Second Phase of RFID Pilot Completed

Sept. 1, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C.Printer manufacturer SATO Corp. announced the successful completion of the second phase of a pilot program designed to demonstrate real-time

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Printer manufacturer SATO Corp. announced the successful completion of the second phase of a pilot program designed to demonstrate real-time visibility of cargo moving from China to the U.S.

The second phase of GS1 EPCglobal’s Transportation and Logistics Services (TLS) Industry Action Group RFID pilot program started in November 2007. Two shipments of three containers, each consisting of 40 pallets, moved from source factories in China to distribution centers in the U.S. Parts, such as tires, and finished goods, such as laptop computers, flowed through the ports of Shanghai and Los Angeles.

The pilot project was supported by METI, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, NRI, MTI and GS1 member organizations from China, Japan and the U.S.

The parties wanted to validate the use of passive and active UHF EPC tags for sea shipments and prove the capability of the technology to provide visibility into the movement, location and disposition of assets throughout the world.