RFID Gazette

Or New York, to be precise, where the TV show Law + Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU blog) is filmed. Tonight's episode, Choreographed, starred a bunch of well-known TV actors, including Bob Saget. Saget's character explained to Detectives Elliott Stabler and Olivia Benson (who is back from a special assignment with the FBI) about how he uses RFID, radio frequency identification to get access into the building the lives in.

If you've followed the L+O franchise for more than a year, you know that their scriptwriters usually do due diligence and at least seem to make an attempt to research the science and technology that gets mentioned in the series. They didn't go into it in great detail, but the fact that it got mentioned typically means it has some importance in the episode. It's the old smoking gun method of fiction writing: don't introduce any prop that does not have some significance.

Of course, you don't find out RFID's relevance until there's about 15 minutes left. It appears that someone has implanted an RFID chip into one of the characters without her knowing, as the lab finds out when the woman collapses. Guess who? It's Bob Saget's character who did it, and he says "in 15 years, everyone will be implanted with a chip," in response to the question about why he did it. But the gist of it is that he implanted his wife because she was cheating on him.

The problem is, Saget's character didn't sterilize the chip, and because his wife is septic, she had an allergic reaction. How did he do it? He drugged her tea. Now, I didn't see where the implant was made, but this is a bit of bunk. If she's that sensitive, she would likely have felt some discomfort after the implant. Even if it was implanted in the back of her neck, where she couldn't get at it, the average human being would have used to mirrors to detect some skin disturbance at the site of the implant.

Still, kudos to the writing team of Law + Order for at least trying to bring to light some of the negatives. As I mentioned before, Hollywood will be affected by RFID in that scriptwriters will need to educate themselves to plausible uses of radio frequency technology.

US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered one of his fearsome talks today at the Italian-American club. If what he's saying bears out, the labour force is not growing at the rate it used to, especially amongst the female population. He did say, though, that improvements in SCM (Supply Chain Management) are helping maintain/increasing productivity for the time being.

I'm reading between the lines here and guessing that he's referring to radio frequency technology. Even if that's correct, there will still be a shortage of skilled workers that have an understanding of RFID - even more so if the workforce size is not growing. Fortunately, the number of organizations offering RFID training is growing.

A large UK grocery distributor, Nisa-Today's, is using RFID-enabled resuable electronic seals on their trailers as an increased security measure. The seals, whenever they're closed, record a random four-digit number as well as the date and time. The use of a random number ensures that, should a seal be opened and re-closed, there will be evidence of it. That is, if a trailer comes into the holding yard and the seal is closed, tampering will generate new random numbers, which obviously will not match the initial number stored. Yard operators can retrieve this information via an interrogator at the gatehouse or around the yard.

While there are other companies, such CN Railways, using RFID to manage shipping trailers (train or truck), only a few are likely using electronic seals. Though this is such an innovative use of raadio frequency technology, and the resulting ROI (return on investment) is high enough that we're likely to see more use of such systems.

While RFID is expected to create many jobs and opportunities, this isn't the first time that people have predicted that the use of RFID in the enterprise may affect jobs, namely the loss of them. There are other concerns, such as employees will be affected by process. Amid concerns about how RFID and employees in the retail sector, the ILO (International Labour Organization) met in Geneva earlier this year to discuss the issues. Two reports resulted, one entitled (PDF, 60 pgs). [via The RFID Weblog]

The latter report is split up into 7 main sections:

1. Retail trade: Characteristics, trends and prospects
2. Retail trade: Regional overview
3. Technology and supply chain management
4. Radio frequency identification
5. RFID and commerce
6. Social and labour implications
7. Social dialogue

Regions analyzed include the US and North America, the European Union and other parts of Europe, Japan and other Asian countries, and Africa and the Middle East. Included in the report is a discussion of the benefits of RFID, both in pallet-level and case-level tagging, as well as how RFID affects workflow processes.

While the report says that some jobs may be lost, employees could be trained for customer service work. I find this hard to accept, as not everyone is cut out for customer service. Since RFID will make business process workflow more efficient, it's likely that labor needs will be reduced. There will be a shortage of skilled workers in relation to RFID, so employers considering a switch to RFID should consider in advance where they may want to reposition to-be-affected employees, if at all. Retraining may have to be part of the process, which will potentially cut into any profits gained from the use of radio frequency technology - something to be considered.

The versatility of smartphones as a consumer tool might escape you consciously until someone spells it out. The fact is that with the right modules (sometimes native, sometimes plug-in), a smart phone or PDA can read barcodes, download video + audio clips from a Bluetooth enabled movie poster, be used to renew special parking meters, secure a hotel room and store a digital room key, function as a loyalty card + coupon generator, pay for movie tickets, buy items from a vending machine, function as a POS (point of sale) unit and, as a result a CRM (consumer relationship management) device.

And there's more functionality, most of which is enabled by radio frequency technology. Storefront Backtalk has a write up about actual case studies. ZDNet UK talks about how mobile operators are pushing for RFID in phones, to the point of willing to work together to achieve this goal. As such, the mobile RFID solutions market is expected to heat up.

Ireland's 18M Euro Fingerprint System
The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service are spending 18M euros for an electronic fingerprint system. Called AFIS, the system will take nearly 18 months to be developed. Biometrics techniques will be used on asylum seekers and non-EEA (European Economic Area) nationals to ensure that they are not lawbreakers elsewhere. [via Silicon Republic]

Online RFID E-learning Program
Abhisam Software offers an online RFID training program for a cost of US$99. This is a supplement to their US$399 CD-based program. The course outline contains discussions of basic concepts, the physics of RFID, RFID systems, middleware, applications, security, and privacy. More details about the course's contents here. [via Processing Talk]

Active RFID Summit
Lost or stolen product costs European distribution centers as much as US$24B annually. Active RFID has the potential to help reduce such undesirable operating costs. This was the focus of the Active RFID Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, recently - an event hosted by IDTechEx. Circuits Assembly has a synopsis of the event.

RFID Mirrors
A new mirror from Paxar for the retail clothing industry uses RFID technology to help customers learn more about a particular item of clothing, including garment descriptions and suggestions for matching items and accessories. Touching the mirror will also signal sales staff that a customer needs assistance. [via The Retail Bulletin]

RFID + Parking
"Meter maids" are getting help with the out of control parking situation in South Korea thanks to RFID tags on every car. Handheld readers would scan car tags to determine if a particular car is allowed in the city on a given day, and a fine issued if not. [via PSFK]

Managing RFID Adoption
Line56 has a three-page article outlining how to break RFID adoption into five stages, to more easily understand what your returns might be, as well as how process workflow might be impacted. The five stages they discuss are Creep, Crawl, Walk, Run, and Sprint - the latter of which includes actual implementation. I've only scanned the article but it does appear to have some generalized value for a manager researching how to go about RFID implentation for their company.

RFID In The Beef Industry
A Canadian beef producer is using RFID to track product through their processing plant. The intent is to be able to any part of any butchered animal, should the Canadian Food Inspection Agency wish it. The system they are using, which has both supply chain and cold chain management features, was designed and installed by Merit-Trax Technologies and Psion Teklogix. [via RFID Journal]

MicroTRAKgps JaguarWatch
The classic Jaguar automobile is one of those commands a high-price, whether sold legitimately or on the "street". To prevent the latter, MicroTRAKgps has introduced its JaguarWatch Auto Theft Recovery System. MicroTRAKgps is a division of The Tracking Corporation, who make GPS and RFID
products. MicroTRAKgps was awarded a patent for their hybrid technology. Jaguar cargo containers are also tracked with hybrid RFID and GPS tech from Savi Networks.

RFID Is Red Hot: Top 10 Countries
IDTechEx has reported their findings about the top 10 hot countries for RFID. Number 1 is the US, in terms of adoption of the technology, followed by the UK, Japan, German, China. Canada is the last of the top 10.

During American Thanksgiving today, CNBC TV is running a long segment on "Big Brother" and surveillance societies. If you haven't seen it, there may be reruns later. Or check their website.

What I'm watching right now is a segment on the implanting of RFID chips into humans. One small company in the US supposedly made their employees get microchip implants. The representative that CNBC interviewed said, and I quote, "It's not Big Brotherish." No, of course not. Thank goodness that some US states such as Wisconsin have signed a law banning forced microchipping.

And of course what would a segment about RFID be without interviewing Scott Silverman, CEO of VeriChip's parent company. My interpretation of what he said was a skirt around the answer he should have given and instead said there was no tracking ability, or some such - using his hands to make "quote marks".

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You can feel free to blast me, but I will never be convinced that implanted RFID is anything but Big Brotherish, despite my respect for RFID for "legitimate" uses. I've highlighted my reasoning, with facts, many times here. The people who've willingly implanted themselves have their own reasoning, and that's fine with me. In that sense, it's no different than a tattoo or a piercing (of which I have both) or other willing body modifications. My beef is with people like Silverman who are trying to force implantation on certain groups of people and then suggesting there's nothing wrong with it, and that privacy is not being violated.

Imagine you are in a group of tired, chained beasts pulling a wagon and being whipped if you stop. That's what I imagine some suppliers to Wal-Mart, the US DoD (Dept of Defense), and other influential organizations may feel regarding RFID mandates. The latter organizations are seeing (or claiming) a high ROI (return on investment) on RFID implementation, the suppliers they have mandated to join the RFID club have not seen similar returns.

It's easy to say suppliers see no incentive for implementing the technology, but no doubt some of them feel that they might as well go out of business if they don't accomodate retail giants such as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has also indicated that, aside from helping prepare their suppliers to be compliant, companies have to find their own ROI in RFID. Which I think might be part of the problem of adoption.

As I haven't seen the balance sheets for any of these companies, I'm hypothesizing. Wal-Mart may have an "economies of scale" advantage over their suppliers in terms of cost of radio frequency technology. Though I'll admit I'm not sure whether Wal-Mart sources RFID technology for their suppliers, but I doubt it. That would mean, then, that suppliers pay higher prices for the same technology and likely cannot have the same type of ROI.

Even if Wal-Mart had a "Sam's Club" for RF tech for their suppliers, the latter are still at a disadvantage because implementing radio frequency technology cuts into heavily into the bottom line of smallest suppliers, who are already supply on slim margins for the bargain atmosphere of Wal-Mart. Where's the ROI in this scenario? Such a cost means bottlenecks in implementation.