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Information Technology News Progress claims world first item-level RFID and SOA deployment
Information Technology News Progress claims world first item-level RFID and SOA deployment | Progress claims world first item-level RFID and SOA deployment |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Thursday, 20 April 2006 | |
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The solution, which has been implemented in Dutch book retail chain Boekhandels Groep Nederland (BGN), is starting with two new, fully-automated 'SmartStores' that combine item-level RFID tagging and SOA to deliver a tightly integrated 'warehouse-to-consumer' supply chain. The first SmartStore, named 'Selexyz Scheltema*', opens on Tuesday, April 25, in Almere, Netherlands, and the second store opens in Maastricht in October. Unlike early generation RFID solutions that tag at the pallet or case-level, BGN is using item-level RFID to track the movement of individual books. This provides BGN with unique real-time visibility into both its store inventory and the overall supply chain. BGN is deploying technology from four Progress product lines that deliver the application: Progress OpenEdge as the platform for all transactions processed by the stores, Apama ESP for processing the RFID data, Sonic ESB as the integration backbone for the store automation applications, and Progress EasyAsk for natural language access to the application by end users. "The key to our success is our ability to deliver an outstanding customer experience when a customer enters one of our stores," said Jan Vink, IT Director for Boekhandels Groep Nederland. "Equally important for us is providing the tools to our marketing teams that allow them to better merchandise books. With infrastructure software, ESP (event stream processing), SOA and intelligent search applications from Progress, we have accomplished all of our business goals for this deployment. On top of that, we have built the world's first, fully-automated item-level RFID tagged store. This pioneering set of applications will go far to enhance the strength of the BGN brand with book buyers." With the new automated process, orders for books are sent to the Centraal Bookhuis order system directly from BGN's order system via the Sonic ESB. After applying the RFID tags, each encoded with a unique item level serial number, the books are packaged and shipped to the store; an ASN is then generated that lists each book in the shipment and the box in which it is contained. On arrival at the store, the shipping boxes pass through an 'RFID-tunnel' that compares the shipment with the ASN, noting any discrepancies and allowing employees to immediately reconcile them. According to Brian Hume, president of Martec International, a leading firm of retail business process experts, there are typically about 30% of orders that require reconciliation due to pricing or incorrect quantities. "Our new system implements a process that is now completely automatic and real-time, reducing both the cost and time burden on our finance department associated with reconciliation, said Matthijs van der Lely, Chief Executive Officer for Boekhandels Groep Nederland. "Our investment in item-level RFID and SOA enables us to streamline our processes and reduce costs across the supply chain, improve our profitability, and respond more quickly and effectively to shopper requests."{moscomment}
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