Feb 14, 2005This article was originally published by RFID Update.
February 14, 2005—Conglomerate Siemens is hoping to establish itself as a major contender in the RFID space this year. It will officially release a GEN 2 compliant tag and reader, which it is already testing with over 10 customers. It will also RFID enable the existing application suites Warehouse Control System and Material Flow Control System. The angle is to offer more than mere data-processing middleware. The applications will handle process automation too, in which flow control errors are not only recognized, they are corrected in real time. If goods are misrouted in a warehouse, for example, the software will direct the warehouse employee to reroute them to the correct destination.
Perhaps the company's most intriguing plans include its goal of polymer-based RFID tags by 2008. We reported in January that PolyIC, a joint venture between Siemens and hot stamping technology supplier KURZ, had made serious gains in the development of just such a tag. Polymer tags would be considerably cheaper to produce than the silicon-based tags of today, so if PolyIC is successful, Siemens may gain access to penny tags. Tag manufacturers, watch out.
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