Traceability System for Containers (Halal-TraCS) using Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) in Halal Control Transportation for

Malaysian Halal Logistic Raziah Noor Razali, Mohd Iskandar Illyas, Mohammad Ishak Desa Halal Informatics Research Lab (HOLISTIC), Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia raziahrazali86@gmail.com, iskandar@fsksm.utm.my, mishak@utm.my Abstract Halal transportation is the next big thing to be implemented as Malaysia is going to be a world-class Halal hub. Theres a possibility of Halal goods become non-Halal (Haram) while it being delivered. Issues such as sharing container, lack of visibility the inability to see what is happening across an entire supply chain includes poor containers identification, flow tracking during distribution, managing returnable container, history of immediate suppliers, history of maintenance, and most importantly the segregating allocation space between Halal and non Halal product in same container (for contamination avoidance) increased the risk toward Halal integrity being compromised. To eliminate these deficiencies, the Halal Container Traceability System, an automated system using radio frequency identification technology (RFID) technology is proposed. The aims of the system are to automate track-and-trace Halal control during containers movement as long as to achieve total business visibility that save labour cost, increased profit and reduce human errors while maintaining the integrity of the product at the point of consumption. Keywords Container, Halal Transportation, RFID, Traceability.

INTRODUCTION As Malaysia setting itself up to be the world hub for halal products and the leading edge on halal supply chain logistics, theres a need to avoids compromising the integrity of halal products by taking control of the entire process from production, storage and transport, and through the supervision over the local suppliers it uses for certain products. Government sees Halal Transportation is the next big things to be implemented. (Tierman 2008) states that the basic principle of Halal Transportation is to ensure physical segregation of Halal cargo from non-Halal cargo in transport to avoid cross contamination, avoiding the possibility of making mistakes and ensure that the transportation system is aligned with the expectation of the various Muslim consumers. According to Halalan Toyyiban Standard (2010), in subtopic 5.5 (traceability) in Operations of The Halalan-Toyyiban Risk Management Plan, the standard state that the organization shall establish and apply a traceability system in their transportation chain services that enables the identification of the inbound goods and /or cargo for the processing stages from the
I.

immediate suppliers and the distribution routes also containers for good and/or cargo should be specifically identifiable, suitably constructed and where appropriate, made of impervious materials. They should be properly secured to prevent malicious or accidentals contamination to the goods and/or cargo being handled during transportation activities and destination of the goods and / or cargo. It has been clearly said in this condition that to ensure the food is maintain Halal, a physical separation from Haram things is required not only during preparation and processing but also during the food is being packed, stored and transported. Therefore, Halal transportation is absolutely required to ensure the Halal integrity of the food.
II.
TRACEABILITY SYSTEM USING RFID TECHNOLOGIES

Information technology (IT) have the possibility to conduct Halal Supply Chains more effectively, better organization of supply chains also increase the Halal performance at the destination. Tieman (2009). A comprehensive container management enables manufacturers, distributors, and third-party logistics providers to achieve complete visibility and control of the movement of inbound containers and inventory in order to maintained Halal status of product or goods while it being delivers. Many companies are using manual, paper-based methods to manage the free time of containers, poor visibility into what inventory is in which containers, where the container is in transit increased the risk toward Halal integrity being compromised. Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) has been accepted as a new technology for a well-structured traceability system on data collecting, and human, animal and product tracking, Sahin et.al (2002). Applying RFID technology to track the location and monitor goods as it moves through the supply chain have potentials to conduct Halal control in transportation. E.W.T.Ngai (2007) presented the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) prototype system that is integrated with mobile commerce (m-commerce) in a container depot to (i) keep track of the locations of stackers and containers, (ii) provide greater visibility of the operations data, and (iii) improve the control processes. Shi Yong (2009 ) agreed that the RFID technology is the best choice to tracking container and the plate. They explained in containers transporting and using process, the key link is tracking management, preventing the loss, larceny and damage of the containers; increase the turnover, so as to promote the use efficiency.
III.
PROPOSED SYSTEM: HALAL CONTAINER TRACEABILITY SYSTEM USING RFID

The aim of the proposed system is to allow the identification of the inbound goods and or cargo for the processing stages from the immediate suppliers and the distribution routes. This system is innovating from usual tracking system for container in conventional supply chain. Following Fig. 1 describes the proposed system to enable Halal traceability for container that carries Halal goods in Malaysia. In figure 1, shows movement of container from factory up until the distribution centre. As for maintaining the Halal status throughout the supply chain, every movement goods should be trace to

ensure the integrity of the product at the point of consumption. The different with conventional tracking, some stage may not be trace.

Figure 1: Flow of container movement together with RFID technology

applied

1. Truck will affixed with RFID tag at the warehouse after stuffing 2. Handheld reader is used to initialize outgoing container e-seal or verify incoming shipment of container with RFID tag 3. Information are transmitted via GPRS or WIFI to Halal-TraCS EPC engine/server

Figure 2: Flow of process RFID

Halal Traceability Container System (Halal-TraCS) using RFID consists of five main components:

HCTS Components HalalTrack EPC engine (RFID Repository).

Description Stores all information of the item including shipping, manufacturing and other data related to the product (Halal information) in Physical Markup Language (PML) will enable consumer to get the information on a real time basis. Attached to the container place at designated check points

RFID tag Fixed RFID Readers

RFID Container Management Middleware and Application

The mobile software that is designed to integrate, and interact between container management or yard management system and Halal-TraCS EPC engine (RFID Repository). Container Management System Send container RFID tag information to Adaptor and Middleware Halal-TraCS EPC engine for container trace and track. Table 1: Components of Halal Container Traceability System (Halal-TraCS)

using RFID

The process: 1. RFID Tag will be attached to the container. 2. Fixed RFID Readers situated at designated check points 3. RFID Container Management Middleware and application are loaded into handheld reader to perform container RFID tag detection and heavily used for container RFID tag lock and tampered status confirmation. 4. At the same time, Container Management System Adaptor and Middleware will send container RFID tag information to Halal-TraCS EPC engine for container trace and track. 5. Fixed readers will be able to detect the RFID container tag as it passes through check points and automatically update the Halal-TraCS EPC engine providing registered users real time location of the container.
IV.
DISCUSSION

RFID will help in real-time identification and tracking of containers, reaching new levels of visibility, traceability and control. Information collected is uploaded to the Halal-TraCS EPC-IS or other repository, allowing shipper, freight forwarder, ports, and etc. to know the status of the container online. This information is vital to ensures Halal status of goods while it being delivered. Issues such as sharing container (Halal and non-Halal product), history of immediate suppliers, history of maintenance, and most importantly the segregating allocation space between Halal and non Halal product in same container (for contamination avoidance) have to be concern in order to avoid the integrity of Halal product being compromised. With this information, further action can be taken if the status of Halal products has been contaminated (e.g: The ritual cleansing (Samak services) for container. This propose system helps integrate information scattered among manufacturers, suppliers and consumers providing consistent visibility to the general state of Halal operation, enhances the reliability of information, and provides information systems necessary for decision making efficiently. Logistics providers and manufacturers will benefit from the RFID Solutions as the technology evolves from the most basic identification of objects to history tracking, state information monitoring, real-time monitoring and control and autonomous services.

CONCLUSION The main purpose of this paper was to introduce the traceability system applied for containers management that suited for conducting Halal control in transportation for Malaysian Halal logistic. It is hoped that through the use of IT for conducting Halal control in transportation can resolve the problem in Halal control implementation. Besides, through this research, we can get better understanding about Halal control in transportation in Malaysia, as Muslims consumer requires the consumptions of Halal products, not only is the production of the Halal products important but also the logistic to customer, in order to ensure the integrity of the product at the point of consumption.
V. VI.
REFERENCE

E.W.T.Ngai, T. C. E. Cheng, et al. (2007). "Mobile Commerce Integrated with RFID Technology in A Container Depot." Decision Support Systems 43 62-76. Halalan-Toyyiban, F. K. K. P. (2010). HALALAN TOYYIBAN ASSURANCE PIPELINE Management System Requirements for Transportation of Goods and Cargo Chain Services. S. M. (SM), Y. E. S. (YES) and H. I. D. C. (HDC). Sahin, E., Y. Dallery, et al. (2002). Performance evaluation of a traceability system: an application to the radio frequency identification technology. Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on Systems. Shi Yong-Dong , P. Yuan-Yuan, et al. (2009 ). "The RFID Application in Logistics and Supply Chain Management." Research Journal of Applied Sciences 4(1): 57-61. SmartTag. (2008, February 2010). "RFID Solution for manufacturing and logistic." Retrieved 23 February, 2011. Tieman, M. (2009). The Building Blocks of A Halal Transportation System. The Halal Journal. January-February. Tierman, M. (2008). HALAL TRANSPORTATION - The building blocks of a Halal transportation system The Halal Journal - Jan/Feb 2009, The Halal Journal.