What is the Electronic Product Code (EPC)?

EPC stands for Electronic Product Code and is the application of one specific type of RFID technology within the Consumer Packaged Goods industry. The concept was developed by the MIT Auto-ID Center, the Uniform Code Council, The Gillette Company, Procter and Gamble, and many others. EPC tags are an expanded “serialized” electronic version of a UPC bar code using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

There is more to EPC than just the RFID tag. An EPC system relies on multiple components:

1) The EPC RFID Tag - a flexible inlay imbedded within a paper label consisting of a computer microchip with an identification number and a miniature antenna.

2) The scanner - A device which emits the proper radio signals to activate and “read” the information in the chip. The RFID chip reflects a weak radio signal encoded with it's identification number when illuminated by the radio signal emitted by a compatible scanner. The scanner receives the radio signal from the EPC RFID tags and decodes the EPC RFID tag's identification number.

3) The database - An information archive with the data records linked to the identification number in the EPC RFID tag's microchip. The information in this database contains the relevant data associated with the microchip's serial number.

4) A network - A standardized method of sharing the relevant EPC data within a company and with the companies suppliers and customers.

Sep. 6, 2005 - Frontline Solutions - Intermec, Symbol Come to Terms on RFID
A potentially troublesome RFID patent dispute came to a somewhat surprising end this week when Intermec Technologies Corp. and Symbol Technologies Inc. reached an agreement to settle their RFID intellectual property litigation. Symbol has also joined Intermec's Rapid Start Licensing Program.
(more....) http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=179037

See also - RFID Journal - Intermec, Symbol Reach Major Agreement
Intermec Technologies and Symbol Technologies have settled one lawsuit and have adopted a plan to resolve four additional suits between the two companies.
(more....) http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1851/1/1/

Mar. 10, 2005 - Frontline Solutions - OTA Teams with International Paper, CompTIA For RFID Training
RFID training specialist OTA Training LLC is helping International Paper and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) with their RFID certification programs.

International Paper's Smart Packaging Business and OTA will offer training and certification at the paper manufacturer's Customer Solution Center (CSC) in Memphis. The jointly led courses include one-day and three-day technical training, as well as a five-day RFID certification.

CompTIA and OTA will offer vendor-neutral RFID certification using OTA's training courses. Students who have completed OTA's training will have the option of taking the CompTIA certification exam at the end of the training course, or will receive a voucher to take the exam at a later time.
(more....) http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=151152

Mar. 10, 2005 - Frontline Solutions - Chip Makers Ramp for Gen2 as HF Revs
Alien Technology expects Generation 2 chips to become mandatory in late-2006/early 2007, based on the evolution of EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 1 RFID technology. The company expects to begin shipping Class 1 Generation 2 samples in the latter half of this year, according to chief executive Stavro E. Prodromou, about the time of the expected advancement of Gen 2 to an official International Organization for Standards (ISO) standard. The ISO designation is widely regarded as essential to worldwide acceptance of the standard. Prodromou's remarks were delivered during an Alien luncheon briefing to press and analysts conducted during RFID World in Dallas.

Prodromou said he expects interoperability issues between the generations to be worked out in late 2005 and early 2006, and then Generation 2 chips to be permitted for use by certain suppliers during the first three quarters of 2006. Mandatory use will follow. . . . . . . . .

But the Gen 2 spec, formally approved at a GS1 (EAN.UCC) forum in February prior to its ISO submission, will not be the only RFID technology in play. Its use of UHF technology (860 to 960 MHz) is widely regarded as well suited to the environments in which cases and pallet tags are read. However, some in the industry believe that high-frequency RFID (13.56 MHz), having a shorter read range and well-defined read zones, may be a better fit in smart-shelf and item-level applications, including pharmaceutical.
(more....) http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=150604

Feb. 8, 2005 - RFID Journal - The Puzzle of Putting RFID Tags on Beer
Editor's Note: This article is worth reading because as well as the physics issues associated with RFID tags on metal and liquids, it also points out the problems faced by distributors.

Speaking at a conference today in Tampa, Fla., organized by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturer's Institute, George Neserke, group manager of long-range planning at Coors, said that the cost of RFID tags and the fact that his company's products have both water and metal (two materials hostile to RF systems) are big issues, but the nature of the beer industry also affects his company's ability to meet mandates.

U.S. law prohibits Coors and other beer makers from selling directly to retailers. Coors' 530 distributors sell its products and those of its competitors to Albertson's, Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers. Some of these distributors are billion-dollar companies with sophisticated technology. Others are mom-and-pop operations that have trouble using online ordering systems.

Coors ships pallets of beer to its distributors, but the distributors break down those pallets and assemble new ones to fill orders for retailers. Each new pallet could have a dozen or more different stock-keeping units from a variety of manufacturers. So who should pay the price of the pallet tag? Coors plans to discuss the issue with the distributors and other beer makers to work out a scheme.
(more....) http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1393/1/1/

Feb. 3, 2005 - RFID Journal - Intermec Withdraws IP Licensing Plan
Intermec Technologies, an Everett, Wash.-based RFID systems provider and one of the largest holders of RFID patents, has sent a letter to EPCglobal indicating that Intermec will no longer offer its RFID patents on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) basis to companies building products based on EPCglobal's Gen 2 standard.

When EPCglobal announced that it had approved the Gen 2 specification as a standard, it said that the standard could be practiced royalty-free (see EPCglobal Ratifies Gen 2 Standard). Essentially, EPCglobal's position was that because products based on the standard could be made without Intermec's patents, it was technically a royalty-free standard. Intermec's position has been that you could possibly make tags and readers that conformed to the standard without its intellectual property, but those tags and readers would not meet the performance requirements of end users.
(more....) http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1387/1/1/
Read Intermec's letter on RFID Update

The EPCglobal application family identifier (AFI) committee's recommendation for tag numbering management whisked through the organization's standards process and was presented to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in one week's time, in what must be a record for standards-making bodies. The numbering issue was the last obstacle to brining the EPC standard in line with existing ISO specifications.

But ISO certification is time consuming. "The ISO process is not expedient by any stretch of the imagination," said Dennis Gaughan, research director at AMR Research. "It is going to be 11 to 12 months before this actually gets approved. There is a very rigorous process that this has to go through before it gets final approval."
(more....) http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=145283

Editor's Note: While not RFID related, the article below represents yet another challenge to the adoption of EPC RFID. The EPC RFID tag is just a license plate which must be referenced to meaningful data. If the referenced data cannot be found or is incorrect, then reading EPC RFID tag is of no value.

Jul. 20, 2004 - Frontline Solutions - Lack of data standardization costs industry billions
Poor data integration in the supply chain is costing manufacturers billions of dollars per year. According to a study published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a lack of standardized data formats and reliance on manual processes in sharing information with supply chain partners are the primary culprits.

The study, conducted by RTI international, Research Triangle Park, N.C., found that the automotive industry is losing $5 billion per year because of inadequate integration, and the electronics industry is losing $3.9 billion per year, or about 1.2% of the value of shipments in each industry.
Visit Frontline Solutions for the Full Story - http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=105088

Recommended Reading. A well written balanced and objective article describing the current state of EPC testing by Wal-Mart suppliers.
May 24, 2004 - InformationWeek - RFID Kick-Start
A year ago RFID got rolling. Will the momentum continue?
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20900361

Feb. 12, 2004 - Intermec RFID Leader Named to Co-Chair EPCglobal Inc. C1G2 Work Group
Feb. 9, 2004 - RFID Journal - Intermec Inks EPCglobal's IP Accord