Cephalon, Inc. has selected OATSystems’ RFID solution for serialized shipment container tracking, extending its SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure for RFID reach to operational processes and workflows.
Cephalon, an international biopharmaceutical company, has been testing RFID technology for the past three years to improve supply chain efficiency and visibility. RFID serialized container tracking will support efforts to combat counterfeiting as well as improve process execution.
OAT’s RFID solution was integrated with SAP Solution for RFID to enable serialized shipping container tracking and to set the foundation for tracking drug pedigrees. Cephalon has architected SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure as an extension of its core ERP processes for serialized product and containers to enrich standard processes around deliveries, advanced shipping notices (ASNs), pick/pack/ship and handling.
This new project extends this architecture further and leverages the combined OAT and SAP solution to enable distribution center-based processes and workflows to track serialized shipping containers. OAT commissions and associates the RFID tags with specific containers and records the containers’ contents and attributes; SAP solutions provide process oversight, number range management and OAT provides operational workflow management. After processing, OAT reports back the shipping container’s EPC number and the details of its contents, enabling SAP business processes such as pharmaceutical advance shipping notices (RxASN) to be carried out automatically.
“Cephalon, SAP and OATSystems are committed to leveraging RFID technology for competitive advantage,” said OATSystems’ CEO Michael George. “We are focused on delivering packaged solutions providing immediate value, without requiring significant investments in testing, coding and infrastructure. Our organization looks forward to our continued collaboration with Cephalon and SAP and to building on that success.”
“We continue to expand the use of RFID technologies in our business processes,” said Brian Brown, associate director, Logistics and Analytics, at Cephalon. “OAT provides a mature and proven RFID solution which enables us to transform RFID data into actionable business information. We will integrate the operational workflows into SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure to enable real-time serialized container tracking. We are excited to continue to build on our relationships with two of our valued partners.”
