The Dow Chemical Company recently joined EPCglobal US, a neutral, not-for-profit organization leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) to support commercialization of radio frequency identification.
In addition, Dow is launching a comprehensive set of projects to substantially advance its RFID/GPS capabilities.
"Joining EPCglobal US enables us to take our use of RFID/GPS technologies to the next level, contributing to the development of industry standards for RFID and helping drive increased usage of RFID/GPS to enhance the efficiency and security throughout the chemical industry supply chain," says Dave Kepler, corporate vice president of shared services and CIO of The Dow Chemical Company.
EPCglobal US serves more than 550 subscribing companies in the United States to help foster the adoption of EPC.
"We are pleased to welcome Dow to our growing community," says Mike Meranda, president of EPCglobal US. "The EPC is revolutionizing the use of RFID technology, making it even easier for companies to track and trace materials throughout their supply chains. There is significant multi-industry participation today, and Dow's joining of our community will continue to strengthen our work in the manufacturing sector, and enable us to work together to accelerate the deployment of standards to benefit the chemical industry."
To date, four applications of RFID/GPS technology have been successfully implemented, says Paula Tolliver, global director of RFID Strategy for Dow.
For example, RFID/GPS and barcoding technologies allow Dow to track cylinders at the individual cylinder level throughout its global supply chain. Improvements in asset utilization, inventory control and product stewardship result from Dow's ability to track and trace product information throughout the supply chain, from manufacturer to distributor to customer.
The EPCglobal Network combines RFID technology, existing communications network infrastructure, and the Electronic Product Code to enable accurate, cost-efficient visibility of information in the supply chain. For more information about EPCglobal US, visit www.EPCglobalUS.org.