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EPC/RFID Pilot Program at the European Pallet Association PRESS RELEASE In cooperation with with the International Railway Association (UIC), EPAL, the assocation behind the “EURO” pallet, is preparing an EPC/RFID Pilot Program which is expected to have a significant impact on the European Supply Chain. Brussels, Belgium – 30th June, 2008 – The European Pallet Association (EPAL) is assuring as a not profit orientated service the quality of re-usable EURO-pallets throughout the world on uniform criteria including exchange. EPAL has the vision to identify each pallet individually as this will help to improve the control of production and repair, will allow a clear authentification, gives the users in the pool a valuable tool to control flow, quality and ownership of the pallets, and will open new possibilities in supply chain management. In order to achieve the vision EPAL has decided to explore the EPC/RFID technology. There are currently over 500 Million wooden EURO-pallets in circulation. Under the control and license of EPAL, more than 60 million new pallets are produced per year by more than 400 producers in 30 countries and there are over 1.000 repair centers worldwide. The parties interested in quality approved EURO-pallets include producers, dealers, repairers, users, railways as well as transporters. In order to respond to market requirements and to get a better understanding about the future businessmodel, EPAL has decided to launch an EPC/RFID Pilot Program which is scheduled for July 2008. First results will be published at the EPC Europe Conference in Prague on November 5th 2008, an event which is organized by GS1 in Europe in cooperation with the RFID Journal Live! Europe. The partners participating in the EPAL Pilot Program includes EPAL, GS1 in Europe, Swisscom, Oracle, Labelform and will be realised at Holliger Pallet Logistics in Switzerland. More specifically, the GS1 organisations from Switzerland, Germany and France have supported EPAL with the definition, conception, and the static and dynamic testing of the EPC tags within the EECC lab. Harry Jacobi, CEO of EPAL pointed out: “The standardised EPAL pallet is a key carrier in the supply chain of all industries. It was a logical step for us to use the GS1 EPCglobal standards for this pilot project. Some manufacturers and retailers have already shown their interest in exploring the benefits of the RFID tagged EURO-pallet.”
GS1 EPCglobal standards are a set of integrated industry-driven standards which have been developed to meet user’s requirements enabling the identification of objects, data capture and sharing of information among partners throughout the supply chain. These standards are developed within the framework of EPCglobal Inc. About EPAL and UIC EPAL, the European Pallet Association, is a not-for-profit organization which was founded in 1991 to work with UIC (the International Railway Association) to maintain a quality assurance and inspection standard for the pallet which is also known as the “EURO” pallet. The objective is to provide an exchangeable EUR pool pallet of sufficient quality with uniform exchange criteria for the supply chain. The association is active in Europe, USA, China, India and Australia with different types of Pallets. GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility in supply chains. GS1 is driven by more than a million companies, who execute more than five billion transactions a day with the GS1 System of Standards. This makes it the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. For more information about GS1, visit: www.gs1.org About GS1 in Europe: For more information about GS1 in Europe, visit: www.gs1eu.org About EPCglobal Inc: For more information about EPCglobal Inc, visit: www.epcglobalinc.org
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