Internorm Finds RFID Does Windows

About 40 trucks that make regular deliveries for Internorm also carry the semi-passive tags. When the trucks approach the gate, the interrogator excites the tags attached to the truck and the container. The tags then transmit their unique ID numbers—the only information saved on them. When the ID numbers are recognized by the database at the gate, the gate arm raises and the system records the arrival or departure of a load and particular truck. The gate computer then updates Internorm's logistics software regarding the goods' whereabouts.

When Internorm installed the system in 2000, the read distances for passive tags then on the market were only about half a meter, which was insufficient for the application. Therefore, the company opted to employ semi-passive tags. Although the firm has never calculated an ROI, Stroh estimates it has saved substantially on labor.

Internorm plans to continue using RFID, but says it can no longer purchase replacement tags for the original system. It requires approximately 60 new tags per year, since the batteries in a number of old tags are almost depleted, and it frequently needs to tag new containers put into circulation. The company is presently in negotiations with two suppliers of a new system using passive EPC Gen 2 tags.

Internorm has not yet tested any EPC Gen 2 tags or readers. Instead, the company says, the vendor it selects will install and test the system. Once the system's read rates have proven acceptable, Internorm intends to purchase it. By May of this year, the firm expects that it will rip out its eight-year-old RFID hardware and replace it with the new EPC Gen 2 system. Internorm estimates it will cost less than €50,000 ($74,000) to make the switch, including all necessary interrogators, tags and software. The company plans to utilize the new system in the same way it uses the current one.

Given its positive experience with RFID, Internorm says it plans to extend its use of the technology to its manufacturing processes within the next 10 years. The company envisions storing production information on passive RFID tags, but has not further defined specifications at this stage. The tags, expected to remain attached to doors and windows for decades, would allow for better quality-control checks during production, and would ease the job of repair workers. If glass for a window frame needs to be reordered, an employee carrying a mobile RFID reader could extract the original production information from the tag and put in an automatic order for the part.