Archive for the ‘RFID’ Category:
Reports by Market Research Firm IDC Show that More and More European Firms Are Drawing Advantages By Using RFID Technology
A study on "The Status of RFID in Western European Verticals", was done during March and April, 2005. There were over 286 respondents, primarily, CIOs and IT managers, from across the continent of Europe. The key findings of this study were later published. As per the reports, over 66% of all the respondents said that there was improved inventory management and control over inbound logistics, as a result of RFID. Almost 70% of the respondents from domains belonging to discrete and retail or wholesale; believed that loss prevention was another important benefit. About 80% of process manufacturers and 67% of logistics/ transport providers cited that pallets tagging was the primary goal behind adopting RFID. More than 50% of the discrete manufacturers showed an interest in using RFID for tracking returnable assets like containers, trailers, pallets and reusable packaging. Less than 1% of the companies who have run pilots using RFID, did not follow up with implementation. Logisticsmgmt.com reports:
This survey’s results contradict those from a study done by U.K. analyst Analytiqa, which found that reluctance among European third-party logistics to deploy RFID was threatening to slow down RFID deployment in supply chains across Europe.
Read More: European Logistics Companies Lead The Way in RFID
Subscribe to the comments for this postSymposium in California, to Discuss Customer Mandates and the Fear of RFID Technology
AIM Global is the worldwide trade association and an authority on automatic identification and mobility technologies. It has announced two panel discussions that will focus on RFID technologies, their use issues and the status of mandates and compliance. Aimglobal.org reports:
The panel discussions are part of the 2006 AIM Annual Showcase and RFID Interactive taking place at the Hyatt Newport Beach in Newport Beach, California, USA from February 22-24, 2006. In the closing session for RFID Interactive, an end user event held in conjunction with the Showcase, an expert panel reviews the different sides of the RFID and privacy debate.
Read More: Automatic ID Industry Addresses RFID Compliance and Privacy
New Challenges Faced by RFID Middleware
The RFID middleware market is facing a series of challenges today. This, despite reports of steady growth and favorable media coverage. Middleware is said to be the software created in the early stages of a given technology. Its purpose is to link separate systems and allow them to communicate. Eventually, middleware becomes obsolete. RFID middleware is surely no exception. RFID middleware is a software layer that resides between RFID hardware and the existing back-end system or application software. It takes out data from the RFID integrators and filters it. It then aggregates it and routes it to enterprise applications like warehouse management systems (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or manufacturing execution system (MES).
Automatic Identification - Barcode or RFID
RFID and Barcodes are two technologies that dominate Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). Other AIDC technologies include smart card, touch memory and magnetic strips. The focal function of AIDC technology is to apply an identification code to a product or an object. It must also store other information and read the code at a later date, for tracking purposes. All this needs to be accomplished with minimal human intervention. With the adoption of Universal Product Code (UPC), for retail product labeling, in 1974, barcode has become the most popular and widely used AIDC technology in material distribution and retail operations. RFID offers many advantages over barcode. It has a higher information carrying capacity. Besides it can change the information encoded and has a longer read range without the direct line-of-sight requirements.
Read More: Automatic Identification - When to Use RFID
Bill on RFID
RFID has many critics who believe that computer tags that track buying habits of people who purchase products, are not exactly harmless for they can be potentially misused somewhere down the line. Prompted by this, the senate members have come together to word the legislation that is one of its kind, in the nation. Theunionleader.com reports:
Defenders of the computer tags-tiny microchips that are embedded into a label attached to the products - say they promote efficiency by enabling retail outlets to maintain up-to-the-minute product inventories and speed up the checkout process for the customer (in some case, the customer can avoid checking out altogether). The House Commerce Committee unanimously recommended passage of the bill, HB 203, in the form of an amendment that replaces the wording of the bill with a new version addressing concerns raised in the public hearing.
Read More: Bill aims to slow RFID in its tracks
The The Future of RFID During This Year
Several manufacturers have adopted RFID in the past. Radio Frequency Identification or RFID has potentially helped them. They have begun to quantify costs and benefits. For a very long time RFID has been used as a simple technology for tracking goods in a supply chain. It is now time to look a step ahead and think of embedding RFID in products, in order to make them smarter. Products can also be made more useful and easier to maintain and recycle, by using RFID. Earlier, people considered RFID a hot topic and were looking for an application for it. Now, they are analyzing a business problem and using RFID as a tool to solve the problem. Rfidjournal.com reports:
Another trend I see for 2006 is the emergence of big players in the RFID market. For most of the past three years, startups and smaller established firms have been among the key players.
Read More: Forecasts for RFID in 2006
Electronic Produt Code information Services - EPCIS
RFID technology is all set to revolutionize the retail industry. Recent significant developments will take RFID to new levels of functionality. One significant development in this regard is the launch of the Electronic Product Code Information Services. EPCIS will be an information service that aggregates electronic product-code data from RFID tags that have been scanned or encoded at different places in the supply chain. For example, a distributor could upload EPC data for RFID tags that have been scanned into their warehouse management system. The EPCIS is structured around a web-service model. It allows organizations to implement and access internet based data exchange services for RFID tags. EPC Global is one organization that is at the helm of the development of RFID standards and technology and is committed to launching the EPCIS by the first quarter of 2006.