Product Identification

For many years barcodes have been used to identify item numbers (SKUs). Wherever products are sold a UPC style barcode indicates the manufacturer and what the product is. Bar codes are also part of all shipping compliance mandates in use worldwide today and will continue to be used for some time.

Recent developments in RFID technology and the efforts of organizations such as EPCglobal, Inc have prompted the development of a new way to identify objects in the supply chain. The EPC (Electronic Product Code) provides a means to identify a product not only by manufacturer and SKU but by unique instance (such as serial number). With this advent every individual instance of a product may be uniquely identified. This identification may be applied specific objects, including pallets, cartons, containers, unit packs and items.

Affixing a tag to each object and implementing RFID reader choke points throughout manufacturing areas and work stations increases visibility of “work in progress” on specific products/assemblies and their movements. These movements may be tracked within a facility, organization or the global supply chain. And this visibility can be traced to each individual object on a serialized basis.