RFID Technology Supports Medical Supply Support to Kosovo ...

From Medical Supply Support to Kosovo, Major William M. Stubbs, Lieutenant Commander Gary Rakes, USN, and Captain David Turnbull write ...

... "USAMMCE began using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for all shipments to Kosovo and Skopje. This allowed personnel with access to the Joint Total Asset Visibility System, the Global Transportation Network, or the automatic identification technology site in Friedrichsfeld, Germany, to track USAMMCE shipments going to Kosovo or Skopje or any other destination. USAMMCE has just begun adding commodity data to its RFID tags. Before that, only a transportation control number, which was actually the lead document number, was associated with each tag. With RFID tags, a customer can track each pallet and the commodities on each pallet. This system was not all-inclusive, because some items arrived late and were put on a pallet without enough time to add the data to the corresponding RFID tag. USAMMCE is trying to link its commercial trucks to the Defense Transportation, Reporting, and Control System. If successful, this will increase the in-transit visibility of USAMMCE medical shipments to Kosovo and to other sites it supports throughout Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia. USAMMCE continues to set the standard for focused medical logistics in the new millennium. " ...