Aug 23, 2021Brazil has launched operations to improve processes and offer new postal services around the world with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, under the baton of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialized United Nations agency that coordinates postal policies among member countries. Correios Brazil is implementing the use of smart tags in correspondence and especially in product boxes—a growing demand in e-commerce. The systems are now up and running and follow the global GS1 RFID standards.
The project is being implemented in stages, in a joint action carried out with the UPU. "This is the first worldwide project for tracking postal cargo using UHF RFID technology," says Odarci Maia Jr., Correios Brazil's RFID project manager. "The complexity of the implementation involves tracking postal cargoes that have a diversity of materials, dimensions and spatial orientation, in addition to needing to have their data captured in small time windows and in large quantities." Due to the initial conditions, the technology was adopted to maintain the current operational processes of loading, unloading and handling packages.
"The tracking process with the use of barcodes is being maintained in parallel," Maia says, "since at this time the project does not aim to replace the entire park of equipment and infrastructure implemented by this type of tracking. The use of RFID technology in the postal environment is just beginning and, certainly, changes in processes will be observed along the learning curve." The technology-based selection was carried out in conjunction with the UPU, based on the low cost of RFID tags, in order to minimally impact the value of postal services.
"Orders transported by Correios have a wide range of contents," Maia states, "and are mostly of low value, which would not justify the adoption of active tags." On the other hand, he says, "There was a need to adopt the most-used standard, one that would present better benefits, such as the relationship between cost and reading performance for our type of load. Furthermore, the use of standards allows for rapid adoption of the technology, as there are numerous solution and input providers on the market. It is noteworthy that the use of market standards [such as GS1's] allows customers to obtain gains in their processes, outside the postal ecosystem."
Readers are installed at the cargo entry and exit gates of Correios's main operational units throughout Brazil. These units include sorting centers, cargo terminals, distribution centers, international centers and more. Parcels and packages are transported in a unitized manner inside cargo containers that hold hundreds of packages, depending on their individual dimensions and weights.
Odarci Maia Jr.
"Each order has its own RFID tag," Maia explains, "and the load unitizers also have a permanent RFID tag, in this case with the GS1 GRAI-96 identifier. In a typical use case, when a unitizer is loaded or unloaded from the trunk of a truck, the reader installed on the loading dock carries out the inventory of the unitizer's contents and transmits the information to the company's central repository. Package-passing information is reflected in the object-tracking system consulted by customers."
Readers were selected through an international tender conducted by the UPU. The RFID reading kit consists of an Impinj reader, Keonn antennas and a miniature onboard PC, which are integrated by Kyubi—Comercial Arqué. "The project includes 2,009 reader kits in various configurations," Maia says, "of which approximately half are already installed in around 50 operating units."
Alberto de Mello Mattos, a Correios project manager, says the project was designed so customers could purchase and produce labels for their orders, already with RFID technology incorporated, without limiting use to a specific brand or model of inlay and giving a wide freedom of choice. "Given the inexistence, at the time, of technical standards for the performance of inlays for use in logistical or postal processes," he states, "several field tests were carried out involving the wide range of cargo types that are processed daily at Correios, with an inlay having been identified as a performance benchmark." That inlay, he says, is Avery Dennison Smartrac's Dogbone Monza R6.
To guide customers on choosing inlays that can provide adequate read rates, the company has published a listing titled "Recommended by the Post" (RPC), which details inlays that perform equal to or better than the reference inlay. According to Maia and Mattos, the project faced several challenges, such as identifying the installation location of each RFID reader kit; preparing the infrastructure; designing and developing the database, applications and integration with corporate systems; training the team involved; and producing technical materials for internal and external use.
Mattos believes it would be possible to improve customers' journey with regard to their orders' locations. It would also be possible, he says, to offer information about the exact moment when a package has entered or left a certain operational unit, as well as the addition of new events in the process of monitoring an object's movements from origin point to final recipient.
Alberto de Mello Mattos
All the efforts of the Correios team have led to the implementation of readers in approximately 180 operating units, as well as consolidation of the technology's use by customers. "We understand that this process should take the next 18 months," Maia says. The firm has its own track-and-trace solution for the location and tracking of orders, known as the SRO Object Tracking System, which was developed for barcode technology, either via manual reading or with automated sorting equipment. A Sedex tracking label is affixed to each order.
"The RFID system was set up with its own database, bearing in mind the specifics of frequency for reading and the identifiers used," Mattos says. "Information is sent to the SRO continuously and is made available to customers through digital channels. In addition, a great effort was made to integrate with the posting systems used by the branch network and by our clients."
The solution's database is centralized in Brazil, and some information is sent to the UPU cloud in Switzerland. The evolution to the new middleware, which is being developed by RedBite, foresees the use of cloud architecture (AWS IoT) for the purposes of health monitoring (maintenance), parameterization and the updating of embedded software in readers.
The process starts with the labeling of packages or orders. Each package receives a barcode-tracking label engraved with a UPU-standardized identifier, called an S10, which has a format of two letters, nine numbers and two more letters (for example: ML123456789BR). This is the package's main identifier, and it's used for contractual purposes, as well as for customers to carry out research in the Correios tracking system.
This information is captured throughout the postal process, through manual or automated reading of the respective barcode. The S10 identifier is provided by Correios Brazil to contract customers who produce their personalized labels, and it is also generated on the Sedex label, which is affixed to individual customer orders served by counters at branches.
"With the adoption of RFID," Maia states, "the S10 identifier will be kept in parallel with the identifier recorded on the inlay—which, in the case of packages and parcels, is the identifier in the GS1 SSCC [Serial Shipping Container Code] standard. In this way, each package contains two identifiers which, via the system, allow the identification of each shipment circulating through the post office in a different way, regardless of whether the tracking was carried out by means of barcode or RFID."
With regard to customers served by the postal agency, an attendant affixes an RFID tag and, via the service window system, links that particular package to its SSCC and S10 identifiers. "For contract customers who request S10 identifiers via the network to prepare their shipments," Maia says, "they will be able to purchase their own RFID tags, customized according to their individual needs, and produce the RFID tags with their own SSCC encoding—that is, with its own company prefix, allowing integration and use in its internal processes, in addition to interoperability, when the package goes through several service providers."
Another option is to link the SGTIN identifier of products that already have their own RFID tags to identify the package, linked to the S10 asset. The gains from the project, given its recent launch, are still being monitored, and the middleware currently in use was developed by Kyubi. Its main tasks are to filter reading events and minimize the sending of repeated information to the central repository, as well as to manage the captured data and transmit information to support equipment maintenance.
Since Correios has no direct relationship with the RFID hardware supplier, all negotiation at this level was conducted by the UPU, the body responsible for specifying and contracting the equipment. The hardware solution supplier was selected through an international tender published by the UPU. The applications, database and interfaces with the corporate systems in use were developed in-house. The processes for adapting the energy infrastructure and data communication at each installation site were developed with its own resources and specific contracts.
"Implementing RFID in a company the size of Correios," Maia states, "with wide geographic coverage, diversity and volume of processed cargo, and with varied construction standards of the buildings, in addition to involving the different needs of thousands of customers from the most diverse segments, made the project unique and ambitious. The challenges were divided into five pillars—infrastructure, readers, systems, labels and labeling—aimed at a better organization of the project implementation."
