Manufacturing NEWS
Text size:
T
T
T
U.K. Seal Maker Puts RFID to the Test
AESSEAL delayed using RFID, in part, because the company was concerned with IP infringements, Welsh says. When the manufacturer first investigated RFID technology in 2003, he adds, "we uncovered a family of patents held by 3M." Those patents seemed "to cover the use of RFID technology in a system that takes data from an RFID reader and writes it to a database. We raised our concerns with a number of different parties, including industry consultants, global corporations and the patent holders, but failed to reach a consensus as to the validity of these patents."
AESSEAL revisited the situation in 2006, Welsh says, and contacted GS1 UK. After a series of meetings and phone calls, he says, the organization "have given adequate assurance that the situation regarding RFID technology has changed, and that providing we adhere to EPCglobal standards, we will not infringe any intellectual property." Furthermore, at an RFID forum in London held in late 2006, Welsh says he attended a meeting and spoke with GS1 UK regarding RFID options. That meeting convinced him RFID was more than just hype. Indeed, he says, GS1 UK discussed plans for its new test center at that meeting, and AESSEAL scheduled a time to begin testing RFID tags in a scenario simulating its operations.
During testing, Welsh says, AESSEAL affixed RFID tags to "lumps of metal" similar to the seals the company ships. The lumps were packed into cardboard containers, and researchers at the center pushed stacks of the boxed products on hand pallets through a series of RFID portals built to resemble typical bays. "In addition to testing the speed and accuracy of the read, we also tested the direction [into or out of the warehouse]," he says, noting that all the reads were 100 percent accurate.
According to Welsh, the laboratory environment was similar to that in which AESSEAL products travel. "It's cold there," he says. "They have liquids, metal; they use real products—it makes it easier to visualize how it would work in our warehouse."
Testing included running simulated products past readers for about two hours. "We did try and break the system by going faster or slower," Welsh says, "and by scanning the same items to try and get duplication—but we could not break the system."
The test center's objective is to assist operational and technical teams of U.K.-based companies to find the best method for achieving the performance they require from RFID, says David Lyon, EPCglobal UK's business manager. "The center will help any organization from any industry deploy RFID in its business in the most effective way," Lyon states.
more Manufacturing articles
AESSEAL revisited the situation in 2006, Welsh says, and contacted GS1 UK. After a series of meetings and phone calls, he says, the organization "have given adequate assurance that the situation regarding RFID technology has changed, and that providing we adhere to EPCglobal standards, we will not infringe any intellectual property." Furthermore, at an RFID forum in London held in late 2006, Welsh says he attended a meeting and spoke with GS1 UK regarding RFID options. That meeting convinced him RFID was more than just hype. Indeed, he says, GS1 UK discussed plans for its new test center at that meeting, and AESSEAL scheduled a time to begin testing RFID tags in a scenario simulating its operations.
During testing, Welsh says, AESSEAL affixed RFID tags to "lumps of metal" similar to the seals the company ships. The lumps were packed into cardboard containers, and researchers at the center pushed stacks of the boxed products on hand pallets through a series of RFID portals built to resemble typical bays. "In addition to testing the speed and accuracy of the read, we also tested the direction [into or out of the warehouse]," he says, noting that all the reads were 100 percent accurate.
According to Welsh, the laboratory environment was similar to that in which AESSEAL products travel. "It's cold there," he says. "They have liquids, metal; they use real products—it makes it easier to visualize how it would work in our warehouse."
Testing included running simulated products past readers for about two hours. "We did try and break the system by going faster or slower," Welsh says, "and by scanning the same items to try and get duplication—but we could not break the system."
The test center's objective is to assist operational and technical teams of U.K.-based companies to find the best method for achieving the performance they require from RFID, says David Lyon, EPCglobal UK's business manager. "The center will help any organization from any industry deploy RFID in its business in the most effective way," Lyon states.
