I am sometimes asked, usually by a person working for many years at a company that sells radio frequency identification technology, if I ever get tired of the grind, if I ever think about tossing in the towel and maybe starting a website to cover, say, the sailboat industry. I tell them I have never even remotely considered the option of doing something else. The truth is, I love my job. I love covering the advances that are being made in RFID technology, and I especially enjoy writing about how businesses are employing RFID to improve the way they do business.
This time of year is particularly exciting, because this is when companies submit their RFID projects for the RFID Journal Awards. I get to learn about some great new projects that have not yet been covered on the RFID Journal website or in our digital magazine, and that just makes all the hard work seem well worthwhile.
Last year, for example, Infinite Biomedical Technologies won the award for Most Innovative use of RFID (see RFID Helps Amputees Manipulate Prosthetic Hands). The company developed a prosthetic limb that uses a sensor to convert muscle movements to electrical signals to open and close a robotic hand and vary grips. But switching from one mode to another—say, from picking up a glass to carrying a briefcase—was difficult. Infinite Biomedical solved that problem via RFID.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical won last year’s Best RFID Implementation award for an automated picking and shipping system (see RFID Makes Order Out of Chaotic Distribution Chain). The year prior, we honored Cisco for a system of managing IT assets at data centers worldwide, which saved the company time and money (see Cisco’s Business-Driven RFID Strategy).
I love covering these projects and many others that have been recognized since we introduced the awards in 2007. And I enjoy meeting the people who worked behind the scenes to deploy these RFID systems. There are many dedicated individuals who often take on RFID projects in addition to their regular jobs. They are so committed to achieving excellence that they get the projects done and create value for their companies.
It is often very difficult to choose just one outstanding project in each category. For the past few years, we have been selecting three finalists from each category and then announcing the winners at our RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition. Last year, we invited all finalists to present their projects at the event, and we’ll be doing that again this year, so you can learn from each great project. What’s more, for the first time, we will be giving a crystal award (which you can see here: Honoring Excellence) to the runners-up, not just to the finalists.
If you have been working long hours on an RFID project that is up and running, and is doing everything your firm hoped it would do—and perhaps more—then I encourage you to submit it for an award. You and your company deserve to be recognized for your achievements. I look forward to reading about your project, and I know our readers do, too.
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, the Editor’s Note archive or RFID Connect.