RFID
Fleets Looking to Use RFID
Most RFID supply-chain tagging programs to date have focused on uses by retailers and suppliers, but a recent study from Aberdeen Group, Boston, indicates that trucking companies also are aggressively pursuing this technology. In a study on mobile computing in trucking fleets, 68 percent of fleet operators surveyed say they plan to use RFID in the future. Twenty percent already have budgets for projects, though not all of these have identified what those projects will be. "Fleet operators considering RFID should fully investigate how their customers will be using it," says report author Beth Enslow, vice president of enterprise research at Aberdeen. "There may be ways to leverage a customer's RFID tags to streamline fleet and hub activities."
In other findings, Aberdeen reports that wireless mobility technology is considered a key competitive tool by nearly three-quarters of fleet operators. Eighty-seven percent of survey participants say customer service improvements from mobility technology have met or exceeded expectations and half report achieving more than 10 percent boosts in fleet productivity.
http://www.aberdeen.com/.
Pfizer Tags Viagra
It may not eliminate drug-pushing spam from your email, but Pfizer has begun tagging bottles, cases, and pallets of its popular prescriptive Viagra in a program aimed at eliminating counterfeits. Wholesalers and pharmacists equipped with RFID readers will scan the EPC (electronic product code) and chip ID encoded on an RFID tag. That information will be fed to a web-based system and securely sent over the internet to Pfizer's database. The numbers will be validated and a notice of authenticity immediately returned to the pharmacist or wholesaler. The web-based system is a subscription service called RxAuthentication provided by SupplyScape of Woburn, Mass. The bottle tags are provided by France's Tagsys, while the case and pallet tags come from Alien Technology, Morgan Hill, Calif.
This industry first is expected to move the pharma supply chain toward a more extensive e-pedigree system, which will monitor the movement of a bottle of drugs through its life cycle.
http://www.rfidupdate.com/
Growth in Pharma RFID Applications
Research firm Frost & Sullivan, San Antonio, Texas, predicts a "very healthy" compound annual growth rate of about 30 percent over the next seven years for pharmaceutical and healthcare applications of RFID. That will translate to a market of $2.3bn by 2011, compared with $370m in 2005. These values include money spent on hardware and software, professional services, integration, and applications. By far, the biggest investment will be in drug tracking, says Frost & Sullivan, but deployment will occur gradually rather than hitting a tipping point. "There are quite a number of challenges [for drug tracking], but the potential with this technology is definitely there."
http://www.rfidupdate.com/
Wal-Mart Reduces Out of Stocks
The first independent study on the results of Wal-Mart's RFID tagging program concludes that out-of-stocks declined by 16 percent because of the technology. Wal-Mart commissioned the University of Arkansas to conduct the study over a 29-week period ending in mid-September last year. Researchers led by Bill Hardgrave, director of the university's RFID Research Center, analyzed the out-of-stock rate on just under 4,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) at 12 pilot stores equipped with RFID technology and 12 control stores without the technology. All Wal-Mart formats-supercenters, discount stores and neighborhood markets-were included in the study. Out-of-stock items with EPCs were replenished more quickly than comparable items in cases labeled only with bar codes, and Wal-Mart saw a reduction in manual orders and excess inventory within the RFID-enabled stores.
"The results of the study are extremely encouraging," says Hardgrave. "Sixteen percent is a major improvement when you consider all the products Wal-Mart runs through its system in a day."
http://www.rfidjournal.com/
More Research Bullish on RFID
Success of the Wal-Mart initiative is one reason that research firm Regan, Jacob & Sydney (RJS), Dallas, believes that RFID has "crossed the chasm" from early adopter status to mainstream technology. "The pioneers are no longer lonely, and can now see the smoke of their neighbors," says the report, Has RFID Crossed the Chasm? Other reasons for the firm's optimistic conclusions are: compelling implementations of RFID in other verticals and applications, such as aerospace and automotive, and activity related to the U.S. Department of Defense mandate. "Only in late 2005 did DoD work out rules for supplier RFID adoption. This sets the stage for a second wave of DoD RFID adoption, and one that will be important to the maturation of the market," says the report. Other indicators are merger and acquisition activity among RFID providers and the vastly improved standards and intellectual property situation.
http://www.reganjacobsydney.com/
Marine Terminals Pro-Active RFID Users
Marine terminals are taking a proactive approach to meeting security requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard by ensuring that only those with proper business at the ports will be granted entry. PierPASS Inc., a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, will equip up to 10,000 drayage trucks serving the two ports with WhereNet active RFID tags to enhance security. WhereNet, Santa Clara, Calif., already has deployed RFID infrastructures across several marine terminals and transload facilities throughout the Long Beach basin. This new implementation will further enhance this network with every drayage vehicle being automatically identified at check-in and check-out.
Savi Networks, Sunnyvale, Calif., recently announced agreements with two large terminal operators to deploy its RFID-based SaviTrak container tracking system. The Trans Pacific Container Service Corp. (TraPac) will install SaviTrak at its port facilities in Los Angeles, Oakland and Jacksonville, Fla. A similar agreement with Marine Terminals Corp. will extend SaviTrak to MTC terminals across the U.S. West Coast and at major ports in the U.S. South Atlantic region. SaviTrak provides real-time information when cargo containers affixed with standards-based automatic identification and capture devices pass by reader systems that capture and process data along the network.
http://www.techweb.com/
http://www.savi.com/
Industry Associations Help With Tag Costs
Industry associations are beginning to play a role in helping member companies implement RFID. The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has partnered with Avery Dennison, Ontario, Calif., a leading supplier of labels, tickets & tags, to provide its members sharply discounted RFID labels. Under the agreement, Avery Dennison will provide Gen 1 RFID labels and also the new Gen 2 “AD-220” label. AAFA members that need to meet RFID requirements can use these labels for shipments to customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and the Department of Defense. Minimum orders can be as low as 5,000 labels.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/
Lower Tag Prices Speed Adoption
Lower prices for tags and labels definitely will speed RFID adoption, says ABI Research, Oyster Bay, N.Y. While recent price-cutting announcements from Alien Technology and Avery Dennison "may represent loss-leaders," Erik Michielsen, ABI's director of RFID, says they still are significant. "When you tie them to the new products and services offered by software companies to help end-users make sense of their RFID data, and to the recent spate of EPC Gen 2 announcements, we may have a three-headed 'benevolent monster' that will promote demand," he says.
ABI also predicts that 2006 will be the year that label converters jockey for position. There are dozens if not hundreds of companies that assemble labels and prepare them for mounting, says ABI. How well these companies position themselves and the market segments they decider to go after will determine their ultimate success.
http://www.morerfid.com/
Reader Prices Still High But Not for Long
Prices of RFID readers are another matter. ABI Research reports that readers using the UHF band are among the most expensive purchases for companies complying with supply chain mandates from Wal-Mart and others. ABI analyst Sara Shah says the typical UHF reader today costs $2500 to $3000, a hefty price tag for any company planning a large-scale deployment. Lack of integrated circuits and low production volumes appear to be the main culprits in driving up prices, Shah says, though she notes that reader vendors, unlike label manufacturers, are tight-lipped about the cost breakdown for a reader's components and production costs. The good news is that Shah expects prices to fall dramatically in the medium-term as integrated chipsets become available. ABI says semiconductor vendors will likely bring these to market in late in 2006 or early 2007. Today manufacturers buy off-the-shelf components and assemble circuit boards themselves -- an expensive proposition. Additionally, increased volume will have an impact on prices. "When more RFID activities grow from small-scale trials to full-scale deployment, greater reader production volumes should have the same effect that they do everywhere of driving prices down," Shah says. "Considering the number of companies being affected by these mandates, volumes will rise dramatically."
http://www.abiresearch.com/
TI Unit Makes First Gen 2 Shipments
The Educational & Productivity Solutions (E&PS) business of Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, is the first consumer goods supplier to ship RFID-tagged cases and pallets based on the Gen 2 Electronic Product Code to Wal-Mart. Starting with a dozen SKUs shipped to five distribution centers, TI E&PS, a Wal-Mart next- 200 supplier, is tagging cases and pallets of its graphing, scientific and financial calculators. It is using the Gen 2 smart label solutions from its sister company, Texas Instruments RFid Systems and partners NCR Corp., Dayton, Ohio, and Zebra Technologies, Vernon Hills, Ill. The dozen SKUs represent 100 percent of the calculator products E&PS ships to Wal-Mart.
TI E&PS says that advances in data exchange processes enabled by EPC Gen 2 will allow it to achieve improved product visibility and lower out-of-stocks at the retail store. "This marks a significant milestone for our business and the industry as a whole," said Keith Hodnett, vice president, Texas Instruments and supply chain manager for E&PS. "Moving forward, we are prepared to expand our Gen 2 efforts with other retail trading partners when they are ready."
http://www.rfidnews.org/
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