April/May 2007

Leading UK parcels carrier City Link has chosen a Wi-Fi/RFID solution to track roll-cages throughout its delivery network. No fewer than 15,000 Wi-Fi tags have been installed at 70 locations in the first phase of the programme, which is said to be the largest single Wi-Fi/RFID deployment of its kind in the world so far.

The company aims to be able to maintain accurate real-time visibility of roll-cages throughout its network, and says this has already improved the efficiency and speed of its delivery services. IT director Alec Cormack says the next phase will involve tailoring the tracking capability to the needs of individual customers, which could happen later this year.

Already, up to 300,000 parcels in 15,000 cages at 70 UK locations can be monitored and located in real time from City Link's national distribution centre in Wednesbury, West Midlands.

The system has been created by AeroScout, a leader in RFID, in association with UK-based JDH Consultancy, and uses specially-developed Wi-Fi tags with an extended battery life. The basic principle behind them is that the powered tags emit a signal on Wi-Fi network frequencies, which can be picked up at depots and warehouses covered by City Link's Cisco Wi-Fi networks.

 

JDH Consultancy is said to have examined various active RFID solutions before settling on the AeroScout product, whose attractions included its Wi-Fi capability.