RFID Lowdown

Post Offices and RFID

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

When was the last time you actually put pen to paper and wrote a letter? Can’t remember? Well, in this day and age of the fast email and faster text messages, it’s no wonder post offices are being all but relegated to a corner in the past. But these institutions are not going down without a fight, and they’re harnessing the same factor that served to make them obsolete to gain importance once again –technology, RFID to be precise.

India’s Department of Post (DoP) has already made plans to invest in technology to improve the quality of services that it provides to its customers. RFID features predominantly in these blueprints, especially in the parcels and logistics divisions. The Economic Times of India, which features this news item, welcomes the use of RFID by the DoP to enhance its services. But it also adds a word of caution – that the DoP should be able to justify the enormous costs associated with the technology; it doesn’t help matters that India Post suffers losses in most of its products and services.

Honda Zooms Ahead with RFID

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

IBM is keeping an eye on Honda’s motorbike production line – with RFID tags! Honda Italia Industriale SPA, the Italian arm of the Honda Motor Co., tied up with Big Blue to deploy a new system that will improve efficiency and accuracy in Honda’s operations at its Atessa plant. Each vehicle, along with its critical parts like engines and brakes, will be identified and tracked in real-time as it moves along the production chain, using the solution designed and developed by IBM Global Business Services.

Supply chain management leader at IBM Global Business Services, Gaetano Sodo, said that the first phase dealt with the assembly line for Honda’s Hornet 600 bike and other models. The technology is all set to be extended to the company’s scooter production line, beginning with the SH150i/125i and SH300i models. According to Nicola Marrone, project executive at Honda Italia, the system, which is currently being used to track critical components, and manage work-in-progress and inventory, will soon be used to support supply chain operations and post-sale services.

Will 2007 Be RFID’s Year to Shine?

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

The year 2007 could well be the year RFID advances in terms of customer service and inventory management, according to panel members at the National Retail Federation show held recently in New York. The members, who called 2005 the year of “hype” and 2006 the year of “validation,” said that this year could see companies leveraging RFID to bring down time and costs associated with customer service, training, and labor.

Organizations are already reporting the use of RFID in inventory applications, for replacement of out-of-position items, to trigger surveillance cameras when items or their boxes are dumped in certain locations, to suggest matching accessories for your clothing purchases, and to tap into social networks and text messages to attract new customers. The success of RFID deployments depends on 100 percent read rates and the trust, control, and service levels provided by each company, according to Mark Roberti, one of the panelists and RFID Journal’s editor.

Inking an RFID Deal

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Thinking of getting yourself tagged with an RFID chip but not sure if you are comfortable with the idea of an implant beneath your skin? Well, this RFID innovation from Somark is set to revolutionize the way the technology is used. Ink is replacing the chip, and right now, it’s been successfully tested on animals.

The Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink Tattoo, which can be injected into the skin of animals, is expected to be advantageous in the livestock industry in identifying and tracking cattle and other farm animals. Somark is also planning to license the technology to secondary target markets that include tagging, or rather inking, lab animals, dogs, cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel.

MINI Motoring - Mini Fun

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Is this what they call personalizing your space? Now you can hire billboards to flash your own message as you drive by, at no cost at all – but only if you own a MINI and drive through Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and New York. All you have to do is sign up for the deal on their website and give them some information about yourself. Four to six weeks later, the mailman delivers an RFID-enabled keyfob to your address, and you’re all set to go.

Drive past any of the motherboards (yes, that’s what they’re calling them) and you can see a personalized message on the lines of “Hey Frank, how’s the new building coming along?” If you belong to the majority who don’t live in the afore-mentioned cities but would love to hear a billboard talk to you, MINI is planning to extend the offer to more parts of the country some time this year.

Fighting Fires with RFID

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Now this is one application of RFID that’s definitely a lifesaver! SurvivalTag from RFID Ltd. promises to make the job of firefighters much safer; the tags, when affixed to their person, can be used to track the location of firefighters within burning buildings, and help evacuate them faster.

The company is going one step further and working on a tag that will monitor the vital signs of firefighters and transmit the information back to a central database; using this, those in real danger can be evacuated on a priority basis.

Flexing Power with Flexible Plastics

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

The onward march of technology has seen gadgets getting smaller, more powerful, and of course, wireless. Portability, mobility, and ease-of-use are the keywords that seem to be driving innovation these days. So it comes as no surprise that researchers have come up with wireless methods to charge devices like notebook computers, mobile phones, and even RFID tags – one of them being flexible plastics technology.

Japan, as usual, has a head start on the technology, and scientists at the University of Tokyo have built a prototype of a wireless charging device that powers gadgets that come into contact with it. Using a technology they call flexible electronics.

But Germany and the United Kingdom are not far behind - the Cambridge-based Plastic Logic is setting up a factory in Silicon Saxony in Dresden, Germany, to manufacture flexible display technology components. Production of flexible active-matrix display modules for electronic reader products is due to start in 2008. Silicon Networks reports:

Simon Jones, vice president of product development for Plastic Logic, sees two main applications for flexible plastics technologies - RFID tags and flexible displays. He claimed that displays are one of the key initiatives for the technology, as current displays are power-hungry and so eat into the battery life of mobile devices, and use heavy materials, limiting portability.

Go on an RFID Shopping Spree

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Shopping can be tiring, especially when you tend to get lost among the numerous stores and paths in a large shopping area like Ginza in Tokyo, Japan. But not if you’re aided and abetted by the thousands of RFID tags that are strewn over the neighborhood! Thanks to the Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project, starting January 21, shoppers can navigate the shops with ease using data pushed to readers from the tags, in four different languages - Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

So you’re a walking map, with tags near you pin-pointing your location in Ginza, restaurants in the vicinity showing you their daily specials and offers, helpful tips on the nearest railway station or public phone being displayed on your reader, and much, much more.

[via Computer World]

The system works by matching a unique code sent out by each beacon with data stored on a server on the Internet. The data is obtained automatically by the terminal, which communicates back to the server via a wireless LAN connection and requests the data relevant to the beacon that is being picked up.   

The terminal was developed by the Ubiquitous Computing Technology Center, a joint undertaking between the government and a clutch of companies including Fujitsu, NEC Corp., Hitachi, and NTT East Corp. The project is supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Patient Care With RFID

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Hospitals and healthcare providers are leveraging the potential of RFID to add value to the services they offer their patients. Mayo Clinic, the non-profit organization, has tied up with provider 3M to manage and track tissue samples, from the time they are collected, till they reach the pathology labs. The pilot program, which employed a combination of tags, readers, software solutions and system-integration technologies, carried out at the facility’s endoscopy surgical suites proved a great success. The project is expected to enhance and improve the procedure of collection and analysis of patient tissue.

On then other side of the globe, in Taiwan, HP and the Precision Dynamics Corporation have partnered to set up a patient management system that is powered by RFID, at the Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH). The solution focuses on patient safety, verification, and identification in operation theaters, collection of data in real time, reduction of wrong-site and wrong-patient surgeries, automation of various manual functions, administration of the right medicine in the right dosage at the right time, and ensuring compliance with hospital policies for patient safety and operating procedures.