The following are news announcements made during the past week.
Vietnam’s Ho Tram Beach Resort Automates Uniform Management With RFID
InvoTech Systems, a provider of linen and uniform inventory-control solutions for hotels, casinos, resorts, theme parks and sports arenas, has announced that the Ho Tram Beach Resort, in Vietnam, is using InvoTech’s RFID Uniform Tracking System to automate the management of uniforms for its staff of 2,400 employees. InvoTech implemented its GIMS ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID-based tracking system, which leverages Fujitsu Frontech North America‘s rubber-encapsulated labels that can be sewn into each uniform. Each tag has a unique ID number linked in the GIMS software to the particular type of item, as well as to its laundering history. The solution also includes Impinj Speedway Revolution R420 readers, for tracking uniforms’ locations. InvoTech has linked the system to White Conveyors‘ U-Pick-It automated uniform-delivery system; the implementation includes four U-Pick-It doors with RFID antennas to record when staff members take possession of clean uniforms. An RFID bulk uniform reading station is installed to process all garments into and out of the property’s laundry. The system reads entire carts of soiled uniforms being moved to the laundry, and instantly records rolling racks of clean garments returned to the property for employee use, according to InvoTech. Ho Tram Beach also uses Motorola Solutions MC3190-Z handheld readers with InvoTech Mobile Software to count uniforms within storerooms and holding areas for accurate real-time inventory.
CISC Adds Tag Sniffer to Portable Test System
CISC Semiconductor, an Austrian design and consulting service company for industries that develop embedded microelectronic systems, has announced a new extension, the Sniffer, for its RFID Xplorer ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tag-performance test system. The RFID Xplorer is a portable, compact solution designed specifically as a cost-effective, small and powerful measurement solution for RFID tag sensitivity, communication range and backscatter measurements, according to the company (see RFID News Roundup: CISC Unveils Portable UHF Tag Test System). With Sniffer, customers can evaluate the communication between an interrogator and a tag while out in the field or within a laboratory, and capture both the interrogator commands and tag replies, says Josef Preishuber-Pflügl, CISC’s CTO and business unit manager for RFID and RFComm. The automatic analysis shows the detected commands and tag replies on high level with command names and parameters, and includes a zoom capability to delve further into details, such as the RF signal’s waveforms. “The Sniffer is used to analyze the RFID communication,” Preishuber-Pflügl explains. “So, you take the Sniffer and place the antenna close to the RF link between interrogator and tag. It captures all the communication, even for a very, very long time, only limited by your hard disk size. Once [this information is] captured, you look into the results and screen the command/response high-level description for either strange sequences or sequences with errors. If the issue is at the command level, then you have it. However, if it is not clear at the command level, you may zoom down into the waveforms.” The new Sniffer extension includes the CISC RFID Xplorer 100 hardware module, an antenna and cable, and the CISC RFID Xplorer Sniffer software, and can also include an Ethernet cable for PC connectivity and an antenna mast, if so requested.
U.K. Automaker Expands Ubisense RTLS Deployment
Ubisense Group, a provider of location-based smart technology, has announced that one of its customers, an automotive manufacturer in the United Kingdom, is expanding its use of Ubisense’s real-time location system (RTLS) technology, the Ubisense Smart Factory System. Smart Factory solutions leverage ultra-wideband (UWB) location RFID tags that transmit signals to nearby receivers, with location-tracking information analyzed and visualized using Ubisense’s software. According to Ubisense, the U.K. automaker—which has declined to be identified, and which had already been using the RTLS solution in production to track and control thousands of cars and DC torque tools—has now expanded the applications into the off-tracks finishing area, thereby providing an end-to-end solution for visibility and control across the entire factory floor. The deployment will allow the manufacturer to monitor each vehicle as it proceeds through the company’s testing and finishing processes, Ubisense reports, with the goal of eliminating particular pinch points or bottlenecks along the production process. Integration of the RTLS solution with existing manufacturing-execution software enables the manufacturer to control the complete process in real time. With thousands of vehicle movements of multiple model variants daily, the Ubisense Smart Factory System will improve the cars’ process flow as they leave the production line, ensuring that vehicles requiring attention are quickly identified, and that test and finishing stations are automatically controlled, Ubisense reports. In November 2012, Ubisense announced that it had begun working with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), a research facility that develops and showcases advanced production solutions with the potential to shape the future of British manufacturing. At the time, Ubisense indicated that its solutions would be installed at MTC’s facilities in Coventry, England, in order to demonstrate how RTLS technology can improve manufacturing processes (see RFID News Roundup: Ubisense Joins the Manufacturing Technology Centre to Provide RTLS Expertise to British Manufacturers). It also reported that the two firms planned to work on a number of projects—many of which are confidential—as an opportunity to help manufacturers improve their productivity and speed up the delivery of lean objectives. Numerous manufacturers are utilizing Ubisense’s technology, including Aston Martin (see Aston Martin Speeds Cars Through Production), Airbus (see Airbus Installs RTLS for Large-Component Assembly), BAE Systems, BMW (see BMW Finds the Right Tool), Cummins, Daimler, Eurocopter, Fiat, General Motors, Honda Italia (see Honda Italia Shifts Its RFID Deployment Into Second Gear), Toyota and Volkswagen.
MasterCard Event Promotes Contactless Payments
At an event held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, MasterCard collaborated with the Foundation Promoting Efficient Payments (SBEB), as well as several retail branch organizations and banks, to encourage the use of RFID technology in debit cards. Retailers were invited to a special Debit Card Champions cashless event held at the Heineken Music Hall (HMH), that included performances by famous Dutch artists. Approximately 1,700 retail employees who attended were provided with a PayPass bracelet, and were then able to pay for refreshments using MasterCard’s PayPass contactless payment technology. The event, MasterCard explains, was designed to thank all retailers and their employees in the Netherlands for their efforts to stimulate debit card use within their stores, and to raise awareness of the safety and efficiency of the contactless payment system. In that country, an average of one out of every three payments is carried out using MasterCard’s Maestro PayPass contactless payment cards; the remainder, MasterCard notes, are cash transactions. Although almost all Dutch consumers own a Maestro payment card, not every payment is conducted electronically at the checkout point. In some situations, customers are used to only paying with cash; according to MasterCard, there is a small group of consumers not yet accustomed to using a card, while others assume merchants prefer cash. The merchants’ support, therefore, is of great importance to MasterCard, to continue the growth of debit card transactions and further the company’s vision of a cashless world. Each PayPass bracelet handed out at the event had a credit of €7.50 ($9.67). During the evening, MasterCard reports, everyone was able to quickly pay for drinks with the bracelets, without facing any inconveniences. There was also a high use of the balance checkers—small devices with displays—that allowed visitors to check the amount of credit left on their bracelet by holding it in front of the display. A survey of 500 visitors ranked the contactless payment service and the party with an eight out of 10, according to MasterCard.
Austin Schools to Manage Assets Via RFID
Austin Independent School District (AISD), Texas’ fifth largest school district, has selected an RFID-based enterprise asset-management solution from Radiant RFID, according to the RFID vendor. The solution will be used to manage and audit campus inventory of high-tech equipment, replacing the more manual bar-code systems AISD had previously been using. Radiant’s Virtual Asset Tracker (VAT) system consists of ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags, as well as Radiant software and Web reporting functionality that includes exception reports, matching reports, lost inventory and total inventory. AISD will utilize Radiant’s asset-management solution to manage the locations of its highly diverse and mobile inventory of laptops, tablets, smartboards and other classroom assets. The solution directly integrates with AISD’s existing asset software via Radiant’s Web services application programming interface (API), providing real-time visibility into assets’ locations and movements. During an audit of a classroom, the company explains, Radiant’s solution reports which items are currently located within that room, and which assets assigned to that room are missing. This information allows administrators to quickly and accurately reconcile inventory counts and account for item movements from room to room, building to building, and campus to campus, thus saving the district time and money, while fostering a philosophy of reuse. Radiant participated onsite with the school district throughout the evaluation process, in order to confirm optimal RFID tag selection and placement on a wide variety of classroom assets. AISD plans to implement the solution district-wide to perform regular audits and “spot checks” throughout the year, according to Radiant, which offers a fully integrated suite of products for attendance, bus ridership, asset management and safety. Radiant’s solution is currently being employed by Chicago Public Schools (see RFID News Roundup: Chicago Public Schools to Implement RFID for Tracking Assets).
Centre for Retail Research Issues New Retail Theft Report
In 2011, more than 78 percent of retail shrinkage—losses caused by theft and fraud, as well as procedural failures and accounting—was due to shoplifting by dishonest customers or retail employees, according to the 2013 edition of the Global Retail Theft Barometer, an annual study conducted by the Centre for Retail Research and underwritten by Checkpoint Systems, a supplier of electronic article surveillance (EAS) and radio frequency identification systems. The report has been complied every year since 2001, and during that time, the number of retail thieves apprehended annually continues to be about 6 million, though the report’s authors maintain that this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the study, however, retailers are becoming more proactive in recent years. Of the 50 most stolen products, the number of items protected from theft has increased from 60 percent in 2007 to 75 percent in 2011, with EAS source tagging and special high-theft solutions implemented by a growing number of retailers each year. Slightly more than one-third of loss prevention managers (34.8 percent) thought the primary driver of RFID use within their organizations concerned inventory visibility and management (that is, logistics and inventory store operations), while only 19.3 percent saw RFID use as being driven primarily by the retailer’s loss-prevention needs. The study found that more than one-half of loss-prevention spending is devoted to loss-prevention employees—both those directly employed by the retailer and contract employees. In 2011, human resources represented 56.1 percent of loss-prevention budgets. While there has been an increase in spending on workers, much of this has gone toward contract employees. There has also been a significant growth in spending on loss-prevention equipment, representing 30.9 percent of loss prevention in 2011, including electronic surveillance, software, access control and communications. New products in such categories as electronics, perfumes and sportswear are among the most likely to be stolen, while fresh meat remains a high-theft category for supermarkets and hypermarkets.