Improved Logistics for Aid Organizations

2008-Mar-16 | Siemens IT experts have developed a new RFID-based software that will enable international aid organizations to easily gain a comprehensive overview of the status of their deliveries to disaster areas. The real-time system with immediate feedback will allow the organizations to continuously track transported goods until they reach their destinations. What’s more, it provides information on warehousing and return shipments. The new system will therefore help organizations such as the International Red Cross in their planning and allow them to determine when life-saving supplies will arrive or need to be re-ordered.

During development of the new system, the experts at Siemens IT Solutions and Services for the first time combined RFID technology with an SAP application and the cellular radio standards GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). And their efforts resulted in a solution that enables users to call up the current status of goods and materials supplies at the push of a button. The new solution was developed because aid transports require closely linked logistics chains to ensure a secure stream of deliveries at all times. When transporting food, for example, it is crucial that storage times, freshness, and transport routes and durations can be exactly calculated in advance.

The new software makes it possible to track transported goods by combining information from RFID, GSM and GPRS systems and translating this data from one system to another while also continuously keeping the SAP storage and inventory list up to date. To make this possible, every container has to have an RFID chip. Scanners read a chip’s code and transmit it to the computer system to determine a container’s contents.

The system also is capable of handling much more than just inventory. If, for example, an electrical generator has to be transported to a remote location, the machine and its accessories will have to be shipped in sections. After reaching their destination, the parts have to fit together again — a potentially difficult task, particularly if they are from different manufacturers. However, the new system’s combined RFID technology can “glance” into a container from the outside and immediately determine if everything is there or if additional parts need to be requested. Another important feature of the software is that it can be programmed to serve as an early warning system during transport, giving notice if certain limits are exceeded, such as when the temperature a medication is exposed to falls above or below a certain critical level.