Project and launching of EPC/RFID globally innovative technology, namely a system enabling logistic processes with a complicated configuration and the possibility of secure network access to be serviced.

The project covered both the preparation of an innovative EPC/RFID gateway installed at the New Generation Logistics Centre of the company INTERSPORT Polska S.A. and the implementation of an IT system innovative in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe based on applicable EPCglobal standards. The system’s task is to identify and register the flow of returnable containers with goods between the company’s central warehouse and the network of sales outlets throughout Poland. The process of identification is carried out in a dual arrangement using RFID technology on the part of the warehouse as well as barcodes in stores.

As a result of implementing, in INTERSPORT Polska S.A., EPCglobal network components such as the EPC Information Service (EPCIS), it has become possible to monitor and control returnable resources such as plastic transporting containers marked with RFID markers and labels with barcodes. A user of the system has the possibility of ongoing review of the current warehouse state of containers both on the part of the distribution centre and sales outlets, and also gains information on all unusual situations such as delays in supplying goods to a store, wrong identification of the recipient of the goods, etc.

An additional advantage of the solution implemented is also its flexibility, resulting from the possibility of accessing data via the Internet practically from any place on earth. This functionality enables both central warehouse employees and heads of stores to be able to use the system and obtain data essential for a company to operate, such as the date of an expected supply of goods resulting from the fact of registering a dispatch of goods and the average time for performing the transportation service. Such information can ultimately have an impact on staffing policy and determine the number of employees required to carry out the process of acceptance of goods without the need to hamper other operating activities.

The implemented technology has also made it possible to introduce and monitor a new service - INTERSEZON, which gives year-round access to out-of-season sports assortments via a website (the availability of summer goods in the winter season and vice versa). The service is aimed at customers who cannot buy a sports article directly in a sports shop because of its unavailability out of season.