Taking the risk out of RFID
August 1st 2007

With major retailers such as Metronet issuing statements that imply suppliers using RFID will receive preferential treatment, even those using highly effective 2D technologies have to start implementing RFID to some degree. This shouldn't be a needless expense.

Brendan Coyne spoke with Zebra Technologies' Clive Fern and Toshiba TEC's Rob McGregor

Many firms remain sceptical as to whether RFID adds anything to their business. One of the problems with much hyped technologies is that those selling it can promise the earth, leaving buyers irate when expensive, multivendor systems don't deliver. Smaller suppliers mindful of retailer mandates or statements of intent, are therefore likely to seek out simple, future-proof solutions that add value to their business outside of 'just' RFID - at least according to Zebra Technologies' Clive Fern.

Fern says Zebra's new range of RFID enabled mobile printers, the ZM400 and ZM600 are both future-proof and upgradeable, and deliver rapid payback.

Switching from static printers, TNT, he claims, achieved ROI in 109 days through time savings. "No one wants to invest in a technology that may change in the future, so the printers are attractive because they are a no risk investment," he says.

Fern believes barcoding remains very much the present technology, pointing to the pharmaceutical body EFPIA's recent member advice to use 2D over the next five years. Personally, Fern thinks the pharmaceutical industry has much to gain from RFID yet, while Pfizer uses RFID to track Viagra, it also uses barcodes.

He says although people "tend to keep quiet about successful trials because they don't want to give away secrets they've found out for themselves", companies such as Sony have developed applications such as UHF tagging at case and pallet level for high value goods such as laptops. "They have also added a video capture element so that an image is captured as the goods leave the warehouse." He says this has the potential to be extended so that an image is captured at each stage of the supply chain.

RFID@Toshiba Firms that know what they want to achieve with RFID, but are unsure how to implement it – and with whom – will be interested to learn of Toshiba TEC's new umbrella service, RFID@Toshiba. The company has been involved in RFID for the last five years, with focus increasing sharply in the technology from 2005, according to Rob McGregor, business development manager, Toshiba TEC.

"We went to market with a great printer that printed and encoded tags. Although it was always received well, the first questions customers asked were 'where do I buy my tags/readers/software from?' It was pretty clear that no-one could offer customers an end-to-end solution. Over the last few years we've been to numerous RFID events and still see the same faces. We ask them 'What are you still doing here? Why aren't you implementing?' The problem is working out what technology they need, which vendors to work with and how it's all going to hang together." RFID@Toshiba, he claims, not only answers those questions, but also devises, implements and maintains the solution.

"RFID@Toshiba is essentially a set of components and services," McGregor explains. "The consultancy phase analyses the client's application and identifies the best technology and process to use. It's totally open in terms of suppliers and in some cases RFID isn't the best solution. We then cost out the project, which enables clients to go to top management and seek funding. We put together the commercial proposal, identify the best hardware, software and consumables – bearing in mind we put the Toshiba name behind it – and have to identify best of breed and ensure it's right." Toshiba engineers, McGregor claims, test "pretty much everything that's currently on the market".

Toshiba solves the problem of 'hanging the system together' using software consultants to devise the best solution.

McGregor says that in many cases, clients don't actually need much other than filtering software to create rules as to how to interact with their own current systems.

In terms of consumables, Toshiba works with "every tag manufacturer", according to McGregor. "We know what the best tags on the market are for these applications." He says Toshiba's buying power also helps keep tag costs low.

With a project manager to deal with all parties, and aftersales to maintain the system via all the vendors, McGregor says it is genuinely the complete package.

Although consultancy, implementation and aftersales come at a price, he says Toshiba's relationships with major vendors afford reseller discounts. "Using RFID@Toshiba customers are certainly not going to pay any more, they may even pay less, but what they will get is peace of mind that what is being delivered is the complete solution." Aimed at smaller suppliers facing retailer mandates, RFID@Toshiba also has a bureau service, a low cost option providing readyprinted tags for slap and ship without actually requiring an RFID infrastructure.

For those who know what they want, but not how to get it, McGregor, naturally, suggests getting in touch. "Toshiba has experience in many different verticals, and we're happy to give advice. It might not be your particular vertical, but as far as RFID goes, we know what we're doing."

More articles from Toshiba TEC Europe Retail Information Systems: