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[January 12, 2004]
SAP Launches First RFID Solution to Help Customers Automate RFID-Enabled Business Processes
Delivering on its vision of adaptive supply chain networks, SAP AG announced the launch of the first packaged radio frequency identification (RFID) solution for supply chain management. Demonstrating leadership in the RFID space, SAP is delivering a solution that is the first of its kind developed and built entirely from the ground up to help companies manage the data reads from and writes to RFID tags.
Drawing upon experience from customer projects with leading companies like Procter & Gamble and the METRO Group, as well as six years of RFID research and involvement in RFID standards organizations, SAP has developed technology that will dramatically change supply chain management in the retail and consumer product industries. Companies can leverage data captured through RFID tags in their business processes by integrating ERP and SCM functionalities with RFID-enabled applications. Examples include packing and unpacking, shipping and receiving and tracking and tracing across the supply chain.
The Java-based RFID solution packages the new SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure, SAP Event Management (SAP EM), a component of mySAP Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM), and SAP Enterprise Portal (SAP EP), a component of SAP NetWeaver, the industry's leading integration and application platform. Currently available to pilot customers, the SAP RFID packaged solution will me more widely available to customers in mid-2004.
The SAP RFID solution is built on SAP Web Application Server (SAP Web AS), part of the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, which ensures seamless extension and integration into SAP and non-SAP IT environments. The new packaged solution, developed to allow management and communication of RFID data and utilization of business content to automate RFID-enabled business processes, can be integrated into existing IT environments through Auto-ID connectors for SAP R/3, version 4.6c or higher, and mySAP ERP. SAP and its consulting and technology partners will help customers build individually tailored RFID solutions that address business case building, integrating RFID hardware infrastructure, creating solution blueprints and implementing projects. SAP's automatic identification concept enables companies to manage multiple Auto-ID technologies, including RFID, barcodes and sensors.
"This is a solid enterprise infrastructure for RFID that will allow for the practical usage of RFID data across more processes and applications than many of the point solutions on the market," said Steve Banker, service director for supply chain management at ARC Advisory Group, international analyst and consulting firm. "As companies discover and pursue RFID-related programs which are oriented toward business improvements, they will need to build an RFID infrastructure that can be used across their business."
SAP has been conducting RFID research since 1998 and is a driving force in developing RFID technology and helping to set industry-driven standards according to the guidelines set forth by EPC Global. SAP was the first enterprise software sponsor of the Auto-ID Center, the predecessor of EPC Global, which leads the development of standards for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network to support the use of RFID.
Since March 2003, SAP has been working closely in its RFID Customer Council with more than 60 companies from the consumer products, pharmaceutical and retail industries. The council has helped SAP to define and develop the RFID solution package, identify key end-user business and technical priorities and requirements and fully understand RFID-enabled business processes that will drive ROI from customer RFID investments.
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