 | Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Issue 676 | | Will Smith, Editor |  |
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Editor's Note: Today's top story is a look at the aviation industry's RFID adoption and where the most popular applications of the technology exist today.
RFID inlay manufacturer UPM Raflatac announced that it is supplying Gen2 tags to the Spanish healthcare distributor MBA Grupo. MBA is using RFID to track the orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery, and anesthesia products it ships to hospitals around Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
X-Change, which provides solutions based on wireless technologies like RFID, sensors, and UWB, has announced $2.75 million in financing with provisions to secure another $1.65 million. The company will use the funds to expand sales and operations of its wholly-owned subsidiary AirGATE Technologies, with a particular focus on increasing penetration of the oil and gas industry. Among the investors is La Jolla Cove Investors.
Lastly, note the new classified listing below for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and SAP's RFID Solutions: Securing the Commerce of Tomorrow event taking place in Washington, DC, on October 10th. |
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| Upcoming Events | - RFID Solutions: Securing the Commerce of Tomorrow -- Oct. 10 (site)  | | - RFID World Boston - September 18 - 20, 2007 (site) | | - Midwest RFID Symposium, Oct 23-24, University of Kansas (site) | | - IDGA's Military Logistics Summit, Sept 10-13, Adelphi, MD (site) | | - LogiPharma 07, Sept. 17-19, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, PA (site) | | - IDTechEx's RFID Europe; 18-19 September, Cambridge, UK (site) | | | RTLS & Active RFID | | 
Sponsored by Ekahau | |
| | - Locate it now. How? Ekahau. That's how! (site) | | | Products & Services | | - Free RFID Software with Alien 9800 at RFIDSupplyChain.com (site) | | - Until you manage assets with ESP, you might want to try RFID. (site) | | - Real-Time WIP Visibility Appliance from Omnitrol Networks (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) | | | Employment | | - RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting (site) | |
Motorola on Aviation Adoption of RFID
The aviation industry has long been considered a prime candidate for RFID adoption. RFID Update spoke with Pankaj Shukla, director of RFID business development in aviation for Motorola, about the industry's RFID adoption and where the most popular applications of the technology exist today.
"Aviation is one of our targeted verticals, and we are seeing a tremendous amount of inquiries," commented Shukla. Seen as a possible panacea to the lost luggage problem that costs the airline industry hundreds of millions of dollars per year, baggage tracking is one of the leading applications of RFID in the sector. High profile deployments include those at the busy international airports of Hong Kong and Las Vegas (Motorola was involved with both). In 2005, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) published a global specification to define exactly what information should be included on a bag's RFID tag, referred to as the luggage "license plate". While such developments speak to rapid progress over the last few years, worldwide RFID-enabled baggage tracking is still in the early stages of deployment. "The nirvana comes when RFID is broadly implemented across multiple airports and airlines," said Shukla.
But baggage tracking is far from the whole story, he noted, as there are numerous other applications of RFID within aviation that the industry is embracing enthusiastically. Shukla cited strong demand for cargo tracking, tracking of assets on the tarmac, and trolley tracking.
Cargo tracking enables the visibility of goods and freight that are shipped by air. In addition to enhanced supply chain efficiency, cargo tracking also offers security benefits, allowing the industry to readily identify shipments whose integrity may have been compromised.
Tracking tarmac assets, such as the trailers that cart luggage from the airport to the loading hull of the plane, expands visibility of tagged luggage beyond the airport. "Now you have a combination of seeing the bags in the underbelly of the airport, onto the tarmac, and all the way to the plane," explained Shukla.
As for tracking trolleys -- the heavy metal carts that flight attendants use to distribute food, duty free goods, etc. -- the goal is to improve asset visibility and inventory management. Airlines' current lack of information about the location of all trolleys at any moment requires them to carry a surplus of the costly items. Leveraging RFID for real-time trolley visibility and locationing will enable airlines to avoid this excess, thereby improving operational efficiency and reducing cost.
In addition to RFID adoption at the airports themselves, the technology is also gaining traction in the supply chains of the world's two largest aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus. US-based Boeing has been an active RFID evangelist for a few years, whereas France's Airbus more recently made a splash with plans to initiate an aggressive stage of RFID deployment across its supply chain (see Airbus Taps ODIN, Signals Aerospace RFID Adoption).
A final sweet spot for RFID in the aviation industry is in the area of maintenance, repair, and overhaul, or MRO. Managing MRO is a multifaceted, challenging affair for aviation companies, laced with issues of security, safety, inefficiency, and compliance. A typical repair or maintenance job is composed of many sub-processes, including identifying the problem, locating or purchasing the required part, locating the appropriate personnel to execute the repair or replacement, and documenting almost every step. RFID can streamline and facilitate the MRO process, and help aviation companies realize so-called "integrated MRO", which is essentially technology-enabled visibility into the entire MRO process, both within a company's four walls and out into its suppliers' inventories. "The vision is that airplane parts are tagged, and their maintenance history is kept directly on the RFID tags themselves," commented Shukla. "This will result in faster servicing times and improved safety overall."
Still other applications of RFID are predicted for the years ahead, such as improving visibility of airport personnel, travelers, and removable airplane inventory like life vests. All told, the RFID opportunity in aviation is large indeed. The IATA predicts that when the technology is fully implemented for baggage tracking alone, the savings generated for the industry will be more than $700 million annually.
"Aviation RFID adoption is not confined to just a few regions or geographies," Shukla pointed out. "This is truly a global need."
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| Upcoming Events | RFID Solutions: Securing the Commerce of Tomorrow -- Oct. 10
Join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and SAP in Washington, DC to discuss the balance between regulation and innovation and responsible approaches to issues in areas such as national defense, port security, food and drug safety, and pandemic preparedness. For more information call 202.463.5500. Register Today. | RFID World Boston - September 18 - 20, 2007
A premiere event at the new CMP TechMash Boston, RFID World Boston brings together the foremost luminaries on RFID technology and implementation to discuss the concepts and topics critical to making RFID a reality for today's businesses. Enter code RU01 to save $300! | Midwest RFID Symposium, Oct 23-24, University of Kansas
The 3rd annual symposium and exhibition focuses on closed-loop applications of RFID. Speakers and exhibitors from Motorola, Ekahau, Intelleflex, Fluensee, Intermec, Rush Tracking, SAVR Communications and more will demonstrate RFID's potential to error proof manufacturing, organize the office, and simplify asset tracking in industry and healthcare. www.continuinged.ku.edu | 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. | 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. | | | 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. | | | Products & Services | Free RFID Software with Alien 9800 at RFIDSupplyChain.com
Purchase an Alien 9800 RFID Reader and receive BlueBean RFID Simpleware free- perform rapid prototyping and development of RFID solutions without having to write any code...collect tag information from multiple readers...test reader connections...view all tag data in one batch. Looking for an RFID reader? Receive the free RFID Reader Report at RFIDSupplyChain.com. | Until you manage 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 | 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. | 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 | | | 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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