Who really uses RFID?

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 20 Nov 2006 19:48

Some people have misconceptions about RFID’s use. Surprisingly, some of those are members of the industry selling and supporting it. More than one RFID executive has told us – literally – that there are only 300 or 500 companies implementing RFID, period, referring to some count or other of Wal-Mart suppliers. Others make references in mock confidence, as if it were a sort of insider secret, how “we all know there are really only a few hundred RFID buyers.”

What are they talking about? Why are they building a business plan to serve such a tiny market, no matter how large those few companies may be? They are dead wrong. Our consistent, anecdotal experience tells me there are thousands of companies using and preparing to use RFID.

We have received requests from scores of companies that have no retail or U.S. Department of Defense mandates to meet. The types of things they are thinking about, or planning on doing, include quite an array of applications for RFID technology such as animal tagging, hospital patient tracking, etc. To give you an idea of some more involved requests, here is a small sample:

A billion dollar U.S. manufacturer that wants to implement a real time location system (RTLS) to track electronics in their Mexican plant.

One large manufacturer in Washington State and another in Ireland are looking to track the servicing and repair of items, both with entirely different goals.

An Ohio based company with six facilities wants to use RFID badges and windshield tags for access control.

A shipper is looking to tag loads for multi-drop deliveries, with a goal of using tags for route and security information management.

A large Asian company that manages 53 container depots wants an RTLS to track about 10,000 containers monthly and monitor the activity of their handling equipment.

Thirty facilities in Mexico are looking for solutions involving high value transport and anti-counterfeiting.

While we are thinking about the diverse challenges buyers are looking towards RFID to solve, it is interesting to consider some of the more unique concepts sellers are developing or offering.

People dying to use RFID

Two different companies are using RFID to track coffins. One use is for simple inventory management. By tagging coffins with a unique serial number and using a hand-held RFID reader, morticians can more quickly differentiate coffins that are similar in appearance, yet contain different features that may vary the value by thousands of dollars. Since coffins are expensive assets, adding a 50¢ passive tag to its cost it a non-issue.

Another application came after the coffin obtained a resident. Today, a little slip of paper is placed in the handle of a coffin that contains information about the individual inside. If a body must be exhumed, this paper must be checked before the coffin is opened to ensure it’s the correct one. By using a RFID tag with enough memory, this information can be read and displayed on a hand-held reader. It is much more secure than a slip of paper that can easily be altered or lost.

A more challenging application went one step further: they wanted to use RFID to find coffins that were already buried. It seems coffins are not always buried under their inhabitant’s headstone. The primary objective was to use a hand-held RFID reader when walking around to find the right coffin. Unfortunately, a passive tag simply could not be read through six feet of frozen ground. If you use a battery powered tag to overcome the environmental challenges, then the battery will eventually die (no joke intended) and the tag will not be usable at all. The company is still looking at different alternatives for this one.

Poker Face

We received a curious request from someone looking for decks of cards, where each contains an RFID chip identifying which card it is. The inquiry is for a UK television show, so the producers can divulge the players’ hands to the viewers. Regardless of what they are marked with, bringing a deck of marked cards to your next game could be hazardous to your health.

Golfing around

When you have so many industry members who are hooked on golf, is it any surprise that there are ideas galore about adding RFID to the game? There are half a dozen companies that want to marry golf and auto-ID technology. A manufacturer of professional quality golf clubs was looking to use RFID for better inventory tracking. Once again, having a unique serial number in the tag differentiates similar looking items that have greatly differing monetary values.

The most requested application is for finding lost golf balls. If a ball is hit into the rough and can’t be found, it is bad enough the player loses the ball; but, worse for those with money or pride on the line, they lose a stroke. By placing an RFID tag inside the golf ball and using a hand-held reader, the reader could work like a Geiger counter and beep faster as it got closer to the ball. Of course, the tag had to be manufactured right into the balls and the biggest challenges were to place the RFID tag in it so that does not adversely affect its balance or add weight.

One of the most ingenious applications we have come across did not think this was a problem for players, because they operated a miniature golf course. Their idea was to have the tag in the ball trigger parts of the course to create a more interactive experience for players. For example, when the ball went into the hole, lights and buzzers would go off. When the ball rolled by a certain location, the obstacles and scenery could actually move or change, providing course designers with imaginative options never before available.