Amsterdam, 24 april 2003 - IBM opent volgende week de eerste intelligente winkelschappen voor de supermarktketen Metro. Deze 'Winkel van de toekomst' zal worden voorzien van zogenaamde Radio Frequency Tags. Deze nieuwe tracking technologie bestaat uit smart-tags, mircochips ter grootte van een zandkorrel die verbonden zijn met antennes en centrale ontvangers. Deze smart-tags communiceren (wireless) met elkaar door gebruik te maken van een flexibel platform dat IBM voor Metro heeft ontwikkeld. De techniek is bedoeld voor een hogere product beschikbaarheid in de winkel en een efficiënter inventaris management.
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Future Store Shopping a reality with IBM
IBM's Business Consulting Group has researched the application of a system using Electronic Product Codes to improve product availability on the retail shelf. The findings show that tagging cases of goods can lead to significant savings. RFID systems applied to a distribution centre could bring a significant reduction in theft, labour costs, claims and returns and up to a 20 percent reduction in inventory carrying costs. In the future, transaction costs will be reduced, lead times for manufacture and delivery will get shorter, inventory will go down, customer availability will go up.
The tags, each containing a microchip the size of a grain of sand (and a larger antenna), can be built into clothes, vehicle parts and the packaging for food and drugs, where they can be identified by inexpensive readers in shelves, floors, doors etc. Each tag contains a code which is read when a radio wave is passed over it. The read range varies between a few centimetres and several metres.
Standard bar codes identify only the manufacturer and product, not the unique item. The bar code on one can of soft drink is the same as every other, so it's impossible to identify which one was just made and which one is about to pass its expiration date. With standard product bar codes, it's impossible to tell which package of razors was paid for and which was stolen. However, RFID with Electronic Product Codes or EPCs, makes it easy to track and trace specific items throughout the supply chain. Companies can automatically mark down items nearing their sell-by date, identify potential shoplifters and avoid misdirected shipments.
The Metro Group Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany is a perfect example. Stock in the store has been tagged with RFID labels. This means that the stock can be tracked from the distribution centre to the store shelf. Once the pallets containing the goods arrive at the store, a scan shows if any of the cases are missing, eliminating the need to physically count the shipment. Once the goods are placed on the shelves, an RFID reader embedded in the shelf sends a message to the back-office system when stocks are running low. The instant demand signal allows the retailer to avoid sales losses and frustrated shoppers due to empty shelves. The integrated IBM approach from IBM will enables Metro to streamline its supply chain and effectively manage inventory.
RFID tags are currently used in several applications including re-usable containers and in car keys as an anti-theft device. There are a few retailers internationally who are currently piloting the use of RFID on a small scale. These include Tesco in the UK and Wal-Mart in the US.
The market for RFID is in flux. During the past four years, the cost of a single tag has fallen on average from 2 Euro to around 30 cents for the passive tag. In the next two or three years, prices are expected to fall around 5 cents or less. IBM first worked with RFID more than 10 years ago and has some of the earliest patents on RF technology. The concept of RFID systems originated in the 1940`s as a means of distinguishing friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft. Large powered RFID tags, or transponders, were placed on friendly aircraft. When interrogated by a radar signal, these transponders would give the appropriate response to identify the carrying aircraft as `friendly.` This IFF (Identify: Friend or Foe) system was the first obvious use of RFID and present day aviation traffic control is still based on IFF concepts. The invention of the microchip and subsequent technological advances led to the design and use of passive RFID tags (tags that could be read without the use of on-tag power, such as batteries).
IBM first worked with RFID more than 10 years ago and has some of the earliest patents on RF technology. Today, IBM is a member of the Auto-ID Centre, a partnership of over 50 global companies and three of the world's leading research universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge in the UK, and Adelaide in Australia. The mission of the not-for-profit centre is to design the infrastructure and develop the standards to create a universal, open network for identifying individual products and tracking them through the global supply chain.
Automatic identification, or Auto-ID for short, is the broad term given to technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. It is a particular approach to leveraging RF technology using the internet to disperse data and is based on the open standards of the Electronic Product Code. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one type of Auto-ID technology. It uses radio waves to automatically identify individual items. IBM also holds several patents in elements of RFID technology.
EPC (Electronic Product Code) chips only contain a unique serial number. The data identifies physical objects, not people and the RFID system cannot associate people with the products they have bought. RFID technology aims to create a seamless integrated value chain. Looking further into the future, this system can automate the product information flow from field to store shelf, driving efficiency and cost savings. Retailers will have a phenomenal opportunity to rethink their entire supply chain approach.
IBM Business Consulting Services
IBM Business Consulting Services heeft wereldwijd meer dan 60.000 consultants en professionele ondersteuning in meer dan 160 landen en is daarmee 's werelds grootste consulting organisatie. IBM Business Consulting Services biedt klanten bedrijfsprocessen en kennis van bedrijfstakken, een grondige kennis van technologie oplossingen voor specifieke vraagstukken in een bedrijfstak en de mogelijkheid om deze oplossingen te ontwerpen, op te zetten en uit te voeren op een zodanige wijze dat per saldo toegevoegde waarde geleverd wordt. http://www.ibm.com/nl/
Voor meer informatie kunt u contact opnemen met:
Tineke Mertens
IBM Business Consulting Services
Tel. 036 545 4594
Mob. 06 200 150 92
Tineke.mertens@nl.ibm.com