 | Monday, August 13, 2007
Issue 661 | | Will Smith, Editor |  |
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Editor's Note: Today's top story is a deployment that automates asset identification and data capture for a New Zealand diesel refueling service. The company claims a payback took just six months.
Note the sponsored column today from Sirit which looks at the effectiveness of the Sirit INfinity 510 worldwide Gen 2 certified reader as determined by the ODIN technologies European RFID Reader Benchmark. Sirit will be offering a webinar on the same topic at 12 p.m. ET this Thursday, August 16th. Attendees will receive a free copy of the European RFID Reader Benchmark report, a $1,500 value. Register for the webinar here.
Lastly, Precision Dynamics Corporation announced that its RFID wristband identification solution has been deployed at Dollywood's Splash Country water ride theme park in Tennessee. Dubbed "Sunny Money", patrons use the plastic wristbands just like cash at all merchandise and food locations throughout the park. Revenue manager Gary Nichols commented that patrons love the convenience -- and park owners love the additional revenue. "Guests say they don't have to lug around their wallets, spend time trying to find a place to keep their money safe or having to wait in long lines. One swipe -- they're done and are free to enjoy our water rides, get food or buy gifts. And in turn, that helps increase spending at our water park." |
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| Upcoming Events | | - IDGA's Military Logistics Summit, Sept 10-13, Adelphi, MD (site) | | - RFID World Boston 2007, Sept 18-20, Boston, MA (site) | | - LogiPharma 07, Sept. 17-19, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, PA (site) | | - IDTechEx's RFID Europe; 18-19 September, Cambridge, UK (site) | | | Products & Services | | - Real-Time WIP Visibility Appliance from Omnitrol Networks (site) | | - Until you mange assets with ESP, you might want to try RFID. (site) | | - Peel - Stick - Ship(TM): SimplyRFID Pre-Programmed Tags (site) | | | Research & Whitepapers | | - How RFID Can Decrease Manufacturing Errors (site) | | - RFID Marketing Strategies Report from RFID Update (site) | | | RTLS & Active RFID | | 
Sponsored by Ekahau | |
| | - Locate it now. How? Ekahau. That's how! (site) | | | Employment | | - RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting (site) | |
| Column sponsored by Sirit |  |
European RFID Reader Benchmark Webinar by Sirit
Free Copy of ODIN technologies' Benchmark Report for Participants
Sirit Inc. ("Sirit") (TSX: SI), a leading provider of radio frequency identification ("RFID") solutions will host an open Webinar to review the ODIN European RFID Reader BenchmarkTM in which the Company's INfinity 510 worldwide Gen 2 certified reader took top marks over six other leading European readers available on the market.
The Webinar, scheduled for August 16, 2007 at 12 p.m. (ET), 6 p.m. Central Europe time, will feature guest speaker, Patrick J. Sweeney II, President and CEO of ODIN technologies who will discuss the Benchmark methodologies and results. Participants of the Webinar will be supplied a free copy of the Benchmark valued at approximately US $1,500. Registration for the event can be found through Sirit's Web site, www.sirit.com.
Seven readers were tested in the European RFID Reader BenchmarkTM. These included the Alien ALR8800, the Caen A948EU, the Feig ID ISC.LRU2000, the Impinj URP1000-ETSI (also known as the Speedway), the Intermec IF61, the Motorola XR480EU, and the Sirit IN510. The six scientific test categories were power output, occupied channel power, receive sensitivity, interference rejection, tag acquisition speed, and read distance. In addition, ODIN examined some use-case scenarios that included conveyor testing, shrink wrapper testing, adjacent dock door portals with Listen Before Talk, as well as adjacent dock door portals with the proposed ETSI EN 302-208 channel scheme.
Top Performer
Sirit's INfinity 510 was the top performer in three test categories, while placing second in three others. The IN510 also successfully passed all of the use-case tests. The Benchmark report stated, "The reader is configurable for both ETSI bands and anticipates the proposed change to ETSI EN 302-208. It has excellent frequency control and allows port-by-port RF power control. The Web interface is user-friendly and allows for fine grain parameter control. The reader startup tool (RST) is very user-friendly and has a wizard to configure the reader for different use-cases. The IN510 shines in the area of large population tag reads. The algorithms used are proprietary and give the reader a huge speed advantage."
"The INfinity 510 continues to dominate the market -- ranking first overall in this industry leading test and has set an impressive standard by which other readers are measured," stated Tony Sabetti, Vice President RF Solutions, Sirit Inc. "Our engineering team continues to push the boundaries of RF design to ensure that the INfinity 510 and our entire RFID product line addresses a wide variety of tomorrow's business challenges -- today."
European Roll-outs
The European market for RFID continues to flourish as more large-scale implementations move from the pilot stage into full roll-outs, led by Airbus, Marks and Spencer, and Metro Group. Metro, one of the largest retailers in Europe, recently announced plans to expand their RFID implementation to 180 retail stores. "The INfinity 510's reliable performance and ease of installation, combined with Sirit's outstanding technical and sales support all factored into the decision to award this contract," commented Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Managing Director of MGI METRO Group Information Technology GmbH. "As we move into the deployment phase of RFID, it becomes increasingly important to select partners that deliver both product and services that allow METRO to meet our business objectives -- as we have found with Sirit."
Reader Performance is a Key
According to ODIN, the purpose of this report is to provide an objective, trusted opinion to help guide purchasing decisions. Reader performance is a key ingredient in a successful RFID implementation. ODIN technologies lists 4 reasons why readers play such an important role:- Accuracy in data collection is essential -- An RFID solution is only as accurate as the data gathered at the network edge. If the reader fails to capture tag data, no amount of middleware, integration elegance or process efficiency can retrieve it.
- The reader is the most complex system component -- Success is achieved by balancing hundreds of variables managed by the reader.
- Reader maintenance is expensive -- Long-term solution cost will be driven by reader maintenance.
- Deployment decisions are expensive to reverse -- A reader implementation is a business decision that affects budgets, processes and systems.
"The European RFID Reader Benchmark should serve as a document to which end users with new and emerging applications requirements can turn to find objective, scientific information about RFID technology," stated Patrick Sweeney.
Sign up for the Webinar at www.sirit.com to receive your free copy of ODIN's European RFID Benchmark Test report.
Column sponsored by Sirit
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Refueling Firm Sees 6-Month Payback from RFID
A New Zealand company called Mini-Tankers has published a compelling case study about how it deployed RFID to streamline its core business process of refueling industrial equipment located in challenging field sites around the country. The solution was implemented using RFID technology from Tracient Technologies of Christchurch, New Zealand, and reportedly yielded a payback in just six months.
Mini-Tankers provides diesel refueling services for industrial machinery, equipment, and vehicles. A subsidiary of Shell New Zealand, the company has more than 45 fuel tankers around the country from which it delivers over 60 million liters annually. Its core business process is in the dispatch of Mini-Tankers refueling trucks to customer field sites, where the operator fills the fuel tanks of designated machine, equipment, and vehicle assets. With customers as varied as transport infrastructure companies, public works firms, and forestry corporations, the field sites are typically industrial or rugged environments like logging sites, quarries, construction sites, and airports.
Historically, the refueling process had been manual. The Mini-Tankers operator would visually identify the target asset, refuel it, then record the asset identification information and amount of fuel dispensed. There were a number of issues with this process. Identifying the asset could sometimes be a challenge, because the identification information might be scratched off, obscured by mud, or worn by exposure to chemicals. Correlating the asset ID to the quantity of fuel dispensed, then recording them together manually, was time consuming and error prone. Also, there existed the potential for fraud, theft, and other fuel shrinkage. Finally, customers were requesting fueling records to better understand fuel-per-asset charges, but because of Mini-Tankers' inefficient manual process, the company found itself spending an undesirable amount of time handling customer billing inquiries.
A number of technological solutions to these issues were considered, including bar codes. They were discounted because the harsh industrial environments often prevented the clean line-of-site necessary for acceptable read rates.
Ultimately, the chosen solution was based on RFID. Ruggedized, metal-on-metal high frequency tags were attached on or near the fuel cap of the assets. Each tag includes an identifier which correlates the asset to its record in Mini-Tankers' central database. When the operator refuels the asset, the tag data is read using a handheld Padl-R HF RFID reader from Tracient. That asset ID data is then wirelessly transferred from the handheld RFID reader to a Psion Teklogix WorkAbout Pro PDA that the operator keeps in the truck cab. The PDA is linked via serial cable to the electronic fuel meter on the truck tanker, so it pairs the tag asset ID with the quantity of fuel dispensed, and transmits it all via cellular link to the Mini-Tankers central database. The company is then able to print an invoice for the customer that includes accurate date, time, location, and fuel delivery information.
The solution worked. Operators save 30 minutes per 12-hour shift due to the new automation. Assets are identified more accurately. Office staff are able to respond to customer billing inquiries faster and more comprehensively, including fuel consumption records available on a per-asset basis. This allows customers to make asset utilization decisions based on fuel consumption levels. All told, return on investment was achieved in a mere six months.
This particular case study was based on deployment for motorway development group Northern Gateway Alliance, the first of Mini-Tankers' customers to trial the new service. Due to the success, Mini-Tankers plans on signing up all of its customers with more than 20 fleet assets.
| Read the full case study from Tracient Technologies |
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| Upcoming Events | IDGA's Military Logistics Summit, Sept 10-13, Adelphi, MD
Join the "who's who" of logistics at the leading event for senior-level defense logistics professionals. Join thought leaders and decision-makers to discuss the latest implementation strategies and program initiatives to ensure the flexibility and preparedness of our military's future. Special keynote by: GEN John Abizaid, USA (Ret), Commander, USCENTCOM (2003-2007). www.militarylogisticssummit.com. | RFID World Boston 2007, Sept 18-20, Boston, MA
RFID World Boston: the official industry event for the global RFID community. Find out how RFID provides security, privacy, and authentication for products, personnel, and property. The conference covers issues from the technology available for securing RFID transactions to consumer concerns about privacy. Save $200 off registration now. | LogiPharma 07, Sept. 17-19, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, PA
LogiPharma presents 3 days of knowledge-sharing and idea exchange on the challenges and issues surrounding pharmaceutical supply chain management. For more information please visit www.logipharma.com. | IDTechEx's RFID Europe; 18-19 September, Cambridge, UK
IDTechEx's RFID Europe, in its eighth year, is the premium event covering RFID, technology analysis and market insight. Hear from AIR FRANCE KLM, Ahold, BP, TNT, MasterCard, Tube Lines, Sony, City Link and others. Explore technologies from printed RFID to smart tickets and cards to RTLS and sensor networks. Register with code: UPDATE97. | | | Products & Services | Real-Time WIP Visibility Appliance from Omnitrol Networks
Meet the industry's most innovative award winning RFID solution that enables complete work-order traceability in manufacturing. Real-time web-based dashboards and multi-site monitoring for work-order pedigree and traceability, including proactive bottleneck management and real-time performance analytics optimizing shop-floor efficiency. All at the lowest TCO in the marketplace. www.omnitrol.com/WIP. | Until you mange assets with ESP, you might want to try RFID.
Get visibility into critical assets when they're out of reach. Motorola's RFID solutions track employee-assigned IT equipment, monitor maintenance schedules, or manage assets essential to your business. It's a proven solution for watching over your assets. And it's just another way Motorola puts Enterprise Mobility in the palm of your hand. HELLOMOTO | Peel - Stick - Ship(TM): SimplyRFID Pre-Programmed Tags
Military-grade, Class 1 Generation 2 RFID Tags pre-programmed to DoD 252.211-7006 specifications shipped same day for less than $1 each. Find out why over 1,000 DoD (Department of Defense) suppliers choose SimplyRFID for their RFID needs. Visit us at www.SimplyRFID.com for no hassle RFID solutions. | | | Research & Whitepapers | How RFID Can Decrease Manufacturing Errors
Specialized RFID tags that are optimized for use on or around metal are an effective and viable alternative to bar codes for error proofing applications in manufacturing. Learn the financial impact of errors and recalls and how RFID can be used for error proofing and other manufacturing processes. Get the full report now. | RFID Marketing Strategies Report from RFID Update
Thirty-nine pages of original research on RFID audience perceptions, including 30+ figures of tactics, content & messaging, and recommendations to guide marketing strategy. Also, Top-10 RFID company rankings based on 550+ survey respondents. View the executive summary free, with Top-3 sample rankings. Only $495 Individual License or $795 Corporate License. Available now | | | RTLS & Active RFID | Locate it now. How? Ekahau. That's how!
Ekahau RTLS (Real-Time Location System) automatically tracks assets and people via your existing Wi-Fi network. Control costs and improve asset management with Ekahau. For more information, visit us at www.ekahau.com. | | | Employment | RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting
Whether your company is looking for the best RFID talent or you have the best RFID talent and are looking for the best RFID employer, RFID Recruiters offers the most focused approach to your objective. To learn how the RFID industry and the RFID job market are evolving, visit www.rfidrecruiters.com |
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RFID Update is the RFID industry daily. Launched in early 2004 to provide timely analysis of RFID industry news, RFID Update publishes editorial briefings every weekday for the growing ranks of top level executives involved in the deployment of RFID. Each issue delivers the breaking news and analysis most pertinent to successful RFID implementations, allowing readers to understand global RFID developments as they happen.
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