RFID: Can RFID Survive the "Internet of Things"?
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 - RFID Connections
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Bert Moore
Editor
Is the concept of the "Internet of Things" hindering RFID deployment?
It's a grand vision: everything in the world talking to every other thing in the world. A frozen meal communicating with the refrigerator, microwave and automated shopping list; clothes giving instructions to a washing machine and dryer and consulting with an artificial intelligence fashion consultant in the wardrobe; a medicine cabinet reading medication instructions and automatically dispensing them for geriatric patients and reporting the dosage and time taken to the patient's doctor...the list goes on.
Many of these grand visions are consumer-facing and that helps generate awareness of how RFID can provide everyday benefits to the average citizen. But they are also bad because…
They are bad because they are grand and complicated and require systems that are not yet in place or even feasible at the moment. And they distract people from thinking about the benefits of RFID in smaller, more easily implemented and cost-justified applications.
There are already enough case histories and studies that clearly demonstrate the benefits of a well thought-out and properly implemented RFID system for inventory management, tool management, production control, asset tracking and location, patient monitoring, and yard management. What most of these applications have in common is that they are not "grand" -- they are focused on specific business cases and do not rely on a complex infrastructure that must interact with the whole world.
While some important applications such as pharmaceutical pedigree and food chain security will require a comprehensive architecture to be viable, it's possible to gain real benefits without significant additional complexity.
Consider how long it took to establish today's electronic data interchange (EDI) standards and to get companies to consistently and accurately produce 856 Advance Shipment Notifications (ASNs). Today, most of these systems leverage the bar codes on shipping labels. But long before companies managed to get their EDI programs in order, the bar codes were providing benefits for inventory, billing, production and QA/QC -- all "closed loop" systems that addressed specific business cases within the company.
Admittedly, the use of bar codes was initially imposed on many companies but the smart ones learned how to turn what might have been just an additional cost of doing business into a benefit by identifying internal uses with a solid ROI and even expanding their use beyond what was mandated.
Today's situation with RFID is not entirely analogous to bar code implementation but the lesson remains the same: systems that are under the control of a single entity work. There is an increased ability to properly design, install, and utilize closed loop systems that clearly deliver usable information for decision-making and rapid ROI. Designed properly from the start, they can then be integrated to a larger network of systems to improve overall efficiencies.
Take, for example, asset identification in healthcare. Using RTLS to locate moveable medical equipment and devices provides its own ROI in terms of time and, usually, reduced equipment purchases. But the same tag can be used to identify when equipment is serviced, calibrated or sterilized. And at some point in the future, the tag might also be used to calculate hours of use, environmental considerations, and even communicate with the equipment supplier to receive notification of whether a firmware upgrade or modification is required or a recall has been issued.
Yard management is another example of how a small system can later be interfaced with a larger one. Incoming trailers can be temporarily identified with an active RFID tag to track their location and associate their contents (or whether they're empty), owner, moves, employees who have interacted with the trailer or its contents, and other relevant information. If a time comes when all transport trailers and containers are tagged with a standard RFID tag, the yard management system's infrastructure can then be connected to a wider network so that suppliers and customers can instantly access information about a container or shipment.
Whatever the case, the larger system would leverage the smaller, closed loop system to provide additional benefits. But the closed loop system is the necessary first step -- and the one that can most often provide value and ROI immediately.
In a way, the focus on the "Internet of Things" is analogous to a problem faced by astronauts early in the space program. NASA spent millions of dollars to create a pen for astronauts that would work in zero gravity. The Russians supplied cosmonauts with pencils. [SEE NOTE BELOW]
Perhaps it's time for companies to "sharpen their pencils".
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Comments on this column? E-mail me: Bert Moore, Editor
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