Brazil Post Office Begins To Apply RFID Technology To Postal Goods
- Brazil plans to use RFID technology to improve postal service processes and provide new postal services worldwide. Under the direction of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the United Nations specialized agency responsible for coordinating postal policies in member states, the Brazilian Postal Service (Correios Brazil) is applying smart packaging technology to letters, especially product packaging, which is an electronic The growing demands of business.
- Readers Installed At Entry And Exit Gates
- In this project, the readers are installed at the cargo entry and exit gates of the main operating units of the Brazilian Postal Service across the country. These units include sorting centers, freight terminals, distribution centers, international centers, etc. At the Brazilian Post Office, packages are transported in a uniform manner inside cargo containers, which can hold hundreds of packages, depending on the size and weight of individual packages.
- Each order has its own RFID tag , and the loading unit also has a permanent RFID tag with a GS1 GRAI-96 identifier. Typically, as containers are being loaded and unloaded in the trunks of large trucks, dock-mounted readers take an inventory of the container's contents and transmit the information to the company's central repository. Package shipping information is reflected in the target tracking system for customer consultation. Over the next 18 months, the Brazil Post Office team will install readers in approximately 180 operating units and consolidate the use of the technology by postal customers.
- Inlay Performance Standards For Logistics
- The project is designed to allow customers to purchase and produce labels for their orders, customers who have adopted RFID technology will not restrict them to use a specific brand or model of inlay, and give them a wide range of freedom of choice. RFID technology will have the potential to improve the customer's display of information on the location of an order, providing information on the exact time a package enters or leaves a fulfillment center, as well as information on new events as an object moves from its origin to its final recipient.
- The post office has its own track and trace process (location and tracking of orders) system called SRO (tracking of objects), which was developed to use barcode technology, either by manual reading or tracked in automated sorting equipment The label (Sedex label) affixed to the order.
- “RFID systems build their own databases keeping in mind details such as read frequency and identifiers used,” reports Matos. “This information is continuously transmitted to SROs and made available to customers through digital channels. Additionally, we strive Integrate the branch network with the transportation systems our customers use.”
- Primary Identifier For Postal Shipments
- An easy way to understand a post office item is to start with the label of a package or order.
- Currently, each package receives a barcode tracking label engraved with the UPU standardized identifier, called S10, in a two-letter, nine-digit format, ending with another two letters, for example: ML123456789BR. This is the main identifier for the package, used for contractual purposes and for research by the customer in the tracking system of the Brazilian Post Office.
- This information is captured throughout the postal process by manually or automatically reading the corresponding barcode. The S10 identifier is provided both by the Brazilian Post Office to contract customers producing personalized labels, and is also generated on Sedex labels, for example, affixed to individual customer orders served at branch counters.
- “With the adoption of RFID, the S10 identifier will remain in parallel with the identifier recorded on the inlay, which is the identifier in the GS1 SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) standard for parcels and pouches,” Maia explained. "In this way, each package contains two identifiers, and with this system, they can identify each shipment that circulates through the post office in a different way, whether it's tracking with the help of barcodes or RFID."
- Implementing RFID technology in a company of the size of the Brazilian Post Office presents challenges in terms of wide geographic coverage, the variety and volume of goods handled, and the construction standards of buildings vary. In addition, involving the different needs of thousands of clients from the most diverse market segments, the project is unique and promising. The scheme is mainly composed of five parts - infrastructure, readers, systems, tags and signs, and aims to better organize the implementation of the project.
