Sue Herera of CNBC's Powerlunch talks with CEO Graham Sampson about Track & Trace:
Secure Symbology’s ESC™ System applies globally accepted standard bar code symbology in a unique way to serialize individual product units and, eventually, all levels of packaging (case, pallet, etc.). The ESC™ System combines technology to print, scan, verify, compile, and transfer serialized data, establishing a database of a product’s packaging and shipment history. The system creates a practical electronic pedigree for every individual unit, and as a result, serialized product data and verification are available globally for any authorized supply chain member (manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer, etc.), through a secure Application Software Platform (ASP).
The ESC™ System allows every serialized product to be tracked and traced through the supply chain. The system is minimally invasive to the production line, the supply chain and retail outlet, as it is comprised of existing printer technology, “off-the-shelf” readily available RSS and/or CS-enabled bar code scanners, and the Internet.
SSI’s patented ESC™ System combines assembly line bar code technology with an online data warehouse to uniquely identify and track each individual product package throughout the supply chain. The assembly line part of the system is called Print & Verify, as it consists of printing and verifying serialized barcodes. The online data warehouse is known as Track & Trace,™ and it enables the scanning, tracking, and tracing of individual product units.
ESC™ is unique to packaging lines in that it is able to create unique bar code labels for unit-level packaging. Whereas existing packaging lines print the same pre-set bar code label onto every package in the same lot, ESC™ creates a real-time “fingerprint” that is printed on the package and stored in a database. Once this information is stored and made accessible online, products can be tracked throughout their lifetime by connecting barcode scanners to web browsers. Overall, the ESC™ System is a proprietary, modular, flexible, intricate set of technologies that, when connected together, enable the entire business model of SSI.
This ESC™ technology takes advantage of standard bar code technologies, which can be used to supplement traditional bar codes with individual unit data. For example, a product can be printed with its normal “linear” bar code and a composite bar code above it. Such composite barcodes are standardized codes that are readable by essentially all modern bar code scanners.
Modularity and flexibility are at the heart of ESC.™ The software that powers the Print & Verify subsystem is designed to be able to work interchangeably for any product in any industry. Likewise, Track & Trace™ is built on a software architecture that is flexible enough to process and report bar code data from any Print & Verify-enabled assembly line.
Print & Verify
Print & Verify, the assembly line module of ESC,™ can be seamlessly inserted into any existing packaging line. This module consists of an intricate combination of proprietary electro-mechanical equipment and software.
The main components of Print & Verify are the Master Controller, the Unit Station, and the Shipper Station.
Master Controller
The Master Controller is a PC that runs software that coordinates the entire Print & Verify process. The controller runs proprietary SSI software, and can be configured for any packaging line in any industry. This software runs on a Windows-based PC mounted in an industrial enclosure at the packaging line.
The heart of the Master Controller is software code that is able to read a packaging line bar code job configuration, create the serialized bar code labels, print labels, verify the print quality of the labels, reject bad units, store bar code data, and transmit data to Track & Trace,™ This code is the primary intellectual foundation of SSI’s technology. By creating software architecture flexible enough to be used universally in packaging lines and advanced enough to orchestrate complex processes, the Master Controller allows SSI to sell a unique product into any industry while keeping programming costs to a minimum.
The Master Controller is used by packaging line supervisors and operators. This controller is a touch-screen interface used to set up and run bar code label jobs. The software architecture developed by SSI for the Master Controller interface allows jobs to be set up in any industry for any product.
Jobs are set up in the Master Controller without any necessary regard for the physical hardware components used on the assembly line crash cart. The Master Controller is built for “plug and play,” so that multiple printer and camera types may be integrated, further instilling flexibility in the Print & Verify system.
Packaging line operators use the touch screen to load and run a job configuration for a running assembly line. The interface provides the operator with running statistics about the job, such as the number of units printed, rejected, and transmitted to Track & Trace.™
When the print job is idle or stopped, the Master Controller transmits serialized bar code data to Track & Trace™ via an encrypted Internet connection. This communication software, developed by SSI, is the link between Print & Verify and Track & Trace.™
Mobile Printing Station (Crash Cart)
The Unit Station is the primary component of Print & Verify, whereby individual product units are labeled with serialized bar codes and stored in a database. The Unit Station consists of a custom piece of machinery, proprietary to SSI, that can “roll up” and integrate into any assembly line.
Product units traveling on the conveyor belt of a packaging line intersect with the Unit Station machinery. The Unit Station removes the product from the assembly line to a track containing a bar code printer, label verification camera, and reject mechanism. After successfully passing the reject mechanism, the Unit Station places the product back onto the assembly line conveyor belt.
The key to the Unit Station is it's ability to satisfy the stringent needs of the pharmaceutical industry to keep up with conveyor speeds of 250 units per minute. Both the machinery and software are high performance technology, capable of performing such high speed orchestrations.
Track & Trace™
Track & Trace™ is the online data warehouse and Web application that makes possible the anti-counterfeiting, product tracking and product tracing functionality of ESC.™ Track & Trace™ is a network of web and database servers hosted in a secure, high-bandwidth, state-of-the-art data center.
Bar code data is transmitted from Print & Verify at the assembly line across the Internet into a storage area network (SAN) on Track & Trace.™ This SAN is capable of scaling to billions of bar code labels, for use in the Web application part of Track & Trace.
The Web application part of Track & Trace™ is proprietary SSI software, running on Web servers, that allows products to be scanned, validated, and tracked via standard bar code scanners and Web browsers.
Track & Trace™ is built on algorithms for searching and grouping infinite numbers of individual products, and their movement throughout the supply chain. In addition, SSI has written anti-counterfeit algorithms that search for suspect product scans and suspect product movement.
By creating a bridge from any assembly line using the Print & Verify and Track & Trace™ systems, and by combining massive data storage with supply chain search algorithms, the entire business model of SSI is realized.
