In the retail industry, there are increasing trends to improve the efficiency of stocktaking and labor saving of cash registering work by attaching electronic tags (RFID) to products to be sold at stores in order to improve productivity. Meanwhile, the entire supply chain has problems with returned goods and food loss due to the fact that rules based on old business practices remain and delay the introduction of advanced technologies such as IoT and artificial intelligence (AI). As the shortage of labor becomes more serious, maintaining the distribution system as a social infrastructure becomes difficult as it is, and there is a possibility that the living standard and the industrial competitiveness of domestic companies may be adversely affected. In the NEDO-supported project, participants will study the usefulness of RFID-tagged products in consumer goods supply chains (EPCIS, Electronic Product Code Information Services), along with manufacturers, cooperating companies such as convenience stores and drug stores. Demonstration experiments with RFID pasted products on the supply chain and sharing acquired data will be done during FY 2018 with Dai Nippon Printing Co., Seven – Eleven Japan Co., FamilyMart, Lawson, Ministop, and JR East Japan Retail Network.

NEDO news release, August 23, 2018