RFID is a lot like exercise. To get the most out of both, you need to be active.

What does that mean? Thanks to Wal-Mart, consultants, vendors and the business press have focused their resources on supply chain solutions using low-cost, one-time use passive RFID tags.

Those solutions may eventually provide a return on investment. But it hasn't happened yet, at least that anyone is publicly saying.

Meanwhile, a number of manufacturing and logistics end users have found an ROI now. But instead of low-cost RFID tags, they are implementing more expensive but reusable active RFID tags to track mobile assets, such as returnable containers and pallets, high-value inventory and work-in-process.

Instead of managing those assets across an entire supply chain, mobile asset management solutions focus on tracking goods inside a facility, in the yard and dock, or at a port. Another focus is a closed loop between a manufacturing plant and distribution center, for instance.

Despite proven success, mobile asset management solutions have played second fiddle to broader supply chain applications. "Part of the reason is that these solve every day industrial problems," says Matt Armanino, senior vice president of corporate development for WhereNet (800-490-2261). "It's just not as sexy as the idea of an RFID network that can change the world."

Those modest ambitions may be the reason solutions using reusable active tags are less costly to justify, implement and operate. For instance, RFID solutions that track mobile assets don't need the cooperation of every player in the supply chain to deliver on the value proposition. That's a big advantage.

"At the end of the day, these are real-time decision support systems," Armanino says. "They allow a user to physically connect enterprise applications, like a warehouse management or ERP system to assets and a mobile resource in real time."

Mobile resource management with the use of active RFID tags is not a new technology, says John Hill, a principal with ESYNC (419-842-2210). Automakers have been using it since the mid-'80s to track work-in-process. There is, however, renewed interest in active RFID. In fact, Hill credits Wal-Mart with bringing that interest about. "One of the unintended consequences of its initiative is that end users are re-discovering this other world of RFID," Hill says.

There are a number of advantages to asset tracking.

For one, the signal is boosted by a battery, providing a much greater read range and a higher frequency.

"You can get read ranges of over 300 feet using active tags, which is ideal for applications like tracking shipping containers in a seaport," says Mark Nelson, director, corporate communications, Savi Technology (408-743-8000).

The more powerful signal also allows these tags to overcome some of the technical issues associated with retail supply chain solutions, like getting accurate reads around metal and liquids.

Active RFID will also work in applications where bar codes won't, like hazardous environments or applications where line of sight isn't possible. "The classic example is an automobile body traveling through a paint oven where the temperature is upwards of 400 degrees," says Bradley Tood, marketing manager, Escort Memory Systems (831-438-7000). "A bar code would get painted over. An RFID tag can withstand the heat and get reused."

Gaining real-time tracking also reduces the amount of loss associated with reusable containers, as well as high-value inventory. "We're working with an end user that does the post-production processing of a film before it goes out to the public," says Marlo Brooks, president, Avatar Partners (949-622-5557). "They might have the media for a film in their offices for a year or more. They have to know where it is at all times."

There are drawbacks. For instance, the tags are considerably more expensive than passive tags. In the right application, however, that cost can be spread out over hundreds, if not thousands, of uses. "We had a customer tracking containers that went through a sterilization process," says Dan Bodnar, director of RFID products, Intermec (800-755-5505). "There is a labor savings from not having to re-apply a bar code after every trip. And because they are able to use the tag over and over, the cost per trip is no more expensive than using a bar code label."

The trick with using active tags for mobile resource management is to understand that no one technology is likely to solve all supply chain problems. Instead, a complete solution may be a hybrid approach that incorporates active and passive RFID tags, as well as bar codes, GPS and voice technology.

"I'm working with a Fortune 100 company right now whose stated goal is to eliminate all manual supply chain event recording," says Hill. "That's a long-term goal because it has a number of manufacturing plants and distribution channels. We've told them that the answer won't just be RFID, but also bar coding and whatever else is out there to help them do that."

Click on the icon to read about mobile resource management. (Humming along -  June 2004)