Last month I got a call from a journalist who admitted he didn't know much about RFID, but wanted to learn. He asked if I could explain some of the business advantages of RFID in language that a novice could understand.

At one point he expressed surprise when I told him that sometimes items got shipped from warehouses in error. I explained that the warehouse managers might not know about the error until the wrong items arrived at the customer's.

Enter Provia. Provia makes supply chain execution software that can prevent exactly that kind of error. The software allows RFID-tagged items to be tracked at the detail level inside the distribution center or warehouse.

I learned this from an informative discussion by phone recently with Brent Forden, Alliances Manager, Provia Software.

Brent explained that once the order comes in from the customer to the distribution center, Provia's software provides intelligence to direct the order so that it can be filled without errors.

Provia software also enables RFID tags need to be placed on product at the distribution center itself, in an efficient way, if a customer needs to tag shipments in order to meet a mandate, for instance.

Many manufacturers try to avoid tagging everything at the manufacturing plant, because of the expense. Not everything needs to be tagged.

However, even putting tags on at the warehouse has drawbacks: it is disruptive to business processes, no matter how you cut it, according to Brent. "There is a huge cost in the form of labor and the hit on efficiency in a distribution center when tagging," he said. Provia's software minimizes the disruption to the labor pool, in part because it doesn't require setting up a special corner of the warehouse to do the tagging.

With Provia, the distribution center can configure by product number and retailer which shipments need to be tagged and place EPC tags on shipments themselves as well as in the EDI advance ship notices.

Brent says their software has the capability to deal with large volumes of data at the detail level within a warehouse. For instance, their software enables automatic verification that the picker is picking items for a shipment from the right cartons in the right area, and can prevent errors before the shipment gets sent to the customer. Provia also enables serial number control -- useful for high tech products where serial numbers need to be tracked for warranty purposes.

Provia's customers are mostly third party logistics companies, high tech, food and beverage, consumer product goods, and wholesale industrial distribution. A typical warehouse size averages 150,000 to 500,000 square feet, although they also serve warehouses as small as 50,000 square feet to over 1 million square feet. The software might encompass a few hundred to several hundred thousand order lines/day.

ROI usually is in the range of 12 to 18 months, although it varies by individual situation.

Tags: RFID; Business; supply chain