DOD RFID Contract Continues With Unisys

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awards Unisys its follow-on contract to enhance supply chain visibility for military logistics. ...

... "The contract, which includes firm fixed-price and time and materials work, is worth approximately $28 million in the first year, if the government continues to order time and materials work at the current level. The total value of the contract could be approximately $112 million if the government exercises all options and continues to order time and materials work at the current level. In addition, the contract provides for the award of additional fees if performance metrics are exceeded and the imposition of penalties if the metrics are not met. Award of this contract allows Unisys to continue its efforts on the RFID program that began 13 years ago. Unisys has been working with DoD to develop, maintain and enhance an in-transit visibility system utilizing radio frequency identification technology. Providing visibility almost instantaneously into the location of supplies and shipments enables the military to increase its agility to supply units and soldiers with critical supplies in a timely manner, focus on mission-critical activities and respond quickly to mission changes.

Unisys tracks approximately 125,000 shipments of supplies each week, including ammunition, food/rations and water, medical supplies, vehicles, vehicle parts and aircraft. Attached to these shipments are RFID tags that store information vital to the soldier. Unisys tracks shipments across all modes of transportation - truck, rail, ship and air - to their final destinations in combatant commands worldwide. Fixed and handheld readers send and receive radio signals to and from the tags. Because data written to each tag are replicated among five servers, users worldwide have access to the same information on each item. Consequently, decision-makers at all levels of command and throughout the logistics supply chain can plan, prioritize and redirect shipments accordingly and collaboratively. " ...

Via Unisys: Unisys Wins Bid to Continue Operating and Maintaining One of World's Largest RFID Networks for Department of Defense

Defense RFID Shipment Tracking Network

Australia uses defense tracking network with RFID-tagged shipments. The Australian Defense Force (ADF) sends the RFID-enabled shipments from Australia into the Middle East. ...

... "The shipments aboard an air freighter launched Australia's full-scale deployment of active RFID-tagged pallets and containers into the Middle East that can leverage wireless tracking networks operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, NATO, the United Kingdom and other coalition forces.

Savi Technology has enabled interoperability among each of the allies' RFID networks through the company's SmartChain(R) Consignment Management (CMA) application, which is network software that leverages Savi's family of active RFID products. RFID In-Transit Visibility networks deployed for defense forces worldwide encompass more than 2,500 locations in more than 50 countries. " ...

Via Savi Tech: Australia Defense Launches First RFID-Tagged Shipments into the Mideast Using Tracking Networks by Savi Technology

RFID Shipment Tracking and Detection

Pliant implements IBM-designed RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) platform pilot program, that tracks shipments between technical centers and customer sites. The RFID system detects tampering in shipped products and enables workforce mobility using handheld devices to track products. Potential tampering can be identified and addressed in real-time. ...

... "IBM Global Business Services consultants collaborated with Pliant to develop a comprehensive RFID technology roadmap, helping Pliant prepare and validate the RFID equipment in its labs. Pliant's IBM software and solution, which has been in place since December 2005, leverages IBM's Data Collection Server software and WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure. The software installed on Pliant's network helped to create RFID labels which were printed and deployed on pallets and the pallets were tracked as they moved between the two Pliant technical centers in Newport News, Virginia and Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. IBM consultants worked with Pliant to create Web pages on a network database to track the content and movement history of each pallet so that its location was always known.



A wireless handheld RFID reader loaded with the WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure used to scan the pallets within the plants to immediately look up pallet content information. With the support provided by the IBM Global Business Services team, Pliant now has a proven product concept to access to real-time tracking information for shipments between its two facilities. This setup allowed Pliant to download and monitor critical information which helped protect business-critical applications. " ...

Via Pliant Corporation: IBM Helps Pliant Design and Implement RFID System to Track Shipments and Detect Tampering ...

RFID Distribution Logistics

RFID technology enables business process improvement for manufacturing and warehouse operations. The shipping process is particularly suited for RFID enablement. RFID supports real-time business process automation at the shipping dock, where paperwork and shipment picking is accelerated to speed the delivery to the customer. ...

... "Once that pallet passes through a specific point at a shipping dock, then the tag is read and the contents of the data loaded earlier gets processed into the enterprise software. This in turn will generate invoices, initiate courier tracking, adjusts inventories, initiates material purchases to name just some of the impact RFID can have for your day-to-day business. Gone too are many of the headaches associated with bottlenecks in the shipping process such as verifying shipments against the bill-of-lading while drivers queue up for their pick-ups, the potential for human error in getting the wrong product on the wrong truck. " ...

Via GAORFID: RFID Technology Simplifies Distribution