A group of research institutes in Ireland, Spain and Germany are working to move RFID from the domain of large, deep-pocketed companies into the world of small and midsize enterprises (SMEs). The four organizations are running RFID information campaigns, creating demonstration projects and performing proof-of-concept studies for firms in their respective regions. Their work is supported by the European Union (EU) as part of its efforts to help speed the adoption of RFID (see European Commission Works on RFID Policy).
The group has come together under the name RFID4SME and aims to increase the uptake of RFID by small and midsize companies in Europe. Its goal is to form a network connecting SMEs looking to share information on RFID.
Project members include the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund, Germany; the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT) in Kerry County, Ireland; the Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Componentes (CTC) in Santander, Spain; and the Asturias Technology Center for Industrial Design and Production (PRODINTEC) in Gijón, Spain.
Statistics on RFID implementations by European SMEs are hard to come by, but each group member says it is easy to detect a rising interest as large companies adopt the technology and RFID makes a name for itself among the general public. SMEs, they explain, are slowly realizing they can’t afford to miss the RFID bandwagon and the savings potential the technology can offer.
“The number of SMEs in Ireland which are actively using RFID is very, very small,” says Pat Doody, a researcher at the Institute of Technology Tralee. “We do have a lot of companies expressing interest in various applications, but few which are actually using it for day-to-day business.” He adds, “We just haven’t seen it yet. That’s why we’re here—to make sure it’s a different story by the end of the year.”
To coordinate their work, the institutes will meet five times during the RFID4SME project, which commenced in July 2006 and is slated to end in December 2007. The first two meetings have already been held, in Ireland and Germany. A third project meeting and a daylong event for the public will take place on March 28, at the Limerick Race Course in Ireland, where lectures and RFID demonstrations will take place.
RFID4SME is being funded with just more than half a million euros ($652,000). Seventy-five percent of that comes from the EU’s Interreg program, which funds inter-European regional partnerships. The project’s members are contributing the other 25 percent. Each partner is committed to providing for free an RFID event, two training courses and best practice reports and guidelines. The partners in Spain and Ireland are also offering up to three days of free consulting to regional SMEs that might benefit from RFID technologies, with a maximum of 30 days of free consulting.
So what’s holding up RFID adoption by Europe’s SMEs? ITT researcher Ed Sheldon explains that companies are afraid of the technology because of all the hype, and that they need to see a clear chance to gain a return on investment. “That’s the primary issue,” he says. “Companies feel they don’t have a specific need when they can use the bar code.”
Inigo Felgueroso of PRODINTEC agrees. “In the supply chain of the SMEs,” he says, “it is not very clear how RFID can guarantee an ROI. More seminars, courses and events about the benefits and opportunities would help the introduction of RFID. It is very important to inform SMEs about the importance of the technology, and to assist them in their initial developments in RFID.”
To help promote RFID in its own region, each RFID4SME member has initiated a range of projects. The wireless and mobility research group at the Institute of Technology Tralee has been researching active and passive RFID technology for more than two years, with most of its work focused on pilots and proofs of concept. As part of the RFID4SME project, the institute is hosting the Limerick event, for which it is creating two demonstrations—one to track blood products, and another about name tags. The institute will also provide 30 days of free consulting to help companies develop RFID pilots.
PRODINTEC, a nonprofit foundation funded by the Asturias regional government in Spain, aims to help local companies become more competitive by applying new technologies such as RFID. The foundation is developing an RFID demonstration to trace components used in non-automated workplaces. Another demonstration will incorporate RFID into packaging. In addition to providing consultation services, PRODINTEC is also developing technology guidelines and best-practice reports, as well as holding regional seminars and workshops.
The Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Componentes, also a nonprofit foundation, is funded by corporations that want to increase the region’s competitiveness. It receives project-related funding from the Cantabrian government. The focus of its RFID activities is on spreading information in the region and organizing events, seminars and training courses. The CTC’s demonstrations will use RFID to track people within a 30-meter-long zone, and to detect and identify moving toy slot cars. Its next event, “RFID Para PYMEs,” will be held Feb. 22 in Santander, with the next training course, also in Santander, scheduled to take place from April 23 to April 27.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, part of Europe’s largest applied research society, conducts a great deal of contract research for large companies. But like its partners in RFID4SME, IML is also determined to help small and midsize companies. Interested SMEs can visit the IML headquarters and tour an RFID demo lab called the OpenID Center. IML has been assisting SMEs with their initial RFID tests, one of which showed a packaging service provider how it could do dock-door and forklift identification with RFID. In another project, the IML is helping a company develop transponders able to track maintenance information for hospital beds.
In Germany, other efforts to support SMEs outside the RFID4SME project include a regional SME project in North Rhine Westphalia (the RFID Support Center), as well as a brochure prepared by the Informationsforum RFID, a business group that includes DHL, Metro Group, Intermec and P&G (see Web Site Teaches German Consumers About RFID).
The brochure, intended to inform SMEs about the basics of RFID, offers positive examples of small companies and organizations that have already implemented RFID, such as Herding AG (see RFID Brings ROI to Air-Filter Maker) and the city of Warendorf (RFID Keeps City Sewers Running Smoothly).
Ireland’s Doody sums up the work of the four institutes: “Over time, and through projects like RFID4SME, we can show SMEs that there is a valid reason for using RFID, and it can be done. Awareness and education will be a key driver.”