RFID Innovations 2001
London, June 2001
Welcome Speech.
Welcome to the RFID Innovations
Conference. I am Steve Halliday, VP of Technology for AIM, Inc. based in
Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Some of you will know that I am the convener of the ISO
group responsible for creating Air Interface standards for Item Management (ISO/IEC
JTC1/SC31/WG4/SG3), others may know that I publish a newsletter every month
called RFID News and you can sign up for this free newsletter on the AIM RFID
web site (www.rfid.org).
I have been involved in the AIDC
industry for more than 20 years, and heavily involved in RFID for the last 5
years. Those of you who have heard me before, know that I normally talk about
RFID from the technical or standards viewpoint. Today, my job is to help you
understand that RFID is a technology that is available today, and to help you
see reality through the hype that has spread.
It is important to understand that
today’s RFID is NOT an identification method for every item in the world. This
is a solution that has been talked about in recent months, but we are not able
to provide a system to meet this requirement today. Maybe this will occur in 2,
5 or 10 years, we will have to wait and see.
What RFID IS, is the ability to get
more information in an easy to use manner. It doesn’t matter what we are
talking about, identification of people, or things, tracking of objects, or some
other aspect that requires the easy availability of data. The advantages of
non-line-of-sight, multiple reads, and read/write are immediately apparent in
most systems.
For a long time now, we have been
using bar codes to help collect data to help track our use of items. The EAN.UCC
system has been around now for 25 plus years, and we have all become very
familiar with the bar code on everything we buy at the supermarket.
RFID is NOT a replacement for bar
code. Today, a bar code printed on a packet of cornflakes is basically free. The
extra ink to print the bar code symbology itself is almost nothing. The cost of
a tag is not free. A bar code does a great job for identifying an item. The item
identification is a license plate type application, and it does not change from
one packet of cornflakes to the next.
If you consider an RFID tag, you
will see the great flexibility that TAG offers, and the added value that you can
realize by using this in conjunction with your bar code system.
RFID IS a major adjunct to the bar
code system. Think about the value of a tag on a container, pallet or case were
the cost of the tag is not significant to the value of the goods, and the
ability to reuse the tag reduces the overall cost impact of adding RFID to a
system.
So what do you use RFID for? What is
the problem that we are trying to solve? Identification, tracking and tracing of
goods and people is the definition which I believe best explains what we are
trying to achieve.
This is an area that all of the AIDC
technologies provide tools for, to increase efficiency and accuracy in the quest
for better data. RFID provides an extra level of information in some cases and
so it is the key in our quest to get "better data". The ability to
read multiple items simultaneously, to read and write information, and to not
need to see the tag physically, add a whole new layer to our AIDC arsenal. RFID
provides all these benefits.
Some years ago, I embarked on an
exercise to identify the applications that are suited to RFID. We were able to
list over 50 at that time and I am sure that we did not cover everything. Since
that time, the list has grown. The potential for RFID is enormous. There are so
many applications that will benefit from this technology, that I can’t even
grasp them all at this time.
As you are aware, and will learn
further from the sessions that will follow these opening remarks, there is a lot
of work being done in the world of standards. We have work on air interface
standards, on data syntax, unique ID, and application profiles, as well as
standards for animal ID, gas cylinders, and contactless smart cards.
So should you, as a user of RFID
technology, wait for these standards to be in place? The answer is NO, shouted
from the highest building, with the loudest voice.
Most of the major manufacturers who
supply RFID equipment are involved in the standardization process. They are
aware of the progress in the creation of the various standards, and will be able
to keep you aware of what is going on. As a user of the technology, if you are
interested in an open systems application, you should be able to get an update
plan from your vendor to migrate to the standardized system when it is
published.
BUT, the key here is that you do not
have to wait for the standards to be published. Some of the standards are still
some time before publication, and there is no reason to wait, especially if your
system is a closed system.
As I talk to companies that are
implementing RFID now, I find that the Return On Investment (ROI) for some
companies has been extremely short. One company quotes an ROI of 7 months for a
reasonably large system. With typical ROI’s for projects like this in the 12
–1 8 month range, you can easily be seeing immediate savings that will pay for
the RFID project before the standards are published in some cases.
Every week I get several questions
about the cost of a tag and when will we be able to have a one cent tag. This is
the wrong question. Tags are not free and we know that the cost of a tag will
come down with time as the production process gets more efficient and the
volumes increase. However, the cost of the individual tag is the wrong focus for
a project. The focus for a project like this must be the Return on Investment.
I have already said we found more
than 50 applications, but the big question is which is the key application, the
so called "killer app". I think without any doubt logistics in the
supply chain is the major candidate for this award. As time moves on, this is
where the large volumes are going to come from, and this is where some
organizations are concentrating their efforts.
There are already some major
applications that are using RFID. Animal Identification has been available for
some time now, and whether you are talking about monitoring the feed needs of a
herd of cows, or the ability to trace the owner of a dog when it strays away
from home, you can see the benefits.
A large user of RFID is the vehicle
immobilizer systems that require a key with the correct RFID tag before the
Engine Management Unit receives the instruction to start the car.
Here at the conference, you have two
and a half days of presentations which will lead you to a better understanding
of the technology. You will hear from people about the various options for RFID
and even more, you will hear from people who have implemented RFID and the
benefits they are receiving.
Hopefully you will be able to sort
out the hype that you have heard and understand the realities of today. You will
see that RFID is available now, today and that you can experience some
significant cost savings by implementing it immediately.
The final key item is to get
educated. RFID is not a simple subject. Conferences like this are ideal to help
you get some grounding and to meet and greet the people who are providing the
solutions. But what do you do for the rest of the year? Two suggestions to help
you keep up on the events in RFID, - subscribe to RF Innovations, the sponsor of
this conference, and visit the AIM RFID web site at www.rfid.org where we have
placed many resources for you to use, including a subscription form to the RFID
News, a free monthly email newsletter.
As I finish this introduction, I
want to leave you with three thoughts.
- get educated, the key to a successful
implementation is the amount of knowledge you have.
- don’t wait. Do it NOW. You can make those
savings immediately, while the industry finds its standards, you can be
making the savings that are available
- find yourself a good partner who has
experience in RFID and is able to offer you the right solution.
Steve Halliday
President, High Tech Aid
steve@hightechaid.com
http://www.hightechaid.com
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