AIAG Plans to Issue RFID Guidelines
By Chaille Brindley
Date Posted: 11/28/2006
Desiring to use RFID technology to track and reduce packaging costs, the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is developing guidelines for RFID and other tracking technology to be used in reusable containers. These containers, which are used to store auto parts, can easily be lost while products move through the automotive supply chain.
Automakers spend on average of $673 million annually on metal, wood and plastic totes, racks, pallets and other containers. The AIAG is exploring how tracking technology can help reduce packaging waste and cost at the same time.
The guidelines will cover the economics of tracking, data formats, and electronic means of sharing data up and down the supply chain. AIAG expects to release its guidelines in the spring of 2007. Once the study is complete, says Morris Brown, the AIAG's program manager of materials management, the auto industry group hopes to begin an RFID pilot with an automotive supplier.
Brown said, “Shrinkage is a big problem. They do tend to disappear. It's not surprising to see pumpkins or other goods for sale that are stacked on returnable totes or pallets that say, for example, 'Property of Ford.'”
The AIAG has been working with more than a dozen companies, including: DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors (GM), RFID hardware provider Intelleflex, RFID systems integrator Lowry, systems integrator Schaefer Systems and auto parts supplier Visteon to craft these new guidelines.
