Norsk Lastbærer AS Pool (NLP), a Norwegian organization managing nationwide pallet leasing for retailers and manufacturers, is piloting RFID tags for tracking plastic pallets and totes. The pilot covers two food factories, Maaraud and Finsbråten, and two distribution centres for the Coop retail chain.
NLP was established in 2006 to reduce the environmental footprint of logistics operations in the Norwegian, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain. The RFID pilot is managed by Hrafn. The fixed RFID readers are provided by Impinj and the antennas by Intermec. The pilot utilizes UPM ShortDipole™ UHF EPC Gen2 RFID tags, which are specifically designed to deliver stable high performance in supply chain management applications.
All four corners of the plastic pallets are embedded with a UPM ShortDipole™ tag. Pallets loaded with goods are destined for either of two RFID-enabled Coop DCs. Handheld readers read the tags and encode them with the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) into tag’s user memory part. The readers transmit the ID number linked to the shipping details to the company’s back-end system as well as to EPCIS software, where the data is stored and made available for web access. The loaded pallets pass through a reader portal as they are transferred to trucks. The portal reads each pallet’s tags, confirming that the goods are being shipped and forwarding the information to Fosstrak software.
RFID technology increases visibility in the pallet users’ processes, which helps minimize pallets loss. The costs for the reader infrastructure are included in NLP’s pallet leasing fees, so the customer doesn’t need to invest in a reading system. NLP offers standard readers from Intermec, and customers can use the hardware to optimize their internal operations.
