same period. Europe's grew 136%, and membership in the Middle East and Africa grew 100%. Overall, end users, rather than solution providers, are driving these strong membership gains.
MA: What are the organization's goals for 2005-2006? For 2007-2008?
Meranda: Our goal is simple -- to enable the broad commercialization, adoption and implementation of EPC technology around the world.
Since the formation of EPCglobal in 2003 we have made tremendous progress in building our implementation network, creating and ratifying the ultra-high frequency (UHF) Generation 2 standard, providing critical groups (such as public policy officials) with information about the benefits of EPC technology and much more. Through this work and the work of our subscriber community, we believe we are ushering in a new era of connected commerce where companies and their trading partners can share information, have greater visibility into their supply chains and achieve greater efficiencies than ever before.
In the coming years, our goals will remain the same -- to build the standards that fuel the broad-based adoption and implementation of the EPCglobal Network so that its benefits may be enjoyed by all.
MA: How is the organization addressing the variations in UHF frequencies used worldwide?
Meranda: Provisions were made in the development of the UHF Gen 2 standard that facilitate the communication from tags to readers at frequency levels that may vary around the world.
MA: How is the organization addressing the variations in reader power used worldwide?
Meranda: The UHF Generation 2 standard was written to handle variations in communicating between tags and readers. While it is not possible to account for every variable factor, the UHF Generation 2 standard provides the basis for building products that are interoperable around the world.
MA: What issues related to global usage of EPC RFID have been solved?
Meranda: EPCglobal has been at the forefront in listening to and addressing the concerns of consumers and subscribers on a global basis.
Through the international organization's Public Policy Steering Committee, EPCglobal is working to identify and address the concerns of consumers in the areas of privacy, the environment and health and safety. We will continue to lead in these areas and provide information and education where appropriate for the responsible deployment of the technology around the world.
On a more technical level, EPCglobal's Action Groups are structured to identify and address issues as standards are developed. Action Groups currently at work include the Hardware Action Group, the Software Action Group, the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Business Action Group and the Healthcare Life Sciences Business Action Group.
MA: What issues related to global usage of EPC RFID are being addressed?
Meranda: EPCglobal is chartered to assist end users in addressing and solving key business issues in the supply chain. From that point of view, EPCglobal will continue to look at the various needs of specific industries around the world, including CPG, healthcare and pharmaceutical, logistics and transportation, retail, aerospace and defense, among others.
The organization and its community will then work together to create globally interoperable, standards-based solutions that best meet the needs of small and large companies.
MA: What advice do you have for companies with multinational supply chains who wish to use EPC RFID end-to-end?
Meranda: There has never been a better time to pilot, launch and learn about the technology. Our members are receiving many valuable tools that will help them implement the technology in their supply chains. By subscribing to EPCglobal, multinational companies gain a place to come listen and learn from other industry leaders as they pioneer this new technology. That's invaluable.
MA: What role does the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) play in the development of EPC standards?
Meranda: The EPCglobal standards development process identifies end user needs and then sets out to address them with a collaborative and consensus-driven approach. We submit our standards to ISO after the ratification of our standards for its consideration to help bring together the global standards community.
MA: Where are we in the ISO process?
Meranda: We have submitted our ratified standard to ISO for implementation into its standards. This process is moving forward. We fully expect to receive ISO certification in 2006.
MA: How will the ISO process move forward?
Meranda: ISO will continue to review the candidate and move it through its process. We have enjoyed a positive relationship with ISO and expect the specification will be added to its standards.
MA: What needs to happen before use of EPC RFID is seamless across the world?
Meranda: We have accomplished that task and are well on our way to making it ubiquitous. With the ratification of UHF Gen 2, EPCs can be read in Beijing, Berlin and Boston using our standards.
MA: What will usage of EPC RFID be like in 2010?
Meranda: It is too early to be able to itemize all the ways EPC technology will change business. We believe we have entered a new era of connected commerce where manufacturers, trading partners and consumers will reap the benefits in their shopping experiences and in the bottom lines of their businesses. This inexorably leads to lower costs, lower prices, better availability and safer transportation of the goods that are critical to our lives.