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transferred to the server at the datacentre by wireless transmission and in
real‐time. The datacentre relies on IBM Smart Cloud Services.
Several factors were definitive in choosing a suitable solution. The intent
was to replace the previous packaging material management system with a
system that also supported RFID, in order to accelerate the data acquisition
processes. This was to be a web‐based system to allow staff to access data
relating to container quantities, states and locations at any time. Customers
were to confirm notified deliveries, place orders online, or register
forwarding of containers within the supply chain. In addition to this,
monthly billing of a service instead of a high project and investment risk was
a convincing argument for Pool Packaging.
The major challenges in introducing the system were migrating the legacy
system and selecting a new barcode key, that would harmonise with the
RFID transponder IDs. To allow this to happen, the previous acquisition
technology was linked up to Geqoo Boxes in an initial phase, to avoid the
need to equip all of Pool Packaging's business partners with new hardware.
They continue to use the barcode which is printed on new combined
barcode RFID labels as Pool Packaging now uses RFID technology internally
for fast handling.
Automated acquisition of container movements by RFID, instead of barcode,
reduced the acquisition time by more than 80%. The up‐to‐date information
that this provided, and which was also made available to business partners,
and the new options that this opened up (notification + ordering of
containers), improves the quality of service, leading to greater customer
loyalty.
The security of the data and applications in the IBM Cloud environment is
contractually guaranteed. Data transmission between the acquisition
terminals and the server uses SSL encryption. Data security on the devices
against loss in case of an interruption to the Internet connection is
guaranteed by persistent local buffering until the correct data transmission
is acknowledged by the server.
The entire solution was implemented with a great deal of success.
