This article was originally published by RFID Update.
August 21, 2009—Wealth and asset management firm Robert W. Baird & Co. has published the August edition of RFID Monthly. Baird has given RFID Update permission to reprint the Key Developments section (below), which offers the report highlights. For those wanting more detail, the complete 21-page document is available free here. Following are highlights:
- General Market Comment; Seeing Improved Signs. We are seeing increased signs that RFID projects are again moving forward after experiencing a delay related to economic concerns. Our broader survey data had showed meaningful deterioration in spending during 4Q08/1Q09, with some improvement in 2Q09. Our follow-up discussions with system integrators and vendors confirm this improvement as several programs began to advance. The improvement seen in April, May and June has carried into July and even August, which tends to be a seasonally slow month. Unlike the broader automated data capture market, which continues to experience year-over-year declines, we believe RFID-related business is now showing year-over-year growth.
- Asia Showing Signs of Improvement. Asia appears to be showing encouraging signs of improvement, most notably in China, Japan and Korea, which we view as important RFID markets. We are hearing of increased RFID activity in each of these markets.
- RFID Use in EHRs? The stimulus spending package, or American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, authorizes $23B in spending for healthcare information technology, with a key focus on the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) by 2014. We believe RFID-based medical cards could be an important tool in the overall development of an EHR solution, particularly considering cost and remote applications.
- Application Spotlight — Hospital Location System. The Jackson Health System announced its ZigBee system is now tracking over 12,000 hospital assets, including beds, pumps, ventilators and mobile work stations and will begin to further expand its system after experiencing positive returns. During a 90-day test, Jackson calculated $314,481 in labor savings related to equipment searches and $611,734 in avoided capital spending (annualized). Jackson is paying for the system as a managed service offering and thus avoiding initial capital outlays.
- Guest Column — The Value of RFID. RFID’s ability to generate value is evolving rapidly. Businesses appear to be taking an increasing look at the ability to add value with RFID by leveraging its automated features to more quickly discover process exceptions or to provide item-level visibility into large pools of products. This week we offer a guest column from industry consultant Chris Hanebeck, who offers some perspective on how RFID can generate value.
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