Polish Ministry of Defense Deploys Savi's Wireless Supply Chain Network Solution

Savi's RFID-Based Solution Supports Delivery of Military Supplies into Afghanistan for NATO Peace Efforts

(03.06.08) - To support NATO peace keeping objectives in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Polish Ministry of Defense (PMD) is deploying a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based solution provided by Savi, a Lockheed Martin company, to automate tracking and management of military supplies. This marks the second largest NATO-related installation of Savi’s RFID networked solution and the eighth separate defense force deployment of it worldwide.

Savi’s networked solutions are actively operational with defense forces at NATO headquarters, and in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain.

"Savi’s innovative solution has been battle-tested for more than a decade, and we anticipate that it will help us to collaborate more closely with our allies, while creating a more reliable and efficient supply chain in support of the soldier," said Colonel Artur Malinowski, PMD’s Generalny Zarad Logistyki, P-4. "The Savi solution will be used to track and manage consignments in the Polish Ministry of Defense’s extended supply chain through depots, bases, airfields and other military installations."

"Poland has an important role in NATO to support peace keeping efforts in Afghanistan, and Savi’s tracking solution enhances supply chain visibility and accuracy to ensure that the right supplies get to the right place at the right time,” said Bruce Jacquemard, managing director-International, for Savi Technology.

PMD’s Military Property Agency contracted with the Netline Group to procure the Savi Consign-ment Management Solution, which provides near real-time information on the location of supplies through a network of RFID readers linked to enterprise-level, decision-support software. The Netline Group has partnered with Hertz Systems for services to help install hardware and software.

The Savi Consignment Management Solution is based on NATO asset tracking standards that enable it to be interoperable with NATO-allied defense forces. As a result, both national and multi-national consignments can be tracked and managed through tracking networks operated by multiple defense forces when using the same NATO standards-based solution.

Consignments tagged with active, battery-powered RFID devices are monitored by fixed and mobile readers, while the Savi CMS software platform enables users to manage the consignments while in-transit throughout their supply chain journey. CMS also processes real-time data transmissions from other types of Automatic Identification and Data Collection technologies, such as bar codes, passive RFID and GPS satellite location systems. CMS also provides built in capability to integrate with other mission systems thus enabling a tight linkage of consignment management processes to other critical processes such as material inventory management, supply procurement, deployment planning, etc. (Savi: ma)