RFID on the front lines
While it hasn't happened overnight, RFID technology is beginning to transform the Department of Defense's supply chain from storage depots to the battlefield.
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 1/1/2006
Last June, Assistant Under Secretary of Defense for Supply Chain Integration Alan Estevez visited a Marine logistics unit in Iraq.
Although Estevez has been at the forefront of deploying RFID technology for military applications, what he found surprised even him.
"If you're going to use RFID to achieve your end-goals, you can't just throw the technology up and expect it to work," Estevez says. "You have to look at your business processes to get the most out of it."
The Marines had done just that, linking together three different technologies for complete inventory visibility.
The first was information about the contents of shipping containers provided by active RFID tags. The second was satellite-based vehicle tracking information. The third was an Army-developed logistics search system that allows a user to pull up a map of an area.
By combining the three, a Marine could use coordinates to pull up a map of an area, locate vehicles with GPS, and then ping those vehicles to see what material is in the cargo containers.
"That's just one small site, but it's a glimpse of what the power of this technology can do for us downstream," Estevez says.
It's also a glimpse at the benefits the Department of Defense (DoD) may reap from RFID. Thanks to more accurate and timely information, that one unit reduced its inventory value from $127 million to $70 million and its order backlog from 92,000 requests for supplies to 11,000.
"They could do that because the soldiers in the field could access the same information and didn't reorder material," says Estevez. "The dialogue between logistics and field units has changed from 'Where is my stuff?' to 'Why isn't my stuff moving?' because they can see it."
That dialogue, however, didn't change overnight. Applications like the one being used by the Marines are the culmination of nearly 13 years of working with RFID technology in the military supply chain. The DoD's experiences and timeline can provide valuable lessons to private industry as it now looks for supply chain applications for RFID.
The first war
Retailers are interested in RFID to reduce stock outs and redundant orders that result from a lack of inventory visibility.
Reducing stock outs was also the impetus behind the DoD's adoption of RFID. "During Desert Storm, we had to open 24,000 of the 44,000 containers we sent to the Gulf to ascertain their contents," recalls Estevez.
That lack of visibility meant soldiers and commanders often ordered redundant inventory because they didn't know what was inside the containers. Not knowing whether they had spare parts meant they might order extra helicopters or tanks just to make sure they had enough operating equipment. In those instances, they weren't just shipping equipment. They were also shipping the parts and crew to operate and maintain it.
Enter RFID. In 1992, DoD began to experiment with active RFID reusable tags (Savi Technologies, 408-743-8000). Soldiers would scan bar codes or manually enter information as they were loading shipping containers. That information was written to an active tag to track the cargo inside those containers. The technology was slowly adopted, showing up in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Each new implementation, however, started from scratch. That's because the military had not yet formulated a standard approach to RFID. "In 1997, we put out guidelines that said we should consider RFID," says Estevez. "But it was never embedded in training and was never embedded in policy."
Enter Iraq
The current conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq changed all that. "In 2002, we were already in Afghanistan and beginning the preparations for Iraq," says Estevez. "General [Tommy] Franks said he wanted all consolidated shipments coming into the theater to be RFID-tagged so we had visibility."
That meant the military could no longer do RFID on an ad hoc basis, relearning lessons with each new implementation. Estevez was asked to pull together an RFID policy. In addition, Charles Fletcher, the commander chosen for the core support command in Iraq, had worked with RFID in Bosnia and understood the technology.
The initial results, Estevez says, were mixed. The troops who came with General Fletcher knew how to successfully use the technology. Over time, however, those troops were augmented with additional troops and reserve units that had never seen an RFID tag. Those challenges were compounded when cargo was handed off to troops in the field, who were constantly on the move. Then, there were the natural elements, like working with RFID in a sandstorm.
Even with those limitations, Estevez says visibility into inventory was significantly improved over the first Gulf conflict. "In certain commodities, we were able to go into battle with three days worth of material on the ground instead of the 30 to 60 days of inventory we needed for Desert Storm," says Estevez. "That's because we knew what material was in the pipeline."
A way of doing business
Fast forward to July 2004. With 12 years of implementation under its belt and success in Iraq, using active RFID for consolidated and containerized cargo and unit equipment became policy.
Since then, the DoD has created a global RFID infrastructure that includes 1,500 read/write stations located around the world. Information collected by reading tags at those locations feeds a central database. "Anyone with the right clearance can track an active tag moving through the system and access the data from that tag to look inside the container," says Estevez.
That network can be accessed in a warehouse or on a base. In fact, a soldier on the battlefield using a portable RFID field pack equipped with a mobile reading unit and a radio modem or satellite link can even access the information.
The next step
Active tags provide item-level information about consolidated shipments. But collecting the information to populate those tags is still a cumbersome process, requiring bar code scanning or manual data entry. And, those shipments are eventually deconsolidated, especially in the field where bar codes may not get read all the time.
"My stock speech is that we neglected to include a bar code scanner in the barrel of an M16," says Estevez. "Out in the field, I might have a Marine working in 110 degree heat without material handling equipment while random rocket fire is coming in on him. Scanning a bar code so we have accountability isn't necessarily the first thing on his mind."
That's where passive RFID tags come into play. In the future, passive RFID tags, like those being used by Wal-Mart, will be applied to products, cartons or pallets when they leave a supplier's facility. Those tags will be automatically read when they're unloaded at one of the DoD's 26 major supply depots.
Those reads automatically provide the information to receive the shipments into the depot. When they are consolidated for shipping, another read provides the information needed to populate the active tag on the shipping container. That means no more bar code scans.
Once those shipping containers are opened and pallets, cartons or products removed, the passive tags will once again be read automatically—whether that read takes place in a warehouse, on a ship or on the battlefield using a portable field unit.
"If we ever develop material handling equipment for the field, we will have RFID reading capability embedded in it," Estevez says.
The first shipments are scheduled to begin this month going to Susquehanna, Pa., and San Joaquin, Calif. Estevez expects it will take about seven years to roll out passive RFID to all supply depots.
The technology is expected to improve logistics in two ways. First, it brings financial savings. "We did a very high-level business case focused on passive RFID," Estevez says. "Our most conservative estimate was a $70 million return on investment over five years. The best case was $1.7 billion over those same five years."
Beyond the financial savings, there is another benefit that can't be quantified but is every bit as important. "RFID will lead to enhanced readiness for our troops," says Estevez. "That's the ability to have a multi-million-dollar piece of equipment up and operating when you need it rather than sitting idle in park."
Click on the icon to learn more about active RFID applications. (Get active - November 2005)
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