Wednesday, March 05, 2008

For the Supply Chain Guy Who Has Everything

So adaptable and cheap are RFID tags that supply chain gurus are mailing them to themselves. This is a pretty cool idea noted in Pop Science described as "mail that never gets lost". While the title is not entirely accurate - it can still get lost but you will eventually know where it has been - the use of this technology is really quite practical. Just slap one of these puppies in an envelop and you can analyze your entire supply chain. The chip enables analysts to trace the location and time spent at each step of your process thereby giving you valuable information about blockages and bottlenecks. It could become a standard management tool used to monitor supply chains.

From the article:
The technology lets users track a letter’s every move. A vibration- and tilt-sensitive motion detector determines whether the Logger was sitting idle, being sorted, or bumping along in a truck. This data syncs with the GPS locations via Google Earth, allowing officials to spot places where mail lingered too long.

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