Issue #196 | June 18, 2009 | by John Shoemaker

RFID technology is like a box of chocolates: so many choices, so many tastes, and so little time.

I have witnessed the struggles of the AIDC (automatic identification and data collection) industry for the past 15 years. Initially, I was marketing contactless smart cards with FRAM memory; then active and BAP (battery assist passive) RFID; then passive UHF RFID.

It has been painfully obvious that prospective customers want solutions – not RFID or the latest and greatest chip. And it's not a real solution unless it is an enterprise solution, one with financial justification.

Real solutions like these are not easy. These solutions are typically not available from ANY one company. That is one of the biggest misunderstandings I see out there.

It requires a “solutions team” or consortium which can bring talent, technology and technique to provide a relevant and cost effective solution that solves a real problem and delivers value.

Whether in healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain management, oil & gas, transportation or any other industry, the issues are quite similar. A single product rarely solves a problem. The complexity of business processes and operational requirements demand integrated systems.

Alphabet soup of technologies
At the data capture side, there are many devices from many vendors from PDA’s, bar code scanners, RFID active and passive readers and appliances, magnetic strip cards/readers, cell phones and other mobile devices, and more. Some are sensors, not just tags or labels. You have 1D and 2D bar codes, sound waves, magnetic stripe ID cards, contact and contactless smart cards with computer chips in them and many others are under development. Zigbee, RuBee, WiFi, plus GPS, sensors, infrared, ultrasound and more.

As one recent RFID survey confirmed, customers will buy solutions if they can get improved data quality, reliability and timeliness. In this way, they can really change their business for the better. It all starts with the data – getting it easily, in real time or as close to it as possible, and in a reliable, consistent and dependable manner. This is where automation comes to the rescue.

Making sense of the data means creating visibility by managing the data, comparing/analyzing the data, and following business rules, both strategic and routine operational rules, to support operational processes. This creates “actionable intelligence”. Alert/alarms must be created and distributed at the right time to the right people.

All events must be stored, communicated and interpreted. All of this networked data capture, management, communication and execution must be done in the context of addressing real time demands using composite applications and within the context of a customer’s specific mode of operation (contextual integrity and reconciliation) which will allow optimization of all system capabilities.

Decision-making drives the dashboard
Given the overburdened executives today in most any industry, taking action is not easy. Anything they do can have a huge impact, both negative and positive. Determining what is positive increasingly needs careful analysis upfront. Getting across the chasm in the decision making process requires a clear roadmap on how a proposed solution will add value – what is the ROI? What is the financial justification? What is the long term operation and financial payback?

When you collect data, you need to consider it as valuable business intelligence; the kind that give clues on how to manage the business. Business intelligence must be interpreted in some way using a rules based engine to sort it out and present it in an understandable way, in the dashboard.

The more real-time this dashboard is, with various analytics displayed in easily recognized and understood gauges/meters/charts, and the more real-time value it represents to the user and to management. With data presentment that is a real-time representation of what is happening right now, then decisions can be made to affect operational results.

Decisions are not all reactive, but also proactive – solving problems before they occur. This is the ideal, the goal of every user to have a predictive sense for taking action and preventing problems. This is why a solution must reflect the best of a team and deliver on the value of RFID and all other AIDC products as part of a system that solves a problem.

Shipcom Wireless currently has the largest project of its kind in the U.S., and possibly the World, to develop RFID based solutions for the US Air Force and its Keesler Medical Center in Biloxi, MS. We are doing it by first completing an engineering study of their operational processes, evaluating multiple technologies, visiting other installations across the DOD and collecting data on installed products, selecting appropriate vendors for specific applications; and all done based on a detailed financial assessment and justification. Key to this will be a fully integrated and intelligent solution platform on which multiple applications will be interfaced to the DMLSS (the defense medical enterprise software) and DIACAP (security) approved.

It was a team effort which benefited from this disciplined, comprehensive, technology-neutral, enterprise team approach, as we work with great partner vendors, that is part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar program.

John Shoemaker, President of Houston-based Shipcom wireless, was a former Vice President with both Intermec and Symbol (now owned by Motorola), and has seen a few things. www.shipcommwireless.com