The global view

Chris Kelley

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has always been considered a forward-looking technology. Today, most of the focus is on how emerging electronic product code (EPC) RFID tags can help connect trading partners and align supply chains across borders to deliver wide business benefits.

There have been a number of key achievements that have driven RFID technology development and led to increased understanding and adoption of the technology. In particular, the retail mandates set down by large firms like Walmart, instructing those within the company’s wider supply chain to adapt RFID, have been key in promoting wider use of the technology. The development of global RFID standards has helped ensure consistency of application across borders.

When considering widespread growth in adopting RFID though, it is not so much nations as vertical markets that many experts view in terms of market maturity and growth with RFID. There are a number of RFID vertical markets that are well established globally. These include:
• Railways – container / freight carriage tracking
• Automotive manufacturing – tracking of high value parts
• T&L – asset tracking and toll roads
• Building – access control
• Livestock tracking

The success of RFID technology within these markets can largely be attributed to two distinct factors: time and economic benefit. These markets have invested the most time and research into the technology in regards to how RFID can add value to their general operations and have seen the potential for economic gains from this - which in turn encourages further development of the technology relative to their businesses.

Although there are many exciting potential developments on the horizon in relation to RFID technology, the area that I perceive to offer the greatest future benefit in the short term will be that of increased sensory awareness of RFID tags in the area of ‘cold tracking.’

Cold tracking will allow food growers / manufacturers and retailers to provide greater information about the food products in their supply chain - that is, not just from what destination the food product has come from, but what temperature the food has been stored / transported at. This is especially important to those companies involved with seafood and other temperature-sensitive products.

Historically, the most common mistake that people / companies make when it comes to RFID, is to take an existing process (which may already be working successfully) and simply add RFID. The expectation is that simply by introducing RFID they will automatically enhance supply chain practices, without properly investigating if this is indeed a best fit.

Companies should undertake an intensive research and development phase looking at their current processes and future needs to assess whether RFID would benefit their business.

In addition to researching whether RFID will benefit a particular company, the choice of hardware is also critical. If the incorrect RFID equipment is adopted it may limit the effectiveness of the application. Companies should look towards systems integrators for technical advice about which equipment will best meet their requirements.

RFID and asset tracking: a local perspective

Michael Atallah

Employing RFID technology in an asset tracking process can provide a wider return on investment than straight financial gains. RFID offers the unique ability to provide efficiency gains, improved productivity and visibility, speeding up the supply chain, a higher quality of service to customers, and correcting mistakes when they occur.

Importantly though, RFID’s financial benefits to those Australian companies taking advantage of the technology include monetary savings through locating and redeploying existing assets instead of buying or producing new ones, reducing labor costs, improving profits, and increasing customer satisfaction by making sure products arrive at the right location at the right time, and in the right condition.

By adding tag interrogators into retail supply chains, a fruit or vegetable grower for example can track loads of produce to a specific retailer to help speed payment, or a retailer can make sure the first produce into the system is the first to go on the shelves.

Food and beverage traders can also take advantage of automated reading and group selection functionality to quickly identify and locate products affected by a recall. Using RFID to automatically capture serial numbers or lot codes on cartons processed at distribution centres and received in retail environments provides a new level of traceability without requiring time-consuming manual data collection. By accurately and efficiently capturing lot codes, retailers could target their recalls so unaffected products would not have to be pulled from stores.

The decision to use RFID to track assets focuses on acquiring more accurate data, to deliver more accurate and timely information, which in turn allows companies to make better business decisions to deliver a return on investment. For Australian organisations involved with asset tracking, the question should not necessarily be on the value of the assets they are tracking, but rather on the cost of not knowing where those assets are or how many there are.

Given not all RFID systems are alike, the implementation of the technology is not always easy, nor straightforward. What is required is help from a trusted RFID partner, who has several different types of experience, including deep technical knowledge, system design and implementation expertise.

Chris Kelley is director, RFID Business Strategy at Intermec and Michael Atallah is the managing director of Gamma Solutions.

For more information visit www.gammasolutions.com.

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