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— February 22, 2006 |
RFID
FDA Revisits RFID Vision
The use of RFID in the pharmaceutical supply chain has not progressed as quickly as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had envisioned when it first endorsed the technology two years ago. As a result, FDA has asked its Counterfeit Drug Task Force to file a new report by May, containing recommendations on how the agency should move forward to make the pharmaceutical supply chain more secure. Among the questions posed: Should it require drug sellers to use an electronic pedigree, a secure record documenting that the drug was manufactured and distributed under safe and secure conditions? And should any e-pedigree requirements also include a mandate to identify each bottle with a serial number encoded to an RFID tag?
This request was announced during a two-day workshop held outside Washington DC on Feb. 8 and 9. The event, which included representatives from a number of drug makers and several industry associations, was called to identify the hurdles that have caused the slower-than-expected movement toward widespread RFID use and to determine what must be done to accelerate testing and deployment of the technology.
To date, Purdue Pharma is the only pharmaceutical manufacturer to announce publicly an electronic pedigree pilot involving RFID. Pfizer is using RFID to track bottles of Viagra as an anticounterfeiting measure, but is not yet including item serialization as part of an e-pedigree system.
According to pharmaceutical industry representatives attending the meeting, one hurdle facing RFID tagging is a lack of a single frequency standard. Some pharmaceutical companies must comply with Wal-Mart's mandate to track shipments of drugs with ultrahigh-frequency tags, but many of these same companies find that UHF tags do not perform as well as high-frequency tags at the item level. As such, Pfizer is using HF tags in its Viagra trial.
EPCglobal is working to address this issue as well. Next month, it will conduct a series of hardware tests and it has established a pedigree messaging standard working group as part of a larger action group for healthcare and life sciences. This group includes representatives from companies involved in e-pedigree deployments, such as VeriSign and SupplyScape. The goal is to establish standards addressing how electronic pedigrees should be created, maintained and shared.
www.rfidjournal.com
Metro Group Cites Barriers
Another type of standard was cited as a barrier to RFID adoption by the German retailer Metro Group at the Global Retail Technology Forum in Düsseldorf. Speaking at the opening session, Hans-Joachim Körber, Metro's chairman and CEO, stressed that RFID adoption will help retailers improve their customer service and grow business. He warned, however, that without a single global numbering system in place, the technology's uptake will be severely limited.
"[RFID] is the future, and it will make retailers' lives easier," he explains, "but there is one precondition: We have to go for common standards. We have to seize the opportunity today to have one worldwide standard. That's why we push so much, on the EPCglobal board, for one standard that fits pharma, textiles or whatever. It is a single opportunity, and we should not miss it.”
Metro Group has consistently been a key protagonist for RFID development and adoption across the retail industry since 2003. That year, the firm launched its Future Store, which utilizes RFID tags on pallets of goods it receives, as well as on a handful of items it sells. In November 2004, the retailer started using RFID at distribution centers. However, the company's efforts, Körber says, remain “more or less in the test phase.”
The company had expected 100 suppliers to be tagging shipments to its RFID-enabled DCs by the end of 2004, but Körber says that number is only around 40, including such global companies as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.
Agreeing on a single data standard will be critical to speeding up adoption, Körber states. “We have to have the same data on the tag…what we are looking for is one worldwide numbering system-say, 28 digits-that allows us to use RFID in different industries. At the moment, we are still in that process,” he says. He estimates it will likely take another 18 months for EPCglobal, industry groups and retailers such as Metro to complete that work.
www.rfidjournal.com
Millions Required For RFID Research
At the RFID Academic Convocation at MIT early this month, leading end users and representatives from academia identified research projects across several industries that will require tens of millions of dollars in investments over the next five years. Among the areas that will require research funds are network protocol standards, specialized tags for airplane and auto parts, applications for micro and nano manufacturing technologies, and innovative bio and material sciences development in packaging.
"There is simply an enormous amount of applied research that needs to be done to move RFID forward and realize the dream of creating the internet of things," says John Williams, director of the MIT Auto-ID Labs, which hosted the invitation-only event. This internet of things, he says, "that will make billions of physical objects visible over the web, will require a secure and scaleable infrastructure that is more challenging to build than the original internet."
The aim of the RFID Academic Convocation, which was attended by 100 leaders in RFID, was to identify opportunities for research collaboration with RFID researchers from around the world, define core technology research areas needed to meet industry RFID requirements and begin a to draw a technology road map for those market opportunities and technologies.
www.rfidsolutionsonline.com
Rolls-Royce Pilots RFID to Track Parts
The Defense Aerospace division of Rolls-Royce is using RFID to track engine parts through the supply chain. After several months experience with the project, Lee Doherty, the division's head of supply-chain services, says RFID is improving efficiency. "We have found it speeds the tracking process and helps us meet deadlines in the delivery of contracts to key suppliers," he says. "By being able to see where each part is between it leaving the manufacturing plant to its assembly, we can plan which deliveries are best routed where, according to customer demand."
If the technology proves successful, Rolls-Royce may extend its use to other parts of the company. He notes that tag price is less of a barrier in the aerospace industry, given the cost of the final product. " But we, like the rest of the industry, are waiting for that to come down," he says. "The level of read quality when parts are received for assembly could be better. But we expect this to improve as use of technology matures."
www.crm-daily.com
NCR Tackles Data Problem
One of the challenges of RFID is the enormous amount of data that is generated. At the recent National Retail Federation Convention and Expo in New York, NCR announced that it has developed new applications to address this issue. Called the NCR Velocity Portal, the new suite supports a variety of input/output technologies, including real-time wireless, batch systems, programmable logic controllers and personal digital assistants, NCR says. The platform provides integrated security and user authentication, multilingual support based on user login, and the ability to connect to a very large number of data sources.
“NCR Velocity Portal provides a rapid development environment that resolves the time-consuming and costly challenge of collecting, interpreting and moving massive amounts of data from multiple sources,” said NCR Vice President for Global RFID Solutions John Greaves. “NCR Velocity Portal delivers the right information to the right person or system, at the right time, regardless of the data collection device.”
www.ncr.com/media_information
RFID Integrated into New Forklift
There's more to a forklift than first meets the eye. In the emerging world of RFID-enabled inventory tracking, the forklift can become a powerful supply-chain information tool. Intermec Inc., a leading supplier of Gen 2 RFID technology and equipment, and Cascade Corp., the world's largest manufacturer of forklift attachments, are teaming to develop a forklift system that incorporates RFID technology into a forklift's very infrastructure, replacing today's cumbersome and inefficient bolt-on approach to data collection.
Forklifts envisioned by Cascade and Intermec will incorporate powerful dashboard computers positioned for maximum safety and efficiency, easy-to-reach RFID controls, wireless real-time location tracking and navigational LEDs, and easy-to-adjust RFID readers designed into the frame of forklift attachments. The system also will include a sophisticated cable management system, state-of-the-art wireless scanning capabilities and a built-in camera for cargo documentation.
www.intermec.com
RFID Center Opens
Alien Technology Corp. launched its new Radio Frequency Identification Solutions Center near Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month with a crowd of politicians and industry representatives looking on. The 23,000-square-foot facility in Springboro will be a "world-class" center for RFID education, research and development and real-world implementation, said Stavro Prodromou, chief executive officer of Alien. Alien also is collaborating with a number of Ohio colleges and universities to promote RFID studies, develop internships at the center, create faculty consulting engagements at the center and write curriculum.
"There are exciting opportunities for the RFID Solutions Center and various institutions of higher learning to work together, from guest instruction and consulting to research and development," said Damon Bramble, general manager of the center. "We look forward to further exploring these opportunities for the benefit of both the educational and the RFID user communities."
Prodromou said the company expects to host visitors from Europe, Asia and Latin America in coming months as the company works to facilitate the adoption of RFID globally. He noted that the facility also will showcase products from Alien's competition because the point of the facility is to educate users of the technology as completely as possible.
http://dayton.bizjournals.com
Savi Scores With Defense Solution
Savi Technologies' interoperable tracking technology continues to gain momentum among allied defense forces. The Spanish Armed Forces (SAF) will deploy Savi's Consignment Management Solution (CMS), which includes an active RFID network that interoperates with similar networks deployed by Savi for NATO countries and other allies.
Recent findings from defense organizations show that Savi's RFID solutions, when used with improved supply chain processes, have significantly improved fill rates, reduced backlog orders by 70 percent, and reduced inventory by many tens of millions of dollars. Just as importantly, these solutions have enhanced the confidence of those in the field that the logistics operations will deliver the right supplies to the right place at the right time.
Savi's RFID solutions have been implemented in more than 2,000 locations in 50-plus countries, and are the foundation for the largest interoperable RFID networks deployed worldwide.
In a separate announcement, The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) said it will increase its RFID II contract value with Savi from $207.9m to $424.5m and extend the ordering period for the company's active RFID products and services by another two years -- through January 31, 2008. The extension was needed in order to continue logistics support for the operation in Iraq.
www.rfidgazette.org
Active RFID Market to Reach $6.78B in 2016
Research firm IDTechEx, Cambridge, Mass., predicts the active RFID market, in which tags require a power source, will grow from $550 million in 2006 to $6.78 billion in 2016. At that time, real-time locating systems (RTLS) will represent 40 percent of the market, smart active labels (SAL) and ubiquitous sensor networks (USN) another 40 percent, active RFID-equipped cell phones 9 percent, with the remainder coming from miscellaneous applications. Over the next decade, the primary industries using active RFID will be automotive, transportation, logistics, healthcare, and military, according to the report, Active RFID 2006-2016.
www.rfidupdate.com/
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