Pharmceutical industry provider SYSTECH’s dabbling (or shall we say testing?) in RFID this month – specifically, it’s working with partners to evaluate various types of HF and UHF RFID technology.

The most recent RFID trials, part of an ongoing industry initiative called “On Track” developed by industry leaders like health info services provider McKesson, involve working with suppliers, customer partners, and technology vendors to determine how RFID technology will enhance the quality of product safety and item serialization across the supply chain.

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SYSTECH and Other Pharmaceutical Industry Leaders Test RFID Potential

[09/29/06] SYSTECH International, Inc., the pharmaceutical industry’s premier provider of packaging efficiency and product safety solutions, recently hosted a RFID technology living laboratory at SYSTECH’s headquarters in Cranbury , NJ . On September 18th and 19th, several industry leading companies contributed their expertise and evaluated RFID technology; specifically, the use of HF and UHF tags operating in a live environment.

The RFID trial was part of an ongoing industry initiative called “On Track”, which has been developed by industry leaders including McKesson, a leading healthcare services company, in conjunction with others. McKesson and other companies are working with suppliers, customer partners, and technology vendors to determine how RFID technology will enhance the quality of product safety and item serialization across the supply chain.

The trial was part of two-day Edge Management testing that encompassed an end-to-end supply chain demonstration of RFID technology. The testing demonstrated use case scenarios that were developed to simulate Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Wholesale Distribution and Retail dispensing. Based on the results, a white paper will be developed and made available to the manufacturers, vendors, wholesalers, and retailers associated with the On Track program.

“Top vendors have assembled to help understand how RFID technologies can maximize patient safety in the pharmaceutical industry, “said Joseph Ringwood, vice president of sales and operations, SYSTECH International, Inc. “SYSTECH’s role is to offer an environment to determine how RFID technology can better serve the industry and we are delighted to be a part of this forward thinking group of thought leaders.”

“On Track” is a living laboratory and is currently the only serialization pilot program that includes participants across the pharmaceutical supply chain. Ultimately, the “On Track” program is designed to accomplish the following:

Leverage the results and momentums of other industry leading companies to reduce costs and development time

Gain real-world experience with product serialization in a technology-agnostic environment

Leverage results into practical commercial serialization installations

The testing included support from RFID vendors including Impinj, Symbol Technologies and Tagsys. Each vendor provided tags, readers and resources to demonstrate the technology in a wide range of use case scenarios.

About SYSTECH International

Founded in 1985, SYSTECH International is a global provider of packaging efficiency and product safety solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. The powerful combination of SYSTECH’s products and services provide companies with complete control over packaging processes along with the actionable intelligence required to continuously improve packaging performance. By partnering with SYSTECH, companies can leverage an agnostic, scaleable architecture, to deliver significant improvements at the line, plant and enterprise levels. For more information about their company and products, please visit www.systech-tips.com.