CHARLOTTE, NC – SATO Corporation., a global leader in barcode printing, labeling, and EPC/RFID solutions, announced its participation in the successful completion of the second phase of GS1 EPCglobal’s Transportation and Logistics Services (TLS) Industry Action Group RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Pilot Program.

EPCglobal Inc., a subsidiary of the global not-for-profit standards organization GS1, through its its Pilot Program, has demonstrated unprecedented real-time cargo visibility as goods flowed between trading partners and logistics providers from mainland China to mainland U.S.A.

The second phase of the Transportation and Logistics Pilot Program, supported by METI, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and other members of the Transportation and Logistic Industry Action Group, started in November 2007 and was recently completed. The TLS Phase 2 Pilot Program, initiated by GS1 EPCglobal, included two shipments of three containers with each container consisting of 40 pallets. The project involved the shipment of parts such as tires as well as finished goods such as laptop computers of international companies moving from source factories in China to distribution centers in the U.S., flowing through the ports of Shanghai and Los Angeles.

The objective of the TLS Phase 2 Pilot Program was to prove the capability for unprecedented visibility into the movement, location and disposition of assets, goods and services throughout the world as well as to validate the use of both passive and active UHF EPC tags for sea-shipment of cartons and containers shipped between China and the U.S.

SATO Corporation, the sole printer manufacturer to participate in the Pilot Program, was partnered with major logistics, shipping, hardware and software providers. The Pilot Program was also supported by METI, NRI, MTI, and the GS1 Member Organizations from China, Hong Kong, Japan and U.S.

About GS1 EPCglobal Standards
GS1 EPCglobal standards are a set of integrated industry-driven standards which have been developed to meet user’s requirements enabling the identification of objects, data capture and sharing of information among partners throughout the supply chain. These standards are developed within the framework of EPCglobal Inc.

About EPCglobal Inc.
EPCglobal Inc. is a subsidiary of the global not-for-profit standards organization GS1, and supports the global adoption of the Electronic Product Code as industry-driven standards to enable accurate, immediate and cost-effective visibility of information throughout the supply chain.

About GS1
GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility in supply chains. GS1 is driven by more than a million companies, who execute more than five billion transactions a day with the GS1 System of Standards. This makes it the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world.

For more information about GS1, visit: www.gs1.org