History

As a pool operator of about 3.5 million CC Containers and more than 28 million other transportation units, Container Centralen (CC) initiated the RFID project in the horticultural industry - “Operation Chip It” – in close cooperation with major European horticultural organisations and leading international RFID technology partners.

Operation Chip It

Since January 10, 2011, all CC Containers must have the CC metal plate and the new red ID tag with RFID to be accepted in the CC Pool System. After the cut-off date, January 10, 2011, the experience showed very quickly that the users had tagged their containers in due time and acted according to the new procedures in the industry.

The RFID project group has worked together since June 2004 to analyse and define the objectives and demands for the RFID standard. All parties saw the value in and necessity of the introduction of RFID in the horticultural industry. They worked closely together on a common strategy, and they have fully supported the implementation of the system and the new day to day processes and work flows. The following companies participated in the group:

• Landgard
• FloraHolland 
• VGB 
• Gasa Group A/S 
• Container Centralen A/S 
  

The Technology Partners

In 2008 CC initiated an extensive process to choose one or more partners to be the primary force in the technological part of the project. Even though the use of RFID technology is widespread in other industries, it was clear that only a limited number of suppliers could provide the security level required for the project. Early in 2009, IBM was chosen as overall supplier of the IT solution, the RFID padlocks and the RFID scanners / PDA’s. IBM chose Confidex as the supplier of RFID padlocks, and Nordic ID as the supplier of RFID scanners / PDA’s. The intensive collaboration with IBM has proven the importance of high skill and professionalism to ensure the success of this very complex project.

At a later stage, other suppliers started to develop different scanner models for the horticultural RFID solution. Some of these have been or will be certified by IBM. 

Find more information on the scanner suppliers.