The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations:
SML Group, F&F;
Zebra Technologies, Microsoft, the National Football League;
UL, the NFC Forum;
Apple; and
InvoTech Systems.
Tesco’s F&F Division, SML Group Partner to Deploy RFID for Improved Inventory Accuracy
SML Group, a provider of RFID labels and software to fashion brands and retailers, has announced details regarding the role that it has been playing to help Tesco‘s F&F clothing division adopt ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID technology and improve inventory accuracy.
According to SML, when F&F’s RFID project began in 2013, SML was nominated to provide the majority of the company’s RFID labels. The RFID label company set up a network of production sites to supply the key garment-sourcing regions, including China and Turkey, in order to deliver over 100 million RFID labels during the first 12 months. SML also made its RFID center in the United Kingdom available to F&F to carry out complete solution testing (including RFID labels, software and hardware).
“This allowed the brand to efficiently evaluate a range of products and simulate in-store testing,” said Terry Kemp, SML’s senior director of RFID for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), in a prepared statement, “without causing disruption at any of its trading stores.”
SML worked with F&F in several other areas of project as well, such as helping the retailer to develop an online ordering platform to fulfill the specific requirements of the F&F garment vendor base. In addition, SML reports that it developed an RFID in-plant solution for printing and encoding RFID labels at the F&F distribution center. F&F is now RFID-tagging all of its merchandise sold at Tesco’s network of 525 stores throughout the United Kingdom.
The RFID system will help the stores replenish shelves daily, according to SML, thereby improving customer service by offering a greater selection of products and sizes. The RFID solution will also help F&F track stock levels throughout its supply chain, SML adds, and improve the efficiency of the new Click and Collect program, by which customers may place an order online and then pick it up in a Tesco store.
In June 2015, Tesco announced that it was trialing an indoor mapping and analytics robotic system using RFID within its fashion departments at five U.K. stores, tracking its F&F brand garments to determine whether the technology can improve efficiency and inventory visibility (see Tesco Deploys Tag-Reading Robot at Five Stores to Track F&F Clothing).
NFL, Microsoft and Zebra Take RFID-enabled Player Tracking to New App
This year, football fans will be able to access all the in-game performance data collected by RFID technology, via the NFL 2015 app for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows 10.
Last season, the National Football League tested Zebra Technologies‘ Sports Solution to monitor players, and installed the real-time location system (RTLS) at 17 stadiums (see Best New Product: Zebra’s Next-Gen Technology Powers Next-Gen Stats).
During the 2014 tests, more than 2,000 NFL players were tagged and tracked during games and training. Each player had a quarter-size battery-powered RFID tag placed in each shoulder pad. The tag uses an ultrawide-band (UWB) signal to transmit its ID number more than a dozen times a second to RFID readers. At each participating stadium, an average of 20 readers were mounted between the upper and lower decks. During a game, the readers captured tag data from all 22 players on the field, identifying their locations accurately and precisely, within inches. This season, the technology will be embedded in every NFL player’s shoulder pads.
According to an article on posted on the Wired website, football fans will be able to utilize the NFL 2015 app for Xbox One and Windows 10 to access all information collected by the system. According to media reports, a new feature in the app, known as Next Generation Stats, will let fans see where players are, how far they travel during each play and how fast they move, and then analyze individual players’ performance in specific highlight clips from games shortly after the plays occur.
Fans can also play a mini-game called NGS Pick’em in the app, in which they would choose eight to 10 players whom they think can run the fastest or travel the farthest in the course of a game. The new app, which is free to everyone, will be available in late August, the Wired article states.
NFC Forum Designates UL as an Authorized Test Lab
UL, a global safety science organization, has been named an NFC Forum Authorized Test Laboratory, authorizing it to conduct the required tests that will confirm a device’s compliance with the organization’s technical specifications, as well as attain certification from the industry body. The NFC Forum, an association promoting the adoption of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, established its certification program in 2010 to support industry interoperability and provide device behavior assurances within the marketplace (see RFID News Roundup: NFC Forum Launches Certification Program, Publishes Four Specs).
Through its new NFC testing services, UL says it will support mobile and point-of-sale manufacturers as they work to meet the NFC Forum’s strict standards in the design of NFC-compatible devices. As a Forum member and an authorized testing lab, UL now provides a full range of testing services for NFC-enabled devices. It is one of two labs in the United States to offer these services, according to UL. In addition to offering NFC testing, UL also provides a range of other wireless testing and certification services.
“With manufacturers realizing NFC’s true potential in the expanding Internet of Things, our customers have requested UL’s support in expanding its certification testing capability with the latest and still developing wearables, embedded devices, smart home, automotive and healthcare markets,” said Mike Kuo, the general manager of UL’s consumer technology division in North America, in a prepared statement.
“Our approval of UL as an NFC Forum Authorized Test Laboratory further expands device manufacturers’ options for certification testing, particularly in the U.S.,” Paula Hunter, the NFC Forum’s executive director, added in the statement.
Apple Joins the NFC Forum
Apple has officially joined the NFC Forum as a sponsor member as of August 11, 2015. The NFC Forum is an industry association promoting the adoption of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
In a statement made this week to NFC World+, NFC Forum director Paula Hunter said, “the top tier of NFC Forum membership, sponsor membership, entitles an organization to a seat on the NFC Forum board of directors, the association’s governing body. We are delighted to welcome Apple to our board of directors as an NFC Forum sponsor member.”
Apple is now listed as a sponsor member on the members page of the NFC Forum’s website. Apple joins a group of 13 other sponsor members, including Broadcom, Dai Nippon Printing, Google, Intel, MasterCard Worldwide, NEC, Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sony, STMicroelectronics, and Visa. There are currently more than 140 members in the NFC Forum.
Apple has been adding NFC capabilities to a number of its products. In September 2014, when the firm unveiled its new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, NFC technology was included and intended for use with Apple Pay, a new mobile-payments service that works with the two new smartphones via an NFC antenna design, a dedicated chip called the Secure Element and the new Touch ID fingerprint scanner (see Apple Puts Restrictions On NFC in iPhone 6, Watch).
InvoTech Expands Offices, Adds Staff to Meet Demand
As part of a global expansion plan, InvoTech Systems has announced that it has relocated and expanded its headquarters to accommodate new personnel and worldwide client growth. InvoTech, which provides linen-, laundry- and uniform-management systems that employ ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology, also announced that its global growth has prompted the addition of new employees in its product-development, system-installation and technical-support departments. The company will continue to be based in Southern California, with offices double the size of its previous location.
New facilities include dedicated space for research and development, products and system inventory, the company reports, as well as larger offices for its support team. InvoTech’s new address is 20951 Burbank Blvd., Suite B, in Woodland Hills, Calif.
InvoTech says its designed its new corporate headquarters to meet the exact needs of its wide range of clients. “Our product development, installation and training teams and customer support staff have large dedicated spaces to operate more efficiently,” said Jeff Welles, InvoTech’s president, in a prepared statement. “We also expanded space for our inventory of our system’s equipment and supplies, and shipping and receiving. I have already seen increased efficiencies in our operations and boosted employee moral since the new office opened on June 1, 2015. Our expansion enables InvoTech to continue to deliver the highest level of professional personalized service and customer satisfaction.”