Chapter 10 Intelligent Decision Support Systems

1
Business Applications of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) Technologies
2
RFID Basics

• RFID is a rapidly emerging technology global
  market of USD 4 billion forecasted by 2007
  (Frost Sullivan)
• RFID is a means of automatic identification and
  data capture
• Automatic identification is used to identify
  items, capture information and get the data into
  a computer
• RFID technology can be used to identify
• objects (supply chain management,
  anti-counterfeiting etc.)
• people (access management, mass transit
  ticketing, passports etc.)
• Allows objects to communicate information about
  themselves automatically with no human
  intervention
• increase efficiency
• reduce data entry errors
• free up staff to do other value added functions

3
RFID Basics

• Advantages of RFID versus Barcode
• No requirement for line-of-sight
• Dynamic information carrier (read/write)
• High memory capacity if needed
• Anti-collision (many tags can be read at the same
  time)
• Robust and reliable
• Performs in rugged, harsh environment
• Cheaper in long term
• No human intervention
• Reader virtually maintenance free

4
How RFID Works
Passive RFID Read/Write
Antenna
Tag
Reader
Computer
IC (Integrated Circuit)
Antenna
5
How RFID Works

• RFID tag gets into reading device's
  electromagnetic field
• tag receives the signal which energises the
  passive tag
• tag transmits the data stored in the IC in return
• reader passes the information to the host system
• host system can be connected into the Internet or
  company's ERP system
• reader can also pass information to the tag which
  can be re-written or deactivated

6
Passive RFID Tags

• No internal power source
• IC (integrated circuit) - provides the memory and
  stores data
• Antenna harvests power communicates with the
  reader
• Inlay/inlet IC and antenna assembled together
  for insertion
• RFID tag an inlet converted in a way that it
  can be applied to an object

7
Active RFID Tags

• Passive tags
• no battery source
• read range metres
• Active tags
• has a battery source
• read range hundreds of metres

8
RFID Frequencies
9
RFID Tagging
10
RFID Tagging / Auto-ID Technologies
Barcode
Active RFID
ISO 18000-7
GPS
11
RFID Standards
1999-2003
2000-
12
RFID Standards

• EPC Global
• A joint venture between EAN International in
  Europe and the Uniform Code Council (UCC) in USA
• Carries forth the work completed by the Auto-ID
  Center
• EPCglobal is leading the development of
  industry-driven standards for the Electronic
  Product Code (EPC) to support the use of Radio
  Frequency Identification (RFID)
• numbering scheme
• RFID protocols
• database access and formatting
• A neutral, consensus-based, non-profit standards
  organization
• www.epcglobalinc.org
• www.ean-ucc.org

13
Prevalent RFID Protocols
UHF Tags 860 to 960 MHz
HF Tags 13.56 MHz
EPC Class 0/0 EPC Class 1 EPC Class 1 Gen 2 ISO
18000-6 U-Code 1.19
ISO 15693 ISO 14443 A ISO 14443 B ISO 18000
P3 EPC HF
14
RFID / EPC Codes

• EPC Electronic Product Code
• next generation barcode
• coding scheme to electronically identify consumer
  goods
• vision enable the automated, unique
  identification of tagged objects
• developed by EPCglobal (EAN, UCC)
• EPC consists of UPC serial number
• UPC Universal Product Code
• a unique code for every group of objects
• enables e.g. supermarkets to identify every
  product
• two bags of Nestlé Smarties have the same UPC

15
Classes of RFID / EPC Tags
16
Opportunities for RFID
17
RFID Application Areas

• Supply chain management
• Mass transit (e.g. US Department of Defence)
• Postal and courier services
• Food industry
• Library systems
• Healthcare, pharmaceutical industry
• Access management
• Anti-counterfeiting
• Toll collection
• Airline baggage handling
• Animal identification
• Document tracking

18
RFID Application Areas
Healthcare Retail

• Anti-counterfeiting
• Supply chain visibility
• Asset Tracking
• Patient Safety

• Out of stock reductions
• Item level visibility
• Shipment reconciliation
• Shrinkage

Manufacturing
Logistics

• Raw Material Tracking
• Production line visibility
• Finished Goods
• Supply Chain

• Supply Chain
• Asset Tracking
• Baggage Handling
• Security

19
Asset Visibility Saves Money !

• Health Care hospitals misplace or lose 10-20 of
  their valuable medical equipment annually,
  wasting staff and patient time and incurring
  costly replacement charges.
• Yard Management shipping and cross-docking yards
  spend several hours each day manually locating
  trailers and containers for delivery, resulting
  in slow delivery times and high staff and fuel
  costs.
• Manufacturing aerospace, semiconductor and other
  facilities misplace mobile toolkits, machinery,
  parts and WIP inventory, at a cost of as much as
  USD 1 million per incident.

20
Business Benefits of RFID

• WalMart
• 16 reduction in out of stock. 62 reduction in
  replenishment times.
• Gillette
• 25 reduction in operational costs by tagging
  cases at point of production.
• AstraZeneca
• Error prevention at item level on over 30m RFID
  enabled syringes of Diprivan.
• US DoD
• Supply chain inventory cut from 117m to 70m.
  Deliveries cut from 28 to 16 days.

21
Case Studies in Action (Aeroscout)

• Large percentages of medical equipment are not
  accounted for each year, leading to high costs
  and patient risk.
• 800 bed leading-edge hospital in the USA
• Compliance with JCAHO is a problem cannot
  locate medical equipment to meet service
  schedules.
• IV pumps only 35 of their time being utilized,
  cleaned or processed. 65 of time, missing.
• Low utilization led to overspending on equipment
  and labor, and incurring unnecessary rental
  costs.
• Patient Care Cannot administer drugs in timely
  manner because they are looking for IV pumps.
• Lack of knowledge of where assets and people are
  in the facility. Cannot find patients or
  clinicians.
• Countless hours spent searching for patient-care
  assets Pumps, Computer Carts, and Wheelchairs.

JCAHO Joint Commission on the Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations
22
Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Improving Asset Utilisation in the Extended
Retail Supply Chain Problem Lack of visibility
to retail supply chain assets as they moved
through the supply chain caused surplus asset
inventory, created unnecessary capital
investment, increased operating costs and
impacted customer service. Solution
Smartchain Asset Management System (AMS) and
Smartchain Enterprise Platform provides
visibility to assets including roll cages,
plastic crates, metal dollies and beverage trays
used to move perishables between suppliers,
distribution centers and retail stores.
Project brief Savi provided a hosted
environment and integrated AMS with Coles Myers
own inventory system, to be followed by full
rollout covering 1,400 locations. Follow-on phase
will include Savi asset optimization
application. Benefits Full asset lifecycle
management, improved asset utilization, reduced
manual labor intensive tracking systems. Future
improvements include charging suppliers for use
of assets
23
Case Studies in Action (Savi)

• Business Problem Shrinkage a rising problem at
  Woolworths UK as in the entire retail industry.
  More than half of all theft occurs within the
  retailers own supply chain, in and between
  supply chain checkpoint, Distribution Centers and
  retail outlet stockrooms.
• Solution Combination of bar codes on products,
  active RFID tags on dollies and roll cages, GPS
  tracking delivery trucks, readers at key
  checkpoints, all tied into the Savi SmartChain
  software platform.

• Project Brief Compare number and types of
  products leaving a major Distribution Center with
  the numbers and types delivered to retail outlets
  and onto store shelves. Isolate where the
  shrinkage occurs to zero in on problem areas.
• Results Narrowed down where shrinkage occurred
  as well as problems in labor processes and
  accounting procedures. Visibility and
  accountability are keys to successfully reducing
  losses.

24
Case Studies in Action (Savi)
Improving Utilisation of Rail Cars In Africas
Largest Rail Network 70,000 Railcars 3000
Locomotives 19,000 Miles of track Business
Problem Lack of visibility into location of
rail cars caused poor customer service levels,
surplus rail car inventory resulting in
unnecessary capital investment
Solution Smartchain Asset Management System
(AMS) and Smartchain Enterprise Platform
provided web enabled visibility to rail cars.
Trackside chokepoint implementations included
Smartchain site manager, echopoint RFID signposts
and readers integrated with weigh bridges and
wheel counters. Savi asset tag 654 was used to
tag rail cars and locomotives. Project brief
pilot phase for specific track sections moving to
roll-out phase including integration with
spoornets customer management systems.
Benefits the system improved asset
utilisation, customer service and on-time
deliveries.
25
Case Studies in Action (Savi)

• Savi has deployed the worlds largest military
  RFID/AIDC Network
• 50 Countries
• 2000 Nodes depots, airports, seaports, rail
  terminals, consolidation points
• 45,000 Conveyances/Day

26
Case Studies in Action (Zebra)

• Exhibition registration (UHF R4Mplus)
• Canon Expo 2005, La Défense, Paris
• 15,483 registrations
• Automatic visitor registration
• Pre-issued badges
• Targeted messages / advertising Narrow casting
  unique to each visitor

27
Case Studies in Action (Zebra)

• Case and Pallet tracking (UHF R110 PAX4)
• Pharmaceutical company
• Global Manufacturing Facility
• Everything manufactured is shipped to the USA
• EPC Class 1, tuned for 915 MHz
• UHF tag applied to box and pallet
• Each box worth over 7,000
• Separate system encodes and applies HF tag to
  each bottle, in the box

28
Near Field Communications (NFC)

• Payment and Ticketing
• conduct local transactions with your mobile
  phone, simply by touching a point of sales device
  or ticket gate
• Field Force Solutions
• extend the mobility of field personnel by
  integrating RFID technology into a mobile phone
• Maintenance Repair ? Utilities
• Security Guarding ? Healthcare
• Pharmaceuticals ? Government

29
e-Parking

• Registration
• Register and set-up an account
• Display special RFID sticker
• Starting a parking session
• Send SMS message to service number P and zone
  code
• Ending a parking session
• Send SMS message to service number S
• Live application being used in
• Tallinn, Estonia http//www.e-park.ee/inde
  x.php
• Antwerp, Belgium https//www.parknow.be

30
Acknowledgements

• A number of slides in this presentation are based
  on publicly available materials originally
  created by others, acknowledged as follows
• Radio Frequency IDentification Basics by Randy
  Stigall, UPM Rafsec (www.rafsec.com)
• RFID in Action by Richard Powlesland, Zebra
  (www.zebra.com)
• Enterprise Visibility Solutions by AeroScout
  (www.aeroscout.com)
• Savi Technology by Iain Bell (www.savi.com)
• RFID in Action - Live Interactive by
  connectRFID (www.connectrfid.ie)