SSAfinal.doc

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Warehouse Inventory Tracking System for Social Security Administration The Social Security Administration (SSA) is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in their supply chain and logistics model to assist with tracking inventory between their warehouses located in Baltimore and the surrounding area. SSA ships more than 240,000 line items each year from their five warehouse facilities. They were using a barcode, labor intensive, scanning process, but this process was having difficulty keeping accurate inventory and shipping transaction records. System Concepts, Inc. (SCI) of High Point, NC worked with the SSA to simplify the process by installing their TraxWare ® software solution into each of the five warehouse locations to create one of the largest enterprise-level EPC/DoD compliant RFID warehouse management installations in the U.S. Government. 1

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Transcript of SSAfinal.doc

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Warehouse Inventory Tracking System for Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

technology in their supply chain and logistics model to assist with tracking inventory between

their warehouses located in Baltimore and the surrounding area. SSA ships more than

240,000 line items each year from their five warehouse facilities. They were using a barcode,

labor intensive, scanning process, but this process was having difficulty keeping accurate

inventory and shipping transaction records.

System Concepts, Inc. (SCI) of High Point, NC worked with the SSA to simplify the process

by installing their TraxWare® software solution into each of the five warehouse locations to

create one of the largest enterprise-level EPC/DoD compliant RFID warehouse management

installations in the U.S. Government.

TraxWare for RFID Warehouse Tracking incorporates SCI’s OnPortal RFID portal system with

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Generation 2 RFID interrogators and printers. For SSA, the RFID equipment was

manufactured by Intermec Technologies and the edge computer by Advantech’s UNO-2160

network processor along with SCI’s PrintTrax printer server. All of this equipment was utilized

to ensure a quick and reliable ECP/DoD complaint implementation.

By introducing RFID technology into the warehouse business model with a primary focus on

receiving and shipping, SSA will realize hard savings in improvement of inventory accuracy,

reductions of bad shipments, reduction of labor, and efficiencies of scale (i.e. shipping the

right product to the right customer at the right time, many times!)

SSA will be incorporating a supply chain smart label compliance concept whereby it is

working with its’ vendors to label all incoming inventory with RFID labels that will be received

at its warehouses. With this inventory being encoded correctly, SSA can receive, identify and

update its receipts quicker and give management better visibility on its inventory levels.

As inventory is shipped and received between SSA’s warehouses and its customers, this

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All transactions are interfaced directly to SSA’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) developed by Radio Beacon (www.radiobeacon.com).

Web services are utilized to move transactional information between WMS and Traxware. This includes receiving and shipping as the primary and high volume transactions.

As this system is based on EPC standards, the system is utilizing standard RFID EPC formats for writing and reading of RFID information including SSCC-96 (serialized shipping containers) and SGTIN-96 (global trade identification numbers).

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technology can be utilized to record all shipments and/or receipts to update inventory levels

more accurately and yet, reduce labor by minimizing errors associated with human scanning.

OnPortal and PrintTrax enable

efficient deployment by utilizing off-

the-shelf RFID hardware from major

RFID manufacturers. Gary Orem,

SSA’s RFID Project Manager has

been very pleased with System

Concept’s technology, vision and

services, its software flexibility and

hardware that works. Mr. Orem has

been one of the true pioneers of RFID

and continues to implement corporate

wide solutions into the agency that

increase operational efficiency while

saving significant taxpayer dollars.

L. Allen Bennett, President and CEO of System Concepts, Inc. said after the project was

awarded “this will be one off the first ‘enterprise’ RFID installations at a large government

agency in Washington and surrounding areas. The leaders at the Social Security

Administration are true visionaries. They continue to introduce cost saving measures into

their warehouse operations, where other companies and agencies just talk about it!”

The SSA is expecting to save over $1.3 million a year using this new RFID technology.

Advantech Corporation, eAutomation Group – Founded in 1983, Advantech is a global leading ePlatform service provider integrating web-based technology, computing platforms and customization services that empower the connected eWorld. Advantech cooperates closely with system integrators to enable them in providing complete solutions for a wide array of applications in various industries. Advantech delivers more than a thousand products and solutions under 3 main categories: Embedded & Applied Computing, Industrial and Network Computing, and eAutomation. With the combined talent of more than 2,000 people, Advantech operates an extensive support, sales and marketing network in 16 countries and 28 major cities to deliver fast time-to-market services to our worldwide customers. US operations for the Industrial Automation Group, 1320 Kemper Meadow Drive, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH 45240. Website for Advantech customers in North America: www.eautomationpro.com/us Email: [email protected]

System Concepts, Inc. - Founded in 1984, SCI provides RFID and AIDC software solutions that enable successful RFID installations in the manufacturing, process control, asset tracking and EPC/DoD compliance markets. SCI’s solutions leverage the company’s RFID expertise and generate a lasting and measurable impact for customers transitioning to RFID technology. The company’s flagship product, TraxWare®, is deployed in RFID operations, large and small. Corporate office is located at 4000 Piedmont Parkway, Suite 110, High Point, NC 27265. Website for System Concepts is www.sysconcepts.com Email: [email protected]

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