Scientific paper ID 1391 : 2016/3

Thanks to applying of the newest achievements in the information and communication technologies (ICT), Truck and Trace systems experienced their rapid development. Users can benefit from the wide range of services as real-time giving the information about the traffic conditions, generating different traffic messages or signs on traffic displays, displaying warnings about traffic accidents, and traffic jams, including the expected delays on the route,location of the vehicle and/or load, and so on. ICTallow the control and adaptive road traffic management. For such applications implementation, it is necessary to possess adequate data.

If the supply chains are understood as series of the basic logistics functions (transport, reloading, storage), it is not difficult to conclude that they coincide with the information chains that represent adequate physical activities. Related to the information flows’ management, it is to expect that the information flows are precursors to the commodity flows. The information flows need to ensure timely and smoothly functioning of the physical processes in the logistics chains, with optimal costs.

The article considers some of the characteristics and the possibilities of implementation of the Truck and Trace technologies in the supply chains. Special attention is paid to some basic load identification technologies used to support the Truck and Trace systems, as thebarcode, RFID,and OCR.