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SkyeTek Offers Web-based RFID Software Platform
In the past six to 12 months SkyeTek has provided the MetaFi solution to several companies, including a medical device manufacturer, a provider of consumer electronics and a large beer company.
The medical device manufacturer, which was already using SkyeTek interrogators, uses the system to track its implantable products in the health-care facilities where they are used. The sales representatives, says Martin Payne, SkyeTek's senior vice president of marketing and strategy, are highly skilled and highly compensated professionals with medical training and who often go into the operating room to guide surgeons as they implant the company's devices. Before installing the RFID system MetaFi, Payne says, sales representatives could spend many hours each week simply going through the shelves and ensuring that products are in stock.
"Sales reps end up spending more time counting inventory when they should be selling products," Payne says. This can lead to billing inaccuracies, as well as inventory shortages, he says. After tagging and tracking their products, however, the company still needed a software system to analyze data from RFID reads. With MetaFi, the sales reps—who use handheld readers, tethered to cell phones with a Bluetooth connection, to scan a shelf and collect data about inventory stock—have access to business analytics including alerts if, for example, items are reaching their expiration date, or instructions to restock a specific location.
A consumer electronics manufacturer is using MetaFi to track its products in stores with an RFID smart display that provides it with hourly updates as to which items are on the shelf and which have been removed, again allowing the company to receive alerts when specific items are removed and need to be restocked. This is a new application for the electronics manufacturer, says Payne, and the company purchased SkyeTek interrogators and tags along with the MetaFi service.
The beer manufacturer, like the medical device manufacturer, had already been using SkyeTek readers. The RFID modules were integrated with flow monitors, known as "smart dispensers," to track beer pours. The MetaFi service enables the company to determine when it needs to deliver more product based on read events, thereby reducing unnecessary deliveries, as well as out-of-stocks.
The MetaFi service costs about $150 to $200 per month, says Balgley, in addition to interrogators and tags. The company expects its existing customers to adopt the MetaFi service, while other new customers can purchase the SkyeTek readers or use third-party readers with the system. For most users, Payne says, the system can be fully operational within weeks. He predicts that most customers who invest in new interrogators and tags along with the MetaFi service will gain an ROI in less than six months.
On Aug. 27, SkyeTek will hold a webinar on field-based inventory-tracking systems such as this. To sign up for webinar, titled "Real-time Visibility of Mobile Inventory, Assets and Field-based Employees Using RFID," please click here.
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The medical device manufacturer, which was already using SkyeTek interrogators, uses the system to track its implantable products in the health-care facilities where they are used. The sales representatives, says Martin Payne, SkyeTek's senior vice president of marketing and strategy, are highly skilled and highly compensated professionals with medical training and who often go into the operating room to guide surgeons as they implant the company's devices. Before installing the RFID system MetaFi, Payne says, sales representatives could spend many hours each week simply going through the shelves and ensuring that products are in stock.
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| SkyeTek's chairman and CEO, Rob Balgley |
A consumer electronics manufacturer is using MetaFi to track its products in stores with an RFID smart display that provides it with hourly updates as to which items are on the shelf and which have been removed, again allowing the company to receive alerts when specific items are removed and need to be restocked. This is a new application for the electronics manufacturer, says Payne, and the company purchased SkyeTek interrogators and tags along with the MetaFi service.
The beer manufacturer, like the medical device manufacturer, had already been using SkyeTek readers. The RFID modules were integrated with flow monitors, known as "smart dispensers," to track beer pours. The MetaFi service enables the company to determine when it needs to deliver more product based on read events, thereby reducing unnecessary deliveries, as well as out-of-stocks.
On Aug. 27, SkyeTek will hold a webinar on field-based inventory-tracking systems such as this. To sign up for webinar, titled "Real-time Visibility of Mobile Inventory, Assets and Field-based Employees Using RFID," please click here.
