Sept/Oct 2004

What could be the first-ever live transatlantic RFID (radio frequency identification) project is now under way on an operation involving Océ printers and peripherals. It has been mounted jointly by shipping giant Kuehne & Nagel and Siemens Business Services.

Printers and accessories are tagged with RFID transponders at the Océ factory in Munich, and data is captured from them at an "RFID gate" at the despatch point. It is then fed into an SAP system.

Data is then captured again at Munich airport, and once again on arrival at Lufthansa Cargo's New York warehouse. Then they're read one more time at Océ's US distribution warehouse. The transit information is fed to K&N's product tracking Web site.

Significantly, the project involves both US and European EPC frequency standards, demonstrating that a single operation can work effectively with both.