RFID more affordable for MH

With recent developments in active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), the materials handling world will finally be able to share some of the benefits of applying Real Time Location Systems (RTLS).

By Allison Manning, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 7/31/2008

The active RFID business is being given a boost by a military order worth $475 million. It’s giving technology vendors incentives to create better technology with more range and uses and allowing it to be provided on a much wider scale. As a result, the market for RTLS is projected to grow from $145 million today to $2.7 billion in the next ten years, according to IDTechEx chairman Peter Harrop. 

Active RFID includes a battery and uses that power to transmit its signal, giving it longer ranges. Less expensive passive RFID has a limited read range and uses energy from a RFID reader to power its transmissions. With active RFID, constant monitoring and tracking, depending on the type of technology, is possible at all times and locations.

Harrop said RTLS will be affordable even for small and medium enterprises. More companies will be able to track shipments and locate equipment, improving customer relations and smoothing out wrinkles in the supply chain.

Constant security will also be possible.

“Even fairly low cost assets will be ‘ring fenced’ so they trip alarms if they are removed without authorization from a predetermined area,” he said.

RedPrarie Corporation has launched a new system, which supports the use of RFID, to unify supply chain processes, making it easier to maintain the condition and status of particular assets and track movements to and from suppliers.

Larger enterprises with bigger budgets will be able to utilize tags with sensing, which will initiate a warning if something is amiss, such as overheated or damaged goods. 

For personnel, RTLS can improve safety, giving staff an alarm button on a badge or pendant for locating them quickly in an emergency.

More suppliers and more study will allow pricier technologies to cost less while increasing accuracy and allowing much smaller or more valuable items to be tracked. 

“For materials handling, the bottom line is better customer service, safety, security and cost,” Harrop said. 

In addition to the direct benefits in tracking for the company, consequential benefits exist as well, including less road congestion and pollution from reducing unnecessary transportation when the wrong items are shipped.