IEN: What is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and what are the supply chain benefits?
Benson: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is technology that uses radio frequency waves to transfer data between a reader and a movable item, or asset, to identify, categorize, and track. These waves are picked up by a small antenna that is printed on a tag, or label, along with a microchip. The power received is enough to turn on the microchip, which sends information back via radio waves to the reader. The reader converts the radio waves returned from the RFID tag into a form that can then be passed on to computers that can make use of it.
Some of the benefits of integrating RFID technology across the supply chain include:
- Improved visibility of assets and product
- Reduced inventories, out-of-stocks, shrinkage, and labor costs
- Labor efficiency
- Improved logistics and fulfillment
- Reduced theft.
IEN: How does ORBIS support RFID technology?
Benson: ORBIS Corp manufactures plastic reusable containers and pallets used to move product throughout the consumer goods supply chain. From raw material to finished goods, plastic reusable packaging safely and efficiently moves material/product along different points of the supply chain and ultimately to its destination. It is ideal for multiple trip applications in a closed-loop environment or well-managed supply chain. It can also be used effectively in a managed open-loop system, with reverse logistics in place to return empty containers or pallets for re-use or replenishment.
ORBIS supports its major customers as they comply with their customers'' RFID requirements. Several mass retailers have communicated deadlines to their top suppliers to place EPC transponders, or RFID tags, on cases and pallets being shipped into their facilities.
Since much of this product is shipped on ORBIS plastic pallets, major food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods manufacturers are turning to ORBIS to help them develop an RFID tag solution that will work on their plastic pallets.
ORBIS'' expertise is our ability to provide durable reusable plastic packaging to help our customers move product throughout their supply chain. We help them to RFID-enable their pallets and containers. . . We want to position them for successful RFID compliance with their customers. Our expertise allows our customer to focus their time on managing and using the data to make effective business decisions.
ORBIS collaborates with tag and reader vendors to evaluate the right solution. These tags can be attached to almost any asset, including pallets, cases, containers, individual parts, products, or finished goods. The microchip carries information that identifies the product, and potentially tells where it was made and where it has been, depending on how the user has implemented the technology. It contains a unique identifier that is communicated to RFID readers located within a single operation or anywhere along the supply chain.
The readers associate the unique identifier with information about the product to which the tag is attached. Readers (interrogators) can be fixed or mobile. Fixed readers can be positioned at entrances/exits, point of sale, warehouse, or along conveyor systems. Mobile readers are typically tethered, handheld or wireless.
Once the appropriate tag and reader solution is identified, ORBIS tests the pallet load in their testing lab. This testing is critical because each application is unique with different requirements.
Items that ORBIS considers when creating RFID solutions:
- Application environment (temperature, humidity, distances, speeds, frequency interferences, metals, liquids, chemicals, etc.) Tags and readers will perform very differently depending on the environment. For example, radio waves bounce off metal and are absorbed by water at higher frequencies. That makes tracking metal products or those with high water content problematic, but good system design and engineering can overcome this shortcoming.
- Properties of the elected plastic reusable pallet or container (color, material, size, form, application, dielectric properties of resin, etc). The performance of the packaging will also vary with each unique application.
- Supply chain practices (number of shipments a day, shipping distances, transportation modes, labor practices, inventory turns, etc.).
When the testing is complete and the solution confirmed, ORBIS encourages customers to conduct a small pilot program in their own system environment. After the pilot program has been successfully executed, ORBIS collaborates with the tag and reader vendors to supply the RFID tags and readers for the customer''s fleet for a seamless integration.
IEN: What are the major concerns facing RFID, and how can they be addressed?
Benson:
- Compliance deadlines
- Lack of standards on how to apply the technology
- Initial investment
- Lack of technical expertise
- Infrastructure (physical and technological)
- Reader placement
- Tag location
- Synchronization process
- Clean data (format, integrity, synchronization with supply chain partners)
- Global spectrum allocation hinders ability to RFID enable assets that travel globally
- Privacy issues.
IEN: What innovations are in store in the next 12 months in tags, antennae, applicators/printers, readers, and software?
Benson: My expertise is in enabling reusable packaging with RFID, but I see the traditional "tags" becoming smaller, easier to apply and much more cost effective. They will come in label form to be less obtrusive on retail-ready displays. Other innovations include:
- The advances in fully rewritable tags with expanded memory space (the current Class 1 protocol is a read/write tag, but it is limited in storage space). Add to this the ability to write to tags at much faster speeds than currently capable.
- The advances in readers/antennas to be able to become more efficient in how the data from the tag is read and handled. Also, truly efficient multi-protocol readers and antennas are a must. There are some on the market, but our experience has been that they read some tags well, and others not so well.
- The implementation of sensors on products to be able to sense and record data about the environment the product was in while moving through the supply chain, the length of time it took to move through the supply chain, etc.
- The advances in software to be able to manage the large amounts of data, make it interpretable and usable. This will be extremely important in the retail environment to allow the large retailers to manage the data generated by RFID-enabled products in their stores, and pass that data down to their supply chains to their suppliers. This is where the real value is, but the software solutions are not fully developed yet.
IEN: What are the R & D hotspots? Which R & D areas are closest to commercialization?
Benson:
- Cost-effective tag production
- Wireless solutions.
IEN: How close to implementation are global standards?
Benson: EPCglobal, a joint venture of the Uniform Code Council and EAN International, is leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). On January 28, 2004, EPC Global published the EPCglobal Standards Development Process, a user-driven standards process for the development of technical standards. For more information, visit www.epcglobalinc.org.
Standardization will:
- Provide reference for how to apply RFID to business
- Promote interoperability and compatibility
o Equipment and systems need to be able to communicate with each other across the supply chain
- Provide common data formatting
o Common representation of data in a predefined format
o Enables common data interpretation
- Facilitate exchange of information using a common language
- Cost reduction across supply chain
o Multi-vendor choices for equipment
IEN: How can sensitive data be protected in light of privacy and security issues?
Benson: The management and security of the data is the responsibility of the manufacturer and their customers.
IEN: Will there be a place for RFID in collaborative manufacturing?
Benson: The most common applications for RFID are tracking goods in the supply chain, tracking assets, and tracking parts moving to a manufacturing production line. As tag and reader technology improves and the need for data synchronization grows, RFID will become a very valuable tool for supply chain visibility and sharpened inventory management.