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SAP’s RFID application on mobile phones

With RFID technology on mobile phones running a SAP application, the pharmaceutical sector can reduce counterfeiting, says Vinutha V

The pharmaceutical industry is vulnerable to counterfeits. Market research indicates that 7 to 8 percent of the drugs worldwide are counterfeit. According to SAP, shrinkage and counterfeits account for 0.22 to 0.73 percent of revenues for manufacturers, and the counterfeit rate is growing at 6 to 8 percent annually.

But container security is of paramount importance across all segments including utilities, petroleum, pharmaceutical and consumer products. To tackle the problem, SAP Corporate Research started work in 1998 to generate SAP applications that could be deployed on intelligent devices such as Nokia mobile phones. Under this initiative, RFID technology from SAP was developed to authenticate drugs and offer protection against the introduction of counterfeit or fraudulently-obtained drugs into the supply chain. Pharmacists can compare the Electronic Product Code (EPC) data encoded in a product’s RFID tag to the manufacturer’s records. This will ensure that only authentic products move through the supply chain and on to consumers.

" There is interest in the consumer goods, pharmaceutical and utilities industries for applications such as product authentication, integrity and tracking of assets" - Krish Mantripragada Director Global Solution Strategy RFID SCM Solutions Management SAP Labs

Says Krish Mantripragada, Director, Global Solution Strategy, RFID SCM Solutions Management, SAP Labs, “The pharmaceutical sector is just one example. Additionally, enterprise applications will become more pervasive, and with the developments in mobile technologies and intelligent devices, enterprise business applications will run on a number of platforms. Smart phones are one of several in this intelligent device community.” People can access enterprise business applications from a number of channels—desktop computers, PDAs, cell phones, intelligent RFID readers, sensor networks and so on. Any application that requires a mobile user or a smart device to interact with an enterprise system is suitable for this class of applications. SAP is trying to expand the reach of enterprise applications beyond the four walls of an enterprise. Applications such as field service and repair, authentication and maintenance are all examples of applications where end-users could be anywhere and have access to the enterprise back-end system to complete a business process. Similarly, intelligent devices such as smart readers will have to run business logic to perform localised actions.

How does it work?

The SAP application is divided into small chunks that are delivered directly to the intelligent device which has the capability to execute applications. This application now running on the intelligent device (such as an RFID-enabled smart phone) can read RFID signals from tags using near-field communication. It performs business logic operations on data and communicates through XML messages over GPRS networks to the SAP NetWeaver enterprise platform that interprets the message. The action in the enterprise application could be logging an event in a track and trace solution in SAP Event Management (part of the mySAP SCM solution suite that helps monitor and track goods, objects and deliveries across the supply network).

The pharmacist logs into the authentication system by scanning the employee ID tag with an RFID-enabled mobile phone. He then uses his mobile phone to access information on the RFID tag on the package of drugs he wants to authenticate. The system shows that it’s verifying the product. SAP Event Management logs the event in the SAP system. It notes if an invalid EPC is detected, captures all relevant data, and stores the picture of the product.

The system then launches an investigative workflow to follow up on the reported event. The manufacturer’s anti-counterfeit unit calls the pharmacist to discuss the problem.

Suppose the pharmacist wants to authenticate another drug. In this case, if the authentication fails, he is advised to isolate the drug and wait to hear from the manufacturer. At the manufacturer’s end, SAP Event Management registers the unsuccessful authentication attempt and captures the time, location, pharmacist and other information. This data can be analysed to detect trends and direct an investigation.

The best part of the entire application is that the source of events to track activities can come from anywhere in the world where there is access to the network. These events can come through B2B gateways, Internet or GPRS from a variety of means to track and trace goods, products and assets. The specific pharma application is authentication and tracking.

“Authentication is only one class of applications. By uniquely identifying the product, it can check for recalls, provide guidance on dosage, and the applications are limitless,” informs Mantripragada.

Next step

Going forward, both SAP and Nokia want users to take advantage of the latest developing technologies to access enterprise applications on mobile phones. Adds Mantripragada, “In India we see interest in the consumer goods, pharmaceutical and utilities industries for a variety of applications such as product authentication, verification of product integrity, tracking and tracing flow of assets. With the wide adoption of GSM or GPRS networks in India, we hope to see these kinds of applications taking off.”

A proof of concept has been done for the utilities industries, where equipment is periodically serviced. In the aerospace industry, personnel inspecting expensive tools need to fill in a comprehensive form on services and inspecting. Here, mobile phones with RFID applications will come in handy.

vinutha@expresscomputeronline.com