Business Applications of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) Technologies

Business Applications of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technologies

RFID Basics
RFID is a rapidly emerging technology – global market of USD $4 billion forecasted by 2007 (Frost & Sullivan)
RFID is a means of automatic identification and data capture
Automatic identification is used to identify items, capture information and get the data into a computer
RFID technology can be used to identify …
objects (supply chain management, anti-counterfeiting etc.)
people (access management, mass transit ticketing, passports etc.)
Allows objects to communicate information about themselves automatically with no human intervention
increase efficiency
reduce data entry errors
free up staff to do other value added functions

RFID Basics
Advantages of RFID versus Barcode
No requirement for line-of-sight
Dynamic information carrier (read/write)
High memory capacity if needed
Anti-collision (many tags can be read at the same time)
Robust and reliable
Performs in rugged, harsh environment
Cheaper in long term
No human intervention
Reader virtually maintenance free

How RFID Works Reader Antenna Tag Computer IC (Integrated Circuit) Antenna Passive RFID Read/Write

RFID tag gets into reading device's electromagnetic field
tag receives the signal which energises the passive tag
tag transmits the data stored in the IC in return
reader passes the information to the host system
host system can be connected into the Internet or company's ERP system
reader can also pass information to the tag which can be re-written or deactivated
How RFID Works

“ Passive” RFID Tags
No internal power source
IC (integrated circuit) - provides the memory and stores data
Antenna – harvests power & communicates with the reader
Inlay/inlet – IC and antenna assembled together for insertion
RFID tag – an inlet converted in a way that it can be applied to an object

“ Active” RFID Tags
Passive tags
no battery source
read range = metres
Active tags
has a battery source
read range = hundreds of metres

RFID Frequencies

RFID Tagging

RFID Tagging / Auto-ID Technologies Barcode GPS ISO 18000-7 Active RFID Container Movement Vehicle Unit Load Transport Unit Packaging Item Passive RFID Gen 2 ISO 18000-6

RFID Standards 1999-2003 2000-

EPC Global
A joint venture between EAN International in Europe and the Uniform Code Council (UCC) in USA
Carries forth the work completed by the Auto-ID Center
EPCglobal is leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
numbering scheme
RFID protocols
database access and formatting
A neutral, consensus-based, non-profit standards organization
www.epcglobalinc.org
www.ean-ucc.org
RFID Standards

Prevalent RFID Protocols UHF Tags – 860 to 960 MHz HF Tags – 13.56 MHz
EPC Class 0/0+
EPC Class 1
EPC Class 1 Gen 2
ISO 18000-6
U-Code 1.19
ISO 15693
ISO 14443 A
ISO 14443 B
ISO 18000 P3
EPC HF

RFID / EPC Codes
EPC = Electronic Product Code
next generation barcode
coding scheme to electronically identify consumer goods
vision: enable the automated, unique identification of tagged objects
developed by EPCglobal (EAN, UCC)
EPC consists of UPC + serial number
UPC = Universal Product Code
a unique code for every group of objects
enables e.g. supermarkets to identify every product
two bags of Nestlé Smarties have the same UPC

Classes of RFID / EPC Tags

Opportunities for RFID

RFID Application Areas
Supply chain management
Mass transit (e.g. US Department of Defence)
Postal and courier services
Food industry
Library systems
Healthcare, pharmaceutical industry
Access management
Anti-counterfeiting
Toll collection
Airline baggage handling
Animal identification
Document tracking

RFID Application Areas Manufacturing Logistics
Anti-counterfeiting
Supply chain visibility
Asset Tracking
Patient Safety
Raw Material Tracking
Production line visibility
Finished Goods
Supply Chain
Supply Chain
Asset Tracking
Baggage Handling
Security
Out of stock reductions
Item level visibility
Shipment reconciliation
Shrinkage
Healthcare Retail

Asset Visibility Saves Money !
Health Care: hospitals misplace or lose 10-20% of their valuable medical equipment annually, wasting staff and patient time and incurring costly replacement charges.
Yard Management: shipping and cross-docking yards spend several hours each day manually locating trailers and containers for delivery, resulting in slow delivery times and high staff and fuel costs.
Manufacturing: aerospace, semiconductor and other facilities misplace mobile toolkits, machinery, parts and WIP inventory, at a cost of as much as USD $1 million per incident.

Wal*Mart
16% reduction in out of stock. 62% reduction in replenishment times.
Gillette
25% reduction in operational costs by tagging cases at point of production.
AstraZeneca
Error prevention at item level on over 30m RFID enabled syringes of Diprivan.
US DoD
Supply chain inventory cut from $117m to $70m. Deliveries cut from 28 to 16 days.
Business Benefits of RFID

Large percentages of medical equipment are not accounted for each year, leading to high costs and patient risk.
800 bed leading-edge hospital in the USA
Compliance with JCAHO* is a problem: cannot locate medical equipment to meet service schedules.
IV pumps: only 35% of their time being utilized, cleaned or processed. 65% of time, missing.
Low utilization led to overspending on equipment and labor, and incurring unnecessary rental costs.
Patient Care: Cannot administer drugs in timely manner because they are looking for IV pumps.
Lack of knowledge of where assets and people are in the facility. Cannot find patients or clinicians.
Countless hours spent searching for patient-care assets: Pumps, Computer Carts, and Wheelchairs.
Case Studies in Action (Aeroscout) * JCAHO = Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

Case Studies in Action (Savi) Improving Asset Utilisation in the Extended Retail Supply Chain Problem: Lack of visibility to retail supply chain assets as they moved through the supply chain caused surplus asset inventory, created unnecessary capital investment, increased operating costs and impacted customer service. Solution: Smartchain Asset Management System (AMS) and Smartchain® Enterprise Platform provides visibility to assets including roll cages, plastic crates, metal dollies and beverage trays used to move perishables between suppliers, distribution centers and retail stores. Project brief: Savi provided a “hosted environment” and integrated AMS with Coles Myer’s own inventory system, to be followed by full rollout covering 1,400 locations. Follow-on phase will include Savi asset optimization application. Benefits: Full asset lifecycle management, improved asset utilization, reduced manual labor intensive tracking systems. Future improvements include charging suppliers for use of assets

Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Business Problem: Shrinkage a rising problem at Woolworths UK as in the entire retail industry. More than half of all theft occurs within the retailer’s own supply chain, in and between supply chain checkpoint, Distribution Centers and retail outlet stockrooms.
Solution: Combination of bar codes on products, active RFID tags on dollies and roll cages, GPS tracking delivery trucks, readers at key checkpoints, all tied into the Savi SmartChain software platform.
Project Brief: Compare number and types of products leaving a major Distribution Center with the numbers and types delivered to retail outlets and onto store shelves. Isolate where the shrinkage occurs to zero in on problem areas.
Results: Narrowed down where shrinkage occurred as well as problems in labor processes and accounting procedures. Visibility and accountability are keys to successfully reducing losses.

Case Studies in Action (Savi) Improving Utilisation of Rail Cars In Africa’s Largest Rail Network: 70,000 Railcars 3000 Locomotives 19,000 Miles of track Business Problem: Lack of visibility into location of rail cars caused poor customer service levels, surplus rail car inventory resulting in unnecessary capital investment Solution: Smartchain Asset Management System (AMS) and Smartchain Enterprise Platform provided web enabled visibility to rail cars. Trackside chokepoint implementations included Smartchain site manager, echopoint RFID signposts and readers integrated with weigh bridges and wheel counters. Savi asset tag 654 was used to tag rail cars and locomotives. Project brief: pilot phase for specific track sections moving to roll-out phase including integration with spoornet’s customer management systems. Benefits: the system improved asset utilisation, customer service and on-time deliveries.

Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Savi has deployed the world’s largest military RFID/AIDC Network
50+ Countries
2000 + Nodes – depots, airports, seaports, rail terminals, consolidation points
45,000+ Conveyances/Day

Exhibition registration (UHF – R4Mplus)
Canon Expo 2005, La Défense, Paris
15,483 registrations
Automatic visitor registration
Pre-issued badges
Targeted messages / advertising: “Narrow casting” unique to each visitor
Case Studies in Action (Zebra)

Case and Pallet tracking (UHF – R110 PAX4)
Pharmaceutical company
Global Manufacturing Facility
Everything manufactured is shipped to the USA
EPC Class 1, tuned for 915 MHz
UHF tag applied to box and pallet
Each box worth over € 7,000
Separate system encodes and applies HF tag to each bottle, in the box
Case Studies in Action (Zebra)

Payment and Ticketing
conduct local transactions with your mobile phone, simply by touching a point of sales device or ticket gate
Field Force Solutions
extend the mobility of field personnel by integrating RFID technology into a mobile phone
Maintenance & Repair  Utilities
Security & Guarding  Healthcare
Pharmaceuticals  Government
Near Field Communications (NFC)

Registration
Register and set-up an account
Display special RFID sticker
Starting a parking session
Send SMS message to service number: P and zone code
Ending a parking session
Send SMS message to service number: S
Live application being used in
Tallinn, Estonia http://www.e-park.ee/index.php
Antwerp, Belgium https://www.parknow.be
e-Parking

Acknowledgements
A number of slides in this presentation are based on publicly available materials originally created by others, acknowledged as follows:
Radio Frequency IDentification Basics by Randy Stigall, UPM Rafsec ( www.rafsec.com )
RFID in Action by Richard Powlesland, Zebra ( www.zebra.com )
Enterprise Visibility Solutions by AeroScout ( www.aeroscout.com )
Savi Technology by Iain Bell ( www.savi.com )
RFID in Action - Live & Interactive by connectRFID ( www.connectrfid.ie )

Business Applications of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) Technologies

by PeterSam67

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