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Facts About EPC Technology
What is the Electronic Product Code (EPC)?
The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a unique number that is used to identify a specific item in the supply chain. The EPC is stored on a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, which combines a silicon chip and an antenna. Once the EPC is retrieved from the tag, it can be associated with dynamic data held in a secured database such as where an item originated or the date of its production. Much like a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), the EPC is the key that unlocks the power of the information systems that are part of the EPCglobal Network.
What is the EPCglobal Network?
The EPCglobal Network is a set of technologies that enables immediate, automatic identification of items in the supply chain, anywhere in the world. Importantly, the Network allows trading partners to exchange such information about the goods they ship among themselves. In that way, the EPCglobal Network makes organizations more effective by uncovering inefficiencies or reducing such eternal issues as counterfeiting, internal theft, and other drains on productivity and profitability.
What are the components of the EPCglobal Network?
The EPCglobal Network consists of several components that are designed to work together to make supply chains visible. The components are made up of the Electronic Product Code (EPC), tags and readers, and software that helps all of the pieces communicate in a common “language.”
The EPC sits on a tag comprised of a silicon chip and an antenna, which is attached to an item, a case of items, or a pallet of cases of items. Using RFID, the tag "communicates" its number to a reader. The reader then passes the number to a computer or local application system, known as the Object Name (see above) Service (ONS). The ONS tells the computer systems where to locate information on the secure network about the object carrying an EPC, such as when the item was produced, and where.
EPC Information Services provides a common set of data elements, a common language for communication (Physical Markup Language, or PML), and a set of defined messages for trading partners to use for storing, accessing, and communicating data about objects moving in the supply chain. The key to these information services is the EPC held in the RFID tag on each object.
EPC-IS Middleware is a software technology that acts as the central nervous system of the EPCglobal Network. The EPC-IS Middleware manages and moves information in a way that does not overload existing corporate and public networks.
How does the EPCglobal Network deliver value?
The technology allows businesses to wring out extra costs from their internal operations, from such issues as internal theft, out-of-stocks, counterfeiting, and other issues that plague them. This in turn drives down the cost of doing business, which helps businesses succeed while applying downward pressure on consumer prices.
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