Foundation & Mission

Ubiquitous Supply Chain Management (u-SCM) Research Center was founded in March, 2005. Our mission at the u-SCM Research Center is to carry out dedicated research and development of ubiquitous technologies (esp., RFID) and systems in the areas of, but not limited to, supply chain management with a strong focus on industry-academic collaboration. In specific, our major goals are: (1) to carry out RFID-based SCM research projects funded by government and companies; (2) to educate RFID and/or SCM experts; (3) to transfer technologies to industry.

Research Focus & Projects

Our main research focus is on the areas of (1) RFID/USN information infrastructure solution focused on event repository and traceability, (2) Modeling and simulation of RFID-based logistics system, (3) ROI analysis of RFID deployment, (4) Supply chain execution incorporating RFID-based real-time material flow information.

Despite of the short history, the center¡?s research funds reaches to 3 million USD per year, and the amount of funds are rising steadily. Some of the major research projects include ¡°Development of RFID-based Integrated Solution for Product Life-Cycle Supply Chain Management (called UPLUS),¡± funded by Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (2005-2010), ¡°Collaborative U-SCP (Supply Chain Planning),¡± funded by Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (2006-2008), ¡°RFID Implementation Templates and ROI Analysis Tool Development,¡± funded by GS1 Korea (2006-2007), ¡°A Proof-of-Concept Test-bed Development for Part-level RFID Traceability,¡± funded by GM R&D Center, Warren, MI, USA (2007), ¡°Modeling and Simulation of RFID enabled Real-Time Manufacturing Traceability,¡± funded by GM R&D Center, Warren, MI, USA (2008), ¡°Development of Intelligent Store,¡± funded by Small and Medium Business Administration (2007-2008).

Collaborators

We are closely collaborating with many partners not only from industry but also public institutes. Currently we are working together with eight leading solution providers in RFID and SCM industry, including middleware developers, RFID tag and reader manufacturers, and information systems integrators.

Besides the solution providers, we also closely collaborating three manufacturing and third-party logistics companies, who provide us test sites. Other collaborators include GS1 Korea, EPCglobal Korea, Korea e-Business Association, Korea Association of RFID/USN.

Academic Integration

RFID and/or SCM research and development is incorporated into Industrial and Systems Engineering(I&SE) curriculum. Some of the courses including RFID and/or SCM components are: Management Information System(ISE2006), Programming & Practice(ISE2008), Production & Operations Management(ISE4002), Information Systems Analysis, Design and Practice (ISE4003), Logistics (ISE4018), Special Topics in Information Systems Engineering(ISE4010), Web Services Design and Implementation(ISE6008), Systems Modeling and Experimental Analysis(ISE7017), Ubiquitous Systems Development(ISE7035), Enterprise Resource Planning(ISE7023).