RFID going mobile
By outfitting stretchwrappers and lift trucks with RFID readers, the technology is moving deeper into the warehouse and factory.
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/20/2006
The last year has seen a major shift in thinking about RFID. Call it the end of the slap and ship era and the beginning of mobile RFID.
“The big change is that slapping an RFID tag on a carton or pallet to meet a mandate is no longer the target application,” says Justin Hotard, director of product management for Symbol. “Customers are now focused on how to get greater productivity and visibility with this technology.”
Enter mobile RFID. That’s moving RFID readers to new locations besides the shipping dock in order to get reads at other critical points in the warehouse and factory.
Two examples from the floor
1. Symbol and LXE have mounted RFID readers on lift trucks. That allows a user to read a tag and capture information anywhere a lift truck goes.
2. Lantech recently introduced stretchwrap systems with RFID readers mounted on the stretch wrap masts.
The rationale for mobile RFID is simple: “If I mount an RFID reader on a dock door, I know that a pallet has entered or left the building but not much else,” says Dick Sorenson, director of RFID products for LXE. “If I mount it on a lift truck, I can read a tag and identify the location of a pallet anywhere in the facility.”
And by mounting an RFID reader on a stretchwrapper, a distributor or manufacturer can verify the load as it rotates on the turntable and address exceptions before a pallet gets to the dock.
Technology aside, the larger point is that mobile RFID is process-focused.
“People are getting interested in RFID so they can improve their processes and not because a retailer has told them to do it,” says Hotard. “That’s great news for RFID.”
RFID goes mobile
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