RFID Journal has unveiled the finalists for its 2014 RFID Journal Awards. The winners will be announced at RFID Journal LIVE! 2014, the company’s 12th annual conference and exhibition, to be held at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Fla., on Apr. 8-10. All finalists will be invited to speak at the event, and the winners in each category, along with the finalists, will receive a prestigious crystal award.
“The scope of the deployments in this year’s submissions was truly impressive, showing that RFID has matured to the point that some companies are using it on a large scale,” said Mark Roberti, RFID Journal‘s founder and editor. “In fact, the field of award entries for Best RFID Implementation was so strong this year that, for the first time in the award’s eight-year history, we have decided to name four finalists. I have no doubt that attendees at LIVE! will benefit from hearing all of the finalists present their stories live on stage, and from viewing the new products featured in our Best in Show category.”
End-user companies were nominated in several categories:
Best RFID Implementation
• Marks & Spencer, for its use of item-level RFID to improve on-shelf availability at all of its stores (see Marks & Spencer Rolls Out RFID to All Its Stores)
• Bechtel, for its use of thousands of active RFID tags to manage materials for the construction of three mega-size industrial projects off the coast of Western Australia (see Bechtel Added to Keynote Lineup at RFID Journal LIVE! 2014)
• BP, for its use of passive RFID and hybrid GPS tags to track construction materials globally for a major capital project
• Colcafé, for an RFID system that provides increased visibility—from raw materials through production and storage to shipping
Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service
• Bombardier Transportation, for its PlatformSafe RFID solution that alerts personnel working near a railroad’s platforms to oncoming trains
• The City of Dayton, Ohio, for its use of RFID to identify which utility companies dug up and replaced asphalt in the city’s streets
• Hy-Vee Supermarkets, for its RFID sensors that monitor all temperature-sensitive goods, enabling the retailer to deliver the highest-quality products to its customers
Most Innovative Use of RFID
• Fukui Shell Nucleus Factory, for its system of authenticating pearls by embedding an RFID transponder in each gemstone’s nucleus (see Pearl Company Creates Authentication Solution)
• Skyview High School, for its use of a real-time location system and location-based messaging to improve the safety of school children in the event of an emergency (see Idaho School Installs RTLS to Make Students Safer)
• Snapsportz, for its use of RFID to link images with individual zipline riders in harsh outdoor environments
RFID Green Award
• Kentfa Advanced Technology, for an RFID system that enables scooter owners to exchange spent batteries for fully recharged ones (see Taiwan’s Electric Scooter Riders Get a Charge From RFID)
• Lassila & Tikanoja, for an RFID system that collects data about recycled glass volumes and enables it to be shared with stakeholders
• The Taiwan Fiscal Information Agency, for an RFID-based solution that eliminated more than 4 billion paper invoices in 2013 alone
This year, RFID Journal introduced a new award for the Best NFC Deployment, recognizing companies that are taking advantage of the unique characteristics of Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range form of RFID. The finalists for 2014 are:
• The GunBox, from RPH Engineering, for a system of locking firearms for safety and allowing owners to open the box using an NFC tag (see RFID News Roundup: RPH Engineering Unveils RFID-Enabled Gun Safe)
• Post Foods, for its use of NFC cards to engage customers and generate brand loyalty at a summer concert series (see At Miami Concert, NFC RFID Helps Post Foods Market Its Products)
• Zebra Technologies, for a solution that employs NFC technology to enable printer buyers to quickly access technical support documents
The judges also selected 10 technology providers that were nominated for the Best in Show award, which will be given to the best new product being exhibited at this year’s LIVE! event. The finalists are:
• HID Global, for its HID Trusted Tag platform, which can be embedded into a mobile phone, enabling authentication for “proof of presence” (see HID Global Offers Security for NFC)
• Farsens, for its Pyros ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) battery-free sensor that can record the temperatures of tagged products or assets
• The Hewlett-Packard Center of Excellence, for its automated rotating RFID portal that uploads data to the cloud
• Information Mediary Corp., for its Med-ic Smart Label, which addresses the problem of patient non-compliance with prescription medication, via the use of NFC technology
• Kathrein RFID, for its Kathrein Reader Antenna Interface (KRAI) technology and Smart Shelf system that can link 32 antennas to a single KRAI reader without a multiplexer (see RFID News Roundup: Kathrein RFID Unveils UHF Reader System With Dynamically Adjustable Antenna Polarization)
• Mojix, for its OmniSenseRF wide-area fixed RFID infrastructure for retail inventory tracking and management
• NXP Semiconductors, for its NTAG I2C (NFC Connected Tag), which offers both an NFC interface and an I2C connected interface, allowing the tag to communicate with the microcontrollers of other electronic devices
• Omni-ID, for its View 10 visual RFID tag, which stores a manufacturer’s build books and uses RFID location data to trigger instructions
• ThingMagic, for its Mercury xPRESS Platform, a complete hardware, software and reference design platform for the rapid development of low-cost, high-performance application-specific UHF RFID readers and embedded solutions
• Zebra Technologies, for its ZD500R compact UHF RFID printing and encoding solution (see Zebra Releases Small, Low-Cost RFID Printer-Encoder)
In addition, RFID Journal‘s editors will present the 2014 Special Achievement Award to Joe Andraski, the former president and CEO of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association (VICS)—which merged with GS1 US in 2012 (see GS1 and VICS to Merge)—for his support for and commitment to promoting RFID adoption at the item level in retail (see The RFID Industry Owes a Big Thanks to Joe Andraski).
LIVE! 2014 will also feature eight industry-specific and how-to conference tracks, eight in-depth preconference seminars and workshops, four post-conference seminars, a co-located event, fast-track training presented by RFID4U, and more than 200 exhibitors showcasing the latest RFID products and solutions. For additional information, please visit www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/.