RFID Gazette

The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) recently released a 150+ page PDF report that details some of the security risks of using RFID in a supply chain. Said Robert C. Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology:

RFID tags, commonly referred to as smart tags, have the ability to improve logistics, profoundly change cost structures for business, and improve the current levels of safety and authenticity of the international pharmaceutical supply chain and many other industries. This important report lays the foundation for addressing potential RFID security risks so that a thoughtful enterprise can launch a smart tag program with confidence.

The report also suggests ways to get around the security risks. Download from NIST issues guidelines for ensuring RFID security. [via Extreme RFID]

What RFID Is Not
Spychips points to an AIM Global newsletter item that kills some so-called RFID truths. Keep in mind that AIM Global is an important  RFID international standards body with very well-placed industry people in its membership list. They list 6 RFID myths, amongst them: that RFID is secure and no threat to privacy.

Calling Occupants... Of Interplanetary Craft
[with apologies to Klaatu] RFID is an ideal technology for the supply chain, regardless of what kind of industry. Most of the time, location is not a barrier, either. As such, RFID could be useful for the interplanetary supply chain that NASA is setting up for the planned Moon base for 2020, and crewed missions to Mars. New Scientist Space has more details, though RFID is not mentioned in the article.

RFID Industry Mergers
PanGo networks and InnerWireless have announced a merger. The two companies had been working on an asset tracking project together for a joint customer, a hospital. [via RFID Update]

NEC Corp and Toyo Seikan Kaisha, Ltd., both in Japan, have developed a plastic bottle cap with an embedded passive RFID chip. The cap could be used by soft drink manufacturers for the supply chain. It's design is said to be able to avoid any internal moisture, which would normally render the chip useless. [via RFID Weblog]

An alternative might be to use something like the edible RFID chip that Kodak recently debuted. There's also no reason the chip has to be on the inside of the bottle, where the moisture is. A second, hidden layer at the top of cap could hold one of the tiny powder RFID chips that Hitachi created.

Computer World has a series of recent articles focusing on Wal-Mart's RFID efforts. First and foremost, Wal-Mart has shifted their efforts towards stores .

This shift is due to an acknowledgement that they've missed their own goal of installing RFID in at least 12 of its 137 distribution centers by last year. Second, despite the fact that many small Wal-Mart suppliers have had trouble finding an ROI (return on investment) in implementing RFID in their supply chain, Procter & Gamble has found .

Now, it should be pointed out that not only was P&G one of the first 100 Wal-Mart suppliers to implement RFID, they're also a giant company themselves. Their ROI in RFID can be realized in volume transactions - something small suppliers just cannot accomplish.

While it'd be nice to think/ hope otherwise, the evidence so far, plus statements from some smaller suppliers, suggests that compliance with Wal-Mart's RFID initiative is hurting them. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart is still promoting RFID adoption.

Big In Japan
McDonald's restaraunts in Japan will allow customers, later this year, to using NFC-enabled mobile phones. (Nokia is one company that has already rolled out NFC phones to be used for payments.)

Hyundai Adopts RFID
Hyundai-Kia Motors is implementing RFID in their Supply Chain to collect real-time distribution information. They are moving from applied bar code labels. They'll be using UPM Raflatac tags.

Dallas Newspaper To Use RFID
The Dallas Morning News will be the first newsaper to use the RFID-enabled Smart Cart system from Cannon Equipment. The system helps to track cart shipments.

Hitachi recently came up with tiny "powder" RFID chips. Well tiny's fine, but what if you want to eat your chips? You're in luck. Kodak just filed a patent for edible RFID chips. They're designed for monitoring a patient's gastric tract and are covered in a harmless gelatin, which eventually dissolves.

What's more important than that they can be ingested is that these prove that RFID chips embedded deep in the body can be read by a scanner. But Kodak is also saying that pills could be manufactured with these chips inside them, so that doctors or nurses can confirm a patient took them.

While this might seem a bit scary, they might possibly be used for early-stage Alzheimer patients that are still living by themselves. Because of their use, however, these chips would (hopefully) not be used for food supply chain management. My question, though, is what is Kodak, a maker of photography products, doing coming up with such a chip?

I doubt even a "little" thing such as supplier revolt will divert the steamroller known as Wal-Mart from pushing their RFID program forward. While suppliers probably aren't at the revolt stage yet, it does appear that they're not thrilled but afraid to criticize. And they have yet to find an ROI (return on investment), mainly because Wal-Mart declared last year that suppliers had to not only comply but had to find their own ROI. Wal-Mart wouldn't help.

That's a huge mistake, as far as I'm concerned. Instead of acting like a dictatorial government and holding threats of financial ruin over every supplier's head, they could have taking their integration sessions a bit further and nudged suppliers along with advice. Sure they're in business to make money. So charge for it then and stop being doofuses. I can't see Wal-Mart bartering, but you never know. For financially -strapped suppliers, Wal-Mart could consider product in exchange for some help finding ways to make RFID work for individual suppliers.

Ultimately, helping their suppliers find the ROI is a much wiser course of action that would help RFID take a better toehold in the supply chain. Not doing so suggests that Wal-Mart doesn't really care about anything but their bottom line - which is already the perception people in small towns have, where the retail giant has displaced mom and pop stores.

Avery Dennison, who have put around US$175M into all Chinese operations since 1995, recently announced RFID technology transfer initiatives in that country, with total expenditures to total over $275M by 2010. Previous efforts include setting up the Avery Dennison Self Adhesive Label Converting College in Kunshan, China, in 2000. Imagine that school name on college jackets.

Avery Dennison created their RFID division in 2004, adding RFID systems, Gen2 inlays and wireless compact flash cards amongst their offerings. They later implemented a Qualified Converter program to certify partner companies. With their their Chinese RFID initiative, they are hoping to capture some of the 5.0+ Bln Yuan expected to be spent in China on RFID by 2009.

additional sources: China RFID News.

Is this a great idea or what? Faced with the future shortage of skilled workers in the RFID industry, Academia and a group of skilled professionals are offering certification courses at newly-opened training centers in the larger cities in Canada. This includes Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver, Quebec City and a few others. Basically, if there's a professional sports team (hockey, basketball, baseball), there's a training center in that city.

Head office in Montreal has both a classroom and a state-of-the art lab. The courses are part of the CompTIA program, which includes certification. And it's not just technical courses but also RFID Project Management. Some RFID vendors are offering courses to their clients as a result of the program. This is a brilliant idea that I hope catches on elsewhere, especially in the USA, where the shortage of skilled workers could affect the supply chain.

[sources: RFID News]

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.