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Beyond The Supply Chain
The Value of RFID
Until recently, the main value of RFID resided in its ability to facilitate the transfer and sharing of the information it helps gather, improving, in turn, a number of business processes. Information has always been the single most important business driver—the more we know about what takes place at every level of the business, the better. The ability to access, aggregate, evaluate and collate the right data can, among other things, tell you which business decisions need to be made in order to optimize manufacturing processes, manage inventory, staff properly and streamline supply chain activities.
It is for these reasons that businesses most often deploy RFID-based solutions. RFID provides the information needed to make properly informed decisions that positively impact a business. The ability and ease with which RFID aggregates and communicates data makes it a most effective means to feed today's supply chain management and other business management systems. This is why Wal-Mart has undertaken its well-known RFID project, requiring suppliers—including Gillette, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft and other companies—to RFID-tag the cases and pallets they ship.
Beyond the Supply Chain
To move beyond asset management/inventory tracking/supply chain-type applications and fully prove its worth in industrial environments, RFID needs to work with a host of sensors, PLCs, I/O systems and controllers, wired and wireless data networks, protocols and software packages utilized in these settings. Imagine the possibilities of being able to associate the data contained in an RFID tag with that relating to the sensor and actuator interfaces of an I/O system or other industrial device. The key to such an accomplishment is to find a way for these industrial devices to communicate with RFID interrogators (readers).
To that end, many RFID interrogator manufacturers have moved beyond USB and Bluetooth connectivity, incorporating Ethernet ports on the devices they make. Intermec, Alien Technology and Symbol Technologies are just a few that offer hardware of this type. This Ethernet connectivity means a great deal, because it makes communicating RFID data to enterprise applications and databases running on PCs incredibly simple. Similarly, Ethernet-based controllers and I/O systems are able to provide these same PCs with important data relating to manufacturing machinery, utility equipment and the like.
Let's examine this point a bit more closely. Over the last 10 years, Ethernet networking has grown increasingly popular as a communications medium for industrial applications, largely due to the fact that Ethernet has the ability to reach beyond the plant floor. Indeed, Ethernet is already entrenched as the standard in most corporate business settings—that is, most corporations' entire networking infrastructures are Ethernet-based. Significantly, any industrial controllers, I/O systems, data acquisition systems and other devices with Ethernet connectivity can be recognized and function on these networks.
Suddenly, thanks to the Ethernet networking interface, you now have the ability to access the controllers operating the systems and equipment on your plant floor, and to send and receive production data, alarm messages and status information over that network to any database running on any computer or server. This is commonly referred to as PC-based control and data acquisition. So what we potentially have now in industrial settings is an RFID tag communicating to RFID interrogators, which send the data to a computer. We also have industrial equipment (manufacturing systems, utility systems, etc.) controlled and monitored by and communicating with industrial controllers, I/O and data acquisition systems. They, in turn, then communicate the data to computers.
Until recently, the main value of RFID resided in its ability to facilitate the transfer and sharing of the information it helps gather, improving, in turn, a number of business processes. Information has always been the single most important business driver—the more we know about what takes place at every level of the business, the better. The ability to access, aggregate, evaluate and collate the right data can, among other things, tell you which business decisions need to be made in order to optimize manufacturing processes, manage inventory, staff properly and streamline supply chain activities.
It is for these reasons that businesses most often deploy RFID-based solutions. RFID provides the information needed to make properly informed decisions that positively impact a business. The ability and ease with which RFID aggregates and communicates data makes it a most effective means to feed today's supply chain management and other business management systems. This is why Wal-Mart has undertaken its well-known RFID project, requiring suppliers—including Gillette, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft and other companies—to RFID-tag the cases and pallets they ship.
Beyond the Supply Chain
To move beyond asset management/inventory tracking/supply chain-type applications and fully prove its worth in industrial environments, RFID needs to work with a host of sensors, PLCs, I/O systems and controllers, wired and wireless data networks, protocols and software packages utilized in these settings. Imagine the possibilities of being able to associate the data contained in an RFID tag with that relating to the sensor and actuator interfaces of an I/O system or other industrial device. The key to such an accomplishment is to find a way for these industrial devices to communicate with RFID interrogators (readers).
To that end, many RFID interrogator manufacturers have moved beyond USB and Bluetooth connectivity, incorporating Ethernet ports on the devices they make. Intermec, Alien Technology and Symbol Technologies are just a few that offer hardware of this type. This Ethernet connectivity means a great deal, because it makes communicating RFID data to enterprise applications and databases running on PCs incredibly simple. Similarly, Ethernet-based controllers and I/O systems are able to provide these same PCs with important data relating to manufacturing machinery, utility equipment and the like.
Let's examine this point a bit more closely. Over the last 10 years, Ethernet networking has grown increasingly popular as a communications medium for industrial applications, largely due to the fact that Ethernet has the ability to reach beyond the plant floor. Indeed, Ethernet is already entrenched as the standard in most corporate business settings—that is, most corporations' entire networking infrastructures are Ethernet-based. Significantly, any industrial controllers, I/O systems, data acquisition systems and other devices with Ethernet connectivity can be recognized and function on these networks.
Suddenly, thanks to the Ethernet networking interface, you now have the ability to access the controllers operating the systems and equipment on your plant floor, and to send and receive production data, alarm messages and status information over that network to any database running on any computer or server. This is commonly referred to as PC-based control and data acquisition. So what we potentially have now in industrial settings is an RFID tag communicating to RFID interrogators, which send the data to a computer. We also have industrial equipment (manufacturing systems, utility systems, etc.) controlled and monitored by and communicating with industrial controllers, I/O and data acquisition systems. They, in turn, then communicate the data to computers.
