DoD RFID: Auto-Associating Cases to Pallets
Posted by Brad Pendleton on Tue, Oct 13, 2009
Complying with the Department of Defense's Mil-Std 129 requirements is important to keep your company in good standing. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can play a large role in maintaining Mil-Std 129 compliance. Part of the RFID requirement is that all exterior containers (cases) must include an RFID tag. If that exterior container is placed on a pallet, then the pallet must also have an RFID tag. In addition, the cases need to be associated with the pallet. That way when the pallet arrives at the receiving dock, the Pallet's RFID tag is read and the entire contents of the pallet is automatically received into the DoD's receiving system.
Associating cases to pallets can be a daunting task - especially if your shipment is large with numerous pallets and exterior containers. Std-Barc by Mil-Pac makes quick work this task by associating your exterior containers and pallets automatically.
If you are using a label printer that is also capable of encoding RFID, you can select the 129XCL4R label format within Std-Barc . Then complete the data entry to be printed on the label as you would normally do for an Exterior Container Label. Before printing, notice the gray blocks on the right side of the data entry screen. Select "Exterior/Case" for the Container Type, check "Auto-Print RFID Pallet Lab
els" and choose the number of cases that will go on one pallet. Once this is complete, click "Print". The software will automatically print your requested number of case RFID labels and will calculate and print the total number of pallets RFID labels necessary.
While getting your case labels and pallet labels printed together is quite an advantage, the real benefit of this label format is the automatic association of the cases to the pallets. Combined with the Mil-Pac RFID Load Manager software, you can make specific adjustments to your RFID tag assignments. You can also print a Load Configuration Report to include with the labels to pass to the Material Handler who will assemble the shipment. Finally, you can electronically submit the RFID tags to Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) as an Advanced Shipping Notice RFID Pack Update transaction.
Utilizing the features in Mil-Pac's Std-Barc and RFID Load Manager software can greatly ease the added work that RFID compliance brings.