RFID Journal has unveiled the finalists for its 2013 RFID Journal Awards. The winners will be announced at RFID Journal LIVE! 2013, the company’s 11th annual conference and exhibition, to be held at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Fla., from Apr. 30 to May 2. Each end-user finalist will be invited to present its case study at the event.
“I know I speak for all 30 judges when I say that choosing only 10 Best in Show finalists was very difficult,” says Mark Roberti, RFID Journal‘s founder and editor. “There were some tremendous deployments described in this year’s submissions. Attendees at LIVE! 2013 will benefit from hearing from each finalist live on stage, and they will be able to view and vote on the new products featured in our Best in Show category.”
End-user companies were nominated in four categories:
Best RFID Implementation
• Hanmi Pharmaceutical, for its system of tagging and tracking individual pharmaceutical products (see Hanmi Pharmaceutical Uses RFID to Automate Picking, Shipping)
• Sesa Goa Ltd., for an RFID solution that allows the company to track, in real time, more than 7,000 truck movements daily
• The Swedish Transport Agency, for its Way Side Monitoring system, used to detect wheel or axle damage and other potential maintenance issues
Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service
• BarMaxx, for a liquor inventory-management system that can save bar and restaurant owners money by reducing over-pouring (see BarMaxx RFID Solution Tracks Liquor Usage By Weight)
• Boeing, for a solution that replaces detailed visual inspection with the use of RFID (see Boeing to Launch RFID Program for Airlines in February)
• Parker Hannifin’s O-ring division , for a system of identifying and tracking visually and dimensionally identical O-rings that have radically different performance and functional properties
Most Innovative Use of RFID
• Infinite Biomedical Technologies, for an RFID system that enables a prosthetic limb to operate more effectively and naturally (see The Feel-Good RFID Video of the Year)
• Waterloo Labs, for an entertainment application that turned Nintendo‘s Mario Kart videogame into a real-world experience (see Developers of Real-World Mario Kart Game Seek to Spur Interest in RFID)
• Weatherford International, for a drilling reamer system that provides a simple, reliable method of tool activation and deactivation (see Petrobras Opts for RFID to Track Drill Pipe).
RFID Green Award
• The City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for its use of RFID-enabled recycling and refuse collection
• Lufthansa Technik, for an RFID-enabled system of tracking hazardous waste
• The Riverside Health Fitness Center, for a towel-management system that has reduced the amount of laundering it performs
In addition, three individuals were nominated for the RFID Special Achievement Award, for their pioneering contributions to the RFID industry:
• Joseph Andraski, the founder and former CEO of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions (VICS) Association, for his leadership in encouraging the adoption of item-level RFID in the retail apparel value chain, both at VICS and with the Item Level RFID Initiative (see The RFID Industry Owes a Big Thanks to Joe Andraski)
• Kevin Ashton, the cofounder and former executive director of the Auto-ID Center, and a frequent contributor to RFID Journal, for his leadership of the organization that developed the first Electronic Product Code (EPC) technology (see Kevin Ashton May Change the World)
• William Coop, the program manager of Boeing RFID Integrated Solutions, for his pioneering work in the use of RFID within the aviation industry
Finally, nine technology providers 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:
• BayNexus, for its BN-HH-G02 handheld reader
• Hanmi IT, for its self-propelled RFID reading system
• Hong Kong RFID, for its Tempcorder Series of active RFID temperature sensors
• IER, for its Expedited Self Payment (ESP) system for retail
• Impinj, for two separate products that will be released at the event: Indy RS500 and Speedway xArray
• Omni-ID, for its IQ 400 and IQ 600 ultra-thin on-metal/on-liquid labels
• TertiumTechnology, for its BlueBerry HF and UHF readers
• Voyantic Ltd., for its HF Tagformance testing equipment
• Zebra Technologies, for its seamless chip-based serialization system for RFID label printers
These awards are given in recognition of excellence within the RFID industry. “Each year, we see a growing number of impressive implementations and exciting new products,” Roberti states. “I’m pleased that we are able to shine a light on some of the great things being achieved in the industry, and show how companies can use the technology to improve the way they do business.”
In addition to the RFID Journal Awards, LIVE! 2013 will also feature eight industry-specific and how-to conference tracks, 11 in-depth preconference seminars and workshops, four new post-conference seminars, the IEE RFID 2013 co-located event, fast-track training and more than 200 exhibitors showcasing the latest RFID products and solutions.