European RFID Retail Application

Rica Lewis will deploy Tagsys RFID in its European value chain to provide real-time visibility to inventory from distribution to the retail point of sale. ...

... "Rica Lewis sells over 5 million pairs of jeans each year and has invested in TAGSYS’ RFID technology to increase its sales and enhance customer’s experience through improved product availability. Each sales manager from Rica Lewis is equipped with portable RFID readers enabling them to perform rapid inventory of RFID enabled items directly on the sales floor of the retailer. Initial results have demonstrated that the duration of the previously manual inventory process has been reduced by more than 80%, making the sales manager available for high value activities such as merchandising and customer interaction. At the conclusion of the inventory process, the RFID data collected is sent to the logistics center, also equipped with a RFID infrastructure, allowing for a much more efficient order preparation and shipping process. With the use of RFID the entire supply chain is optimized to better manage processes in the distribution center and provide greater product availability at the point of sale. " ...

Via Tagsys: RFID DEPLOYMENT AT MAJOR EUROPEAN RETAILERS

SAP RFID Tracking by Zetes

RFID technology will enable inbound material tracking for sugar refiner. ...

... "Zetes has rolled out the pilot phase of a project based on RFID technology at the Azucarera Ebro Guadelete sugar refinery ... " ...

Via Supplychain Standard: RFID for sugar refinery

RFID Germany Distribution Center

Mojix completes RFID pilot with the REWE Group to enable line of sight to returnable transport items at the comapny's Buttenheim, Germany distribution center. ...

... "This pioneering program at REWE utilizes passive RFID to fully equip the 40,000 square meter distribution center. REWE Group, the third largest food retailer in Europe, and the second largest in Germany, operates in 15 countries with 15,000 retail outlets, 29 distribution centers in Germany. The company’s supply chain operations in Germany commission about 36 million pallets and roll containers annually. " ...

Via Mojix: RFID Initiative to Fully Equip Large Scale Distribution Center Operation


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European Healthcare RFID Pilot to Establish Improvement

Active RFID Tent Glocation by Orange

Orange pilots a number of technologies, including RFID and photovoltaics, in its solar concept tent at the Glastonbury festival in the UK. The tent can be located by its glow, ...

... "To avoid festival-goers ever losing their tent, the Concept Tent would be fitted with innovative glo-cation technology. Glo-cation works by enabling campers’ mobile phones to identify their tent using either an SMS message or automatic active RFID technology (a longer range version of that used in London Underground Oyster cards); both would trigger a distinctive glow in the tent helping identify it from a distance. " ...

Via Orange: Glastonbury Solar Concept Tent

Dairy Queen RFID Trial Tracks Customers

Dairy Queen deploys RFID tags in a pilot program to understand customer loyalty and preferences. Customers tag an item in their possession and swipe it upon return visits. ...

... "The consumer attaches the tiny tag to something they always have with them - a cellphone is suggested but hardly required - and can use it when they happen to be near a Dairy Queen. " ...

Via CBS News: Dairy Queen Loyalty Program RFID Pilot

SAP Intermec Kraft RFID Experience

Kraft Europe experience with RFID technology ...

RFID Intelligent Displays

OLED based display are being developed in Europe for future applications. Researchers are pairing RFID technology to provide intelligence and interaction with users. ...

... "It might be possible for a store to use its shelves as an RFID antenna that would power the OLEDs in the product packaging, Maaninen says. The project team developed on that concept – an extension of Near Field Communication (NFC) – in another demonstrator that consisted of a simple business card showing the EU flag. A single-coloured OLED lit up the stars of the flag if a mobile phone with an RFID transmitter was placed near it. " ...

Via European Union: Flexible displays

Healthcare RFID Proof of Concept

Pharma RFID Venture

Dayton team collaborates to pilot role of RFID technology in pharmaceutical distribution. ...

... "His invention - dubbed a portal reality check - shows which parts of a radio field where RFID signals are strong, weak or non-existent. " ...

Via Dayton Daily: RFID tool

daytaOhio: "The joint venture, Radio Frequency in Dayton, LLC (RFiD) brings the brainchild of entrepreneur Benson Chanowitz of Brooklyn, N.Y., to Dayton. The final product will be a system for validating the performance of the antennas and readers for RFID environments ... "

NineWest RFID Pilot

Jones Apparel Group launches program to pilot Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in specific Nine West retail locations to determine its impact on item tracking and service, operational efficiency, and inventory. ...

... "The goal of this pilot program will be to study the benefits that item-level RFID provides in the areas of enhanced productivity, customer service and inventory accuracy. The team of companies with whom Jones is partnering on this initiative consists of: Vue Technology, which will provide the RFID software and system management solutions; Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Business, which will provide fixed and handheld RFID readers and antennas; Avery Dennison, which will provide RFID tags and printers; inCode Wireless, which will provide installation and integration services and, along with RFID Sherpas LLC, will perform operational and business case analysis. " ...

Via Jones Apparel Group: Item-Level RFID Pilot in Select Nine West Retail Locations

Australia RFID Trials

Australia RFID pilots continue at higher power levels, while the current rules are at lower target levels. ...

... "Technology standards group GS1 Australia says it has been granted an extension to its scientific licence allowing the use of radio frequency devices with up to 4 Watt of power. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has allowed trials of the ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID tags, despite a current ruling which limits RFID power to 1 Watt. " ...

Via Queensland Business Review: World-standard RFID

Hawaii RFID Tomato Tracking

Hawaii pilots RFID technology for tracking of tomato produce ...

... "the Hawaii Department of Agriculture in April started a three-year pilot to track and trace tomatoes and other produce using RFID tags attached to produce boxes. " ...

Via InformationWeek: Hawaii Tests RFID

HDOA PILOT PROJECT: "The three-year pilot project is being coordinated by several of HDOA's division, including the Quality Assurance Division and the Agricultural Development Division, and will use Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) to track and trace food products from the farm to the consumer. "

RFID Microchip for Student Tracking

Pilot program will monitor student movement using RFID technology. ...

... "The Middletown School District, in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp., has launched a pilot program to implant RFID chips into the schoolbags of 80 children at the Aquidneck School. " ...

Via Natural News: Microchipping Students

Nokia RFID Retail Pilot

RFID Patient Wristband Improves Care

Patients pilot the use of RFID technology to administer medicines at Halifax Health Medical Center. ...

... "This RFID wrist band assists nurses and in health care by automating the process of administering patient medication. " ...

Via Sify: Bartronics RFID

Airport RFID Trials Include Heathrow

Emirates Airline will invest in RFID technology trials at three airports: London Heathrow, Dubai International and Hong Kong International. The pilots will integrate RFID tags into the tracking of baggage in order to validate its effectiveness compared to barcoding and position the airline with a scalable solution for the future, where baggage volume is expected to increase. ...

... "Emirates will be investing close to AED 2 million, to test the effectiveness and benefits of RFID against the existing barcode tracking system. The largest-ever trial of its kind for the airline industry, some half a million bags on Emirates flights will be tagged with RFID chips over the 6-month duration of the trial.

The Dubai-based airline hopes its investment will help revolutionise the way bags are tracked and monitored, and present innovative solutions to handle the increasing volumes of baggage every year as more people around the world use air travel more frequently.

With 58 of the double-decked A380 aircraft entering Emirates' service, each doubling the number of bags handled per aircraft, the airline is keen to find innovative technologies and new ways to improve baggage handling infrastructure and safeguard the level of trust of its customers.

RFID equipment has been installed at some of Emirates' check-in desks at the three participating airports. During the trial, trained staff will apply tags containing RFID chips to bags as part of the normal check-in process. The chips contain stored information including the bag unique ID number and route. In addition to the embedded RFID chips, these tags will also continue to display the traditional bar code.

The chips are read as they pass through the airport's baggage system, enabling effective sorting, security screening and delivery to the aircraft. Arriving bags are read on entry to the baggage system and receipted into the system for effective tracking. Essentially, the chips will enable bags to be tracked at every stage of their journey, and minimise the possibilities for mishandling baggage. " ...

Via Emirates Airline: RFID TRIALS AT THREE AIRPORTS

RFID Ink Tattoo Identification

Ink-based RFID is being piloted on cows for identification, which will replace the physical RFID ear tags. ...

... "You've just made a new kind of tattoo identification, and it's being used on cows. " ...

Via kwmu: Tattoo Identification

Savi RFID Pilot Tracks Automotive Assets in the Supply Chain

Land Rover and Savi will pilot an active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solution that will achieve synchronized auto parts deliveries from multiple suppliers in Land Rover's supply chain to the company's assembly plant in West Midlands (U.K.). ...

... "Savi is supplying RFID hardware and software to enhance visibility, inventory management, and asset utilization, and to reduce losses, assembly plant disruptions, and time spent locating assembly parts. Phase 2 of this pilot enables 18 suppliers and Land Rover to better locate, track, and deliver stillages (specialized steel conveyances) that carry bumpers, front grills, suspension parts, moon roofs, and vehicle bodies, among other parts. Real-time information on RFID-tagged assets is shared among the partners and is automatically transmitted to cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and web-based tracking software. " ...

Via Savi Technology: RFID PILOT TO TRACK AUTO PARTS BETWEEN SUPPLIERS AND ASSEMBLY PLANT

West Midlands Automotive Cluster

RFID Drug ePedigree Standards Achieved by IBM

The ePedigree feature in IBM's WebSphere RFID Information Center is certified and fully compliant with GS1 EPCglobal's Drug Pedigree Messaging Standard, or DPMS. ...

... "To be certified as DPMS compliant, the IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center's ePedigree feature passed a battery of tests to ensure that it can be used to create, receive, and append drug pedigree documents. Testing was conducted on EPCglobal's behalf by an independent company, MetLabs.

WebSphere RFID Information Center is a proven solution for companies seeking to share product movement information with trading partners using EPCIS or DPMS-compliant solutions. The software includes an optional ePedigree feature that provides all participants in the pharmaceutical supply chain with secure access to historical data on individual bottles of medicine to enable compliance with current and emerging regulations. In the pharmaceutical business, the product will be used successfully by drug distributor AmerisourceBergen in its Sacramento pilot, and by a large global pharmaceutical manufacturer. " ...

Via IBM: EPCIS and Drug Pedigree Messaging Standards

RFID Research Invests in Item Level Validations

Checkpoint will fund RFID Research Center's laboratory through investment and equipment donation. The research will support proof-of-concept, pilots, and use case validations in areas, such as item-level tracking. The RFID Center sponsors range from RFID technology providers to end user companies, such as WalMart, FedEx, Microsoft, and Tyson Foods. ...

... "The RFID Research Center is part of the Information Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University. The Center, which opened in 2005, is a vendor-neutral, third-party testing and research facility focused on the use of RFID and other wireless and sensor technologies in the supply chain. Checkpoint has supplied RFID, electronic article surveillance (EAS) and source-tagging technology and services to some of the world's largest retailers, and will be able to leverage that experience to share its insight and expertise in the area of item-level tracking and shrink management with the RFID Research Center. " ...

Checkpoint Joins University of Arkansas RFID Research Center

RFID Automation Enables Efficient Transport

Canadian transportation agency uses RFID smart cards to streamline the process of ticketing and collecting fares. ...

... "In July 2003, on the initiative of the AMT, the STM, acting on behalf of the metropolitan area transit organizations and the Reseau des Transports de la Capitale, gave the U.S. firm GFI and the French firm ACS a contract to design, manufacture and commission a sale and collection system based on a no-contact smart card. In 2006, the detailed design of the system and the equipment, most of the software development, the production of prototypes and the work of the partner transit organizations with a view to incorporating the system and distributing cards to users were completed. Commissioning of the system is planned for 2008 " ...

Via Agence metropolitaine de transport: AUTOMATION OF THE SALE OF TICKETS AND PASSES AND FARE COLLECTION

Farms Benefit from RFID Technology

Farms are able to justify technology investments such as RFID. ...

... "Rezare was involved in the 2005 Walton IT farm trial, which tested various technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to identify cows. " ...

Via Stuff.co.nz: Hi-Tech Farms

BlackFriday RFID Retail Pilot Locates Stock

Electronic Product Code (EPC) RFID technology will be used on new DVD releases in a pilot test scheduled at select stores around the country. The RFID tags are expected to help retailers locate stock that is in their stores to improve the customer experience. ...

... "The EPC uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to uniquely identify an object. Retailers can use the EPC to ensure that products are kept in stock to meet shopper demand as well as helping shoppers find the right product in the right place inside the store. Over the last few years, the EPC has become a popular way to identify pallets and cases of goods on their way to retail stores. Electronic readers inside the store read the unique serial numbers from EPC labels and relay this information back to store staff. EPC labels do not contain, collect or store any personal information. The EPC label has no power source and can only transmit its unique number when it is less than about 10 feet from a reader that activates the label. The power – or strength – of readers is strictly regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The actual distance from which an EPC label can be read may be shorter because barriers such as shopping bags and other factors such as the presence of metal materials or nearness of walls or other obstructions weaken a reader’s signal. The labels can be removed after purchase. " ...

Via epcGlobal: SHOPPER BENEFITS (PDF)

RFID Drug Serialization for California

IBM and TAGSYS to deliver RFID technologies for item level serialization in pharmaceutical manufacturer packaging operations. ...

... "Serialization is the first step towards compliance with California's drug pedigree regulations and the basis for improved supply chain performance. As of January 1, 2009, all prescription drugs being sold in the State of California must bear a unique identifier that can be used to track products throughout the supply chain, making it easier to identify counterfeits and prevent them from reaching patients. The new IBM and TAGSYS offering provides the hardware, software, and services needed to validate the performance, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of RFID for this purpose. " ...

Via IBM: Serialization Pilot Kit for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

Metro RFID Shopping Experience

Metro pilots RFID in its Future Store initiative. ...

... "In a pilot project in the men's fashion department, some 30,000 products have been fitted with additional RFID labels - known as Smart Chips. " ...

Via Fibre2Fashion: RFID Shopping Experience

Heathrow RFID Pilot

BAA plans RFID pilot at Heathrow to create efficiencies in baggage handling. ...

... "RFID could save airports and airlines GBP400m a year in reduced baggage losses and replacement of existing messaging systems. " ...

Via VNUnet: Heathrow Trial

Staples Active RFID Pilot

Reusable tags are being piloted by Staples to validate effectiveness for item-level tracking. A sampling of its products will be tagged in the pilot with active RFID tags. Early data shows 100% accuracy for the active technology, cutting down on the cycle-counting process for retail inventory. The active tags are reclaimed at the point-of-sale and reused. ...

... "Staples in late May started its trial at one of its Montreal stores, selectively tagging about 2,000 items, representing some 300 SKUs out of the 7,500 SKUs in a typical location ... " ...

Via eWeek: Staples RFID

BestBuy RFID Enables Customer Experience

Best Buy sees RFID technology as an enabler of business benefits in customer-facing business processes. ...

... "For instance, the company has already initiated pilot projects that use RFID technology to help customers more easily find items they are looking for in the stores. " ...

Via PC World: Best Buy RFID

RFID Discovery Services

Afilias will offer its Discovery Services for free to RFID supply chain pilot programs through 2007. ...

... "Afilias Discovery Services provide a unique standards-based solution that companies can implement to link their supply chain partners to historical information concerning the life cycle of RFID tags, while still keeping competitive data secure. " ...

Via Afilias: Free Discovery Services for RFID Pilots

WA-State RFID License Border Pilot

Washington will pilot RFID-enabled driver's license for border crossings. ...

... "The alternative license will contain a Radio Frequency Identification chip, commonly known as RFID, which the guard booths will use to scan the license as a traveler or trucker pulls up to the booth. " ...

Via Seattle Post-Intelligencer: RFID Border Pilot

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the State of Washington to launch a pilot program that will enhance the security of state driver's licenses and potentially serve as an acceptable alternative document for crossing the United States' land and sea borders. The Washington pilot program is one possible compliance alternative to Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requirements. As early as January 2008, U.S. citizens reentering the U.S. from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, or Bermuda by land or sea, including ferries, may be required to present a valid U.S. passport or other documents as determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

The enhanced driver's license will be slightly more expensive than a standard Washington state driver's license and will require proof of citizenship, identity, and residence, as well as contain security features similar to a U.S. passport. "

RFID Tire Tags Order Could Be Significant

Advanced ID completes tire tracking pilot for companies in South America and will provide quote for the production of over 11 million RFID Tire Tags. ...

... "The quantity of tags along with the traditional tire manufacturer operations could mean the incremental sale of several thousand RFID readers as well. It is anticipated that the order for monthly shipments will start shortly after the conclusion of a successful final product trial. " ...

Record-Breaking RFID Tire Tag Quote Totaling Over 11 Million Units