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Growing Season for New RFID VARs and OEMs
Issue #113 | Aug. 24, 2007 | by Andy Kowl
Many thanks to all of you who responded to our trade survey a week ago. The industry has spoken; and one thing is clear: the relationships between the RFID manufacturers and the growing ranks of resellers is fluid.
We remain convinced the key to RFID business health is the spreading group of VARs and OEMs from other industries embracing the technology’s advantages. It is said best by a company called Simet based in Turin, Italy.
 I learned of Simet from talking with Ronny Haraldsvik, V.P. of Marketing and Business Development at Alien. He explained how a Alien/ Simet partnership was able to provide a 30% Return on Invesment for carpet manufacturer Griva S.p.A. in less than ten months. Through the tagging of fabric rolls in the challenging manufacturing environment of dyes, water, plastic films and heat drying, the Work in Process (WIP) efficiencies were large and measurable.
Simet, a 25-year-old engineering consulting firm, branched out their consulting to include broader manufacturing solutions years ago. Then in 2004, they first introduced RFID into their mix of manufacturing automation solutions. After the success of projects with Griva and others, RFID is now a focus of their marketing efforts.
It is the solution providers around the world that are steadily taking the lead in the triumph of RFID. In Simet’s explanation of how they look at their relationship with Alien and other providers, their own charming translation from Italian to English adds true feeling to business objectives. It speaks to the best reason firms around the world have begun to offer RFID:
“Companies keep facing the internationalization challenges with creativity and competence by combining their continuous technological update with the preservation and valorization of their original peculiarities. Stories of hard work, stories of strong commitment and challenges, stories of achieved objectives.
“Among these Companies, Simet has been operating the in the territory for 25 years with a growing attention to technological progress. . .”
By doing a quick end-of-summer review of recent news, as compiled and reported by www.UsingRFID.com, it is affirming how prevalent this business growth is becoming. Just last week, for example, NCR announced a partnership with DEPCO, a solution provider based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, serving clients throughout the Middle East. The sectors they are serving with RFID are banking and jewelry. Here at RFID Switchboard this week, an Egyptian IT consultant has become a member to find sources so they, too, can compete in that region.
More global VAR growth I learned of includes Zetes, a 23-year-old, 600-employee Belgium company with offices throughout Europe and in Israel, that is finding RFID to be a growth engine for them. A Portuguese barcode solution provider, Creative Systems, likewise is finding RFID bringing them new work.
Closer to home, San Diego based Applied Retail Solutions (ARS), a company which “has been providing software and services to mid-sized to large retailers since 1987. . .” was the leader in a successful RFID project at Dollywood Splash Country, in Tennessee. Using a Precision Dynamics (PDC) wristband solution for upgraded guest services, ARS has found RFID opens new business doors for their established retail consultancy.
As our own survey verifies, it is these progressive IT consultants and system integrators who are reaching new RFID customers everywhere. Twenty-five per cent of the companies responding were those looking now to expand into the RFID business. This will only accelerate, as one VAR’s entry into offering RFID causes their competitors to add the technology to their own portfolio.
It is not only the IT integrators. Manufacturers in other fields are looking to RFID as a value-added upgrade that can give them a competitive advantage.
RecycleBank, a Philadelphia-based company, is distributing trash bins that have embedded RFID tags. Each tag only contains a serial number, to protect the privacy of the homes that use them. By placing an antenna and reader on each truck, they are improving their results through recording weights and other trends.
As reported by RFID Journal, Huntsville Hospital in Alabama is seeing success using a patient tracking system from a company called Aionex, which has incorporated passive 13.56 MHz RFID from SkyeTek into their products.
Walking Pot Systems, is one of The Netherland’s leading systems providers for greenhouse growers. By adding Tagsys passive RFID technology, the RFID-enhanced pots improve quality results. In combination with Zetes’ imaging software, growers can infer plant health from their relative shape. Users can track every single plant in a 30,000 square-meter greenhouse.
The Dutch potted plant business is by far the largest and most advanced in the world, according to the release. Holland has approximately 1,500 potted plant growers. Students of history will remember that by the 16th Century, Dutch tulips had become a critical element of the world economy. Decades later, flower speculators had driven the prices up to create a bubble effect and, in 1637, the bubble crashed ruining thousands of businesses and investors, primarily in Holland but reverberating as far away as England.
If only they had been tracking those flowers with RFID, who knows what might have been averted?
See you after Labor Day!
Last edited by AndreaC : 08-24-2007 at 05:38 PM.
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