RFID and the UK Book Trade Brian Green BIC / EDItEUR

Agenda BIC / EDItEUR Potential book industry benefits and expectations Tagging in the UK Music CD project RFID in UK book trade Some standards issues Lessons learnt

Book Industry Communication Set up and sponsored by The UK Publishers Association The UK Library Association The UK Booksellers Association The British Library to develop and promote standards for electronic commerce and increase efficiency and effectiveness in trading and supply of books and serials

...and EDItEUR International book trade e-commerce umbrella group with members from 18 countries including W Europe, N America, S.E. Asia, Australia, South Africa e.g. BIC and BISG both part of EDItEUR

Potential benefits of RFID in the book supply chain Warehousing: picking/packing accuracy, returns, stocktaking Transport: tracking, proof of delivery, reusable containers Retail: goods inwards, security, stocktaking, returns Libraries: auto check in/check out, security

Expectations of RFID Universal item tagging at source Alternative to bar codes without individual scanning or line of sight Theft prevention Efficiency/automation gains in supply chain Using unique serial number (EPC) as driver for systems redevelopment

Tagging UK: the story so far Pilot project in 1996 using EM tags Source tagging trials (hardback/pback) Bookshop trials Progress halted by failure to agree technology failure to agree on who pays Possibilities of RFID

BIC RFID Working Party objectives Identify potential cost / benefits Agree industry requirements Participate in standards development Identify appropriate RFID solution Propose and design pilots Mobilise industry to adopt RFID Monitor pilots in related industries (e.g. music)

RFID tagging of Music CDs Part of UK government Chipping of Goods initiative Controlled pilot project Objective: to track movement of CDs between manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer (and back)

Participants E-Centre (project leader) EMI (manufacturer) Handleman (wholesaler/merchandiser) Asda (retailer, owned by WalMart) Microlise Systems Integration (support systems)

Conclusions of CD Project Standards essential (cp EAS) - all Potential benefits for inventory management (VMI) - Handleman Business case not made - EMI Biggest potential benefit is supply chain integrity (receiving, picking, despatch, inventory) - ASDA

RFID and the UK book trade Source tagging technically possible Support of major publishers Belief that RFID is the future for the supply chain and that universal source tagging will happen within 5-7 years Good library implementations already

…but Tags still too expensive for the trade Who pays? Universal tagging essential How to achieve critical mass? Need to tag stock Retailers, mainly interested in security, dont want to invest in new hardware Privacy issues: some serious, some silly

ISO RFID standards Book Industry, through EDItEUR, has official liaison status with ISO RFID committee (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC31/WG4) Major standards projects include: Data Syntax (EPC) Frequencies (air interface) IDF talking to EAN.UCC/Auto ID Center

Some lessons learnt Source tagging of books is feasible Interoperability is essential (standards) Must provide benefit throughout supply chain Champions needed at CEO level Dont believe vendors (except those here) Lots of benefit still unexploited from barcodes