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Manufacturing EDITOR'S NOTE
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RFID Moves Beyond Tracking
Product differentiation is what the other case study I want to highlight is all about. It was a session in our pharmaceutical track, titled "LuproLink Case Study: Using RFID as a Product Differentiator." The presenter was Daniel J. Winters, senior project manager of Abbott, maker of Lupron Depot—a drug used to treat prostate cancer in men, as well as breast and ovarian cancer in women.
Lupron Depot is available in generic form, so it was becoming a commodity, and Abbott wanted to differentiate its version of the drug from the cheaper generics. To that end, Abbott worked with 3M Track and Trace to develop a system, known as LuproLink, that allows doctors and clinics to track the drugs and check their authenticity online. The drugs are tagged with high-frequency (HF) inlays from Texas Instruments, while 3M hosts the database.
During the pilot phase, Abbott asked the clinics how they were tracking their Lupron Depot inventory, and learned that in many cases, this was done manually, using pen and paper. 3M helped Abbott develop a very simple software program that the clinics could run on their own computers, to check inventory and order additional Lupron Depot when necessary. The system enables clinic operators to generate reports on inventory levels at one clinic, or across 20 satellite clinics around a city.
"You can double-check that you billed accurately for every injection you gave," Winters explained. "This is saving thousands of dollars per month [in lost revenue]. It eliminates business errors for big customers, and enables clinics to sort patients by who is due for their next injection, so they can be sent a reminder."
LuproLink has proved to be very popular with the clinics—and very successful for Abbott. In a survey conducted by Abbott, fully half of those using the system who responded said they were "extremely satisfied" with the RFID-enabled LuproLink system. Moreover, Abbott says, some clinics using competitive products are switching to Lupron Depot so they can take advantage of the system. As a result, Abbott has seen sales of Lupron Depot rise 3 to 4 percent over sales to customers that don't use LuproLink. The firm has been able to use RFID to differentiate its product, increase customer loyalty and stem the erosion of the drug's market share to cheaper generics.
There were many great case studies at LIVE! 2009, and I don't want to do a disservice to any of them. But these two highlighted the beginning of a trend toward employing RFID not just to track products and assets, but to add real value to existing products and services, or to differentiate them from competing offerings. In the years to come, I'm sure we'll see many other creative ways to use the technology at our RFID Journal LIVE! events.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or click here.
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Lupron Depot is available in generic form, so it was becoming a commodity, and Abbott wanted to differentiate its version of the drug from the cheaper generics. To that end, Abbott worked with 3M Track and Trace to develop a system, known as LuproLink, that allows doctors and clinics to track the drugs and check their authenticity online. The drugs are tagged with high-frequency (HF) inlays from Texas Instruments, while 3M hosts the database.
During the pilot phase, Abbott asked the clinics how they were tracking their Lupron Depot inventory, and learned that in many cases, this was done manually, using pen and paper. 3M helped Abbott develop a very simple software program that the clinics could run on their own computers, to check inventory and order additional Lupron Depot when necessary. The system enables clinic operators to generate reports on inventory levels at one clinic, or across 20 satellite clinics around a city.
"You can double-check that you billed accurately for every injection you gave," Winters explained. "This is saving thousands of dollars per month [in lost revenue]. It eliminates business errors for big customers, and enables clinics to sort patients by who is due for their next injection, so they can be sent a reminder."
There were many great case studies at LIVE! 2009, and I don't want to do a disservice to any of them. But these two highlighted the beginning of a trend toward employing RFID not just to track products and assets, but to add real value to existing products and services, or to differentiate them from competing offerings. In the years to come, I'm sure we'll see many other creative ways to use the technology at our RFID Journal LIVE! events.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or click here.
