MAY 2005 BROADSHEET - Tagging & Tracking
The Club's April event, "Tagging & Tracking", was held at the TWI Conference Centre.
The first speaker, Dr. Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechEx Ltd. (http://www.idtechex.com) talked about the history of RFID and the extensive database that his company maintains of RFID applications and markets. The company is a world-leading independent analyst on the development and applications of RFID, particularly in smart labels and packaging. It publishes market research reports and two monthly journals. It also carries out consulting around the world advising on strategies and market opportunities and hosts major conferences. Peter pointed out that RFID was not all that new, an early example being IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) on Allied aircraft in WW2. Present examples which are not usually thought of as RFID are the relatively ubiquitous car key fob, road tolling and tickets on the London Underground. Anti-theft tags as used by shops are not truly RFID as they do not authenticate the individual. Most tags are passive - only some 23% presently are active. There are masses of applications, some old, some new. The main uses by volume presently are 1. Transport 2.Security/Finance and 3. Supply Chain. It is expected that this order will reverse over the next 10 years with supply chain uses becoming by far the dominant market. True RFID can be more automated than a simple bar code (as described in the second talk later). Some big orders in2004 were $63Bn (multi-year) for the China ID card system and 50M RFID tickets for World Expo Japan. There will be 1Bn tags sold in 2005 and the numbers will double in 2006. A lot of the drive for tagging is seen as legal push and costs remain an issue but will be solved due to the massive investment WW in the technology. To do item level tagging a cost of 5c per tag is needed but then the opportunity is over 30Bn tags per annum. For supermarket use less than 1c per tag is required. Peter showed us many interesting examples where RFID is beginning to be used. A fascinating example is the use of RFID tags on tyres in the US where they will also feed the driver real-time information on tyre pressures! More futuristic is the possibility to provide self-adjusting use-by dates for perishable goods, monitoring their actual exposure to temperature and changing dates accordingly. Maybe the items could then self-destruct! (Ed). The highest volumes will be EPC (Electronic Product Code identifier) the replacement for current bar codes.
The second speaker was Dr. Brian Weeks, the MD of Integrated Product Intelligence Ltd. (http://www.ipi-uk.com) which is a strategic adviser to government, military and multi-nationals. Brian spoke of the issues in the deployment of systems for tracking individual items on shipping pallets. This requires long-range (4-5 metres) passive RFID. Around the world there are six unlicensed frequency bands which can be used for RFID and Brian described the use of each but only one of these is suitable for this application. There are two main categories of RFID tags, low-cost disposable devices and higher-cost multi-function re-usable modular devices. If Tesco were to tag everything they would need 2 Billion tags per annum! RFID based systems for tracking are truly 'disruptive' technology as they provide accurate, timely and reliable real-time information. Hundreds of items can be read simultaneously and hands-free stock counting becomes feasible. M & S's London stores are now doing a stock-take every night and this enables them to keep adequate stock of the right sizes etc on the shelves/racks. They are not yet using RFID at the POS. RFID will be good for monitoring on van/off van movements and giving real-time data on status and position thus eliminating the time-delay discrepancies currently in tracking and reporting. There are lots of challenges to wide-scale implementation, not the least driving standards and getting everything to network together without interference, but, as pointed out also by the first speaker, the level of WW activity and the enormous commercial opportunity will eventually make it happen.
Thanks are due to Tracey Stephens for chairing the event and arranging the two speakers who provided such an interesting and informative evening. Tracey is stepping down from the CETC committee due to work commitments. We wish her well in her new and expanding role, while hoping still to see her frequently at CETC events.
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There are also other companies who give us generous help with specific meetings and services.
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