Metro adds 70 Asian suppliers to Tag It Easy; CISC Semiconductor intros RFID tag emulation tool; AIM Global kicks off campaign to educate public about RFID’s benefits; Time Domain launches partner program for real-time location system; Ekahau upgrades tool to simplify Wi-Fi network creation, management; NXP, Sony unveil Moversa, a joint NFC venture; System Planning Corp. debuts RFID/sensor system for pharma shipments.
Finnish apparel firm NP Collection reports that it expects full ROI in less than six months for its 80,000-item garment tagging program. The payback comes from reduced out-of-stocks and improved replenishment at retail, and streamlined operations in the supply chain. The company plans major system expansion in 2008.
Impinj demonstrated a new tag commissioning station that pharmaceutical manufacturers can use to simultaneously encode EPC numbers on dozens of individual products packed in a case. The system lets encoding be done away from a high-speed production line and is marketed as a solution for meeting serialization requirements.
The European consortium’s goal is to enable companies to remotely monitor the shelf life of refrigerated goods based on temperature exposure during shipment.
A U.S. fruit and vegetable supplier is employing EPC tags and interrogators to track its products as they are harvested, processed and transported to retailers, and to trace them back to the source in the event of a recall.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center is adopting a system that uses ZigBee-based RFID tags, rather than Wi-Fi access points, to keep better tabs on valuable assets.
AIM Global, a trade association representing RFID and other industries, announced its new campaign, a PR and outreach campaign to raise public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of RFID.
Englewood Hospital requires staff to use RFID-enabled identity badges to access the institution’s computers and applications.
Kovio says it expects to create printed-silicon high-frequency RFID chips by the end of 2008, paving the way for low-cost tags.
TAGSYS introduced a new 13.56 MHz high frequency RFID reader and related services based on the EPCglobal HF Gen2 draft specification. TAGSYS says the products can be easily upgraded to support the forthcoming standard, which is expected to be finalized in early 2008.
To help educate Canadian SMEs about how they can use RFID technologies to remain competitive, the provincial government is sponsoring a preconference seminar, “RFID Technology: Small Investment for Big Benefits,” at RFID Journal LIVE! Canada 2007.
Ruggedized EPC Gen 2 tags are mixed with piles of ore that are crushed and dumped into railcars, so that mills can identify the ore’s grade.