It’s generally said that the roots of radio frequency identification technology

can be traced back to World War II. The Germans, Japanese, Americans and British
were all using radar—which had been discovered in 1935 by Scottish physicist Sir
Robert Alexander Watson-Watt—to warn of approaching planes while they were still
miles away. The problem was there was no way to identify which planes belonged to
the enemy and which were a country’s own pilots returning from a mission.

The Germans discovered that if pilots rolled their planes as they returned to
base, it would change the radio signal reflected back. This crude method alerted
the radar crew on the ground that these were German planes and not Allied aircraft
(this is, essentially, the first passive RFID system).

Mario W. Cardullo claims to have received the first U.S. patent for an active RFID
tag with rewritable memory on January 23, 1973. That same year, Charles Walton, a
California entrepreneur, received a patent for a passive transponder used to
unlock a door without a key.

The U.S. government was also working on RFID systems. In the 1970s, Los Alamos
National Laboratory was asked by the Energy Department to develop a system for
tracking nuclear materials. A group of scientists came up with the concept of
putting a transponder in a truck and readers at the gates of secure facilities.
The gate antenna would wake up the transponder in the truck, which would respond
with an ID and potentially other data, such as the driver's ID. This system was
commercialized in the mid-1980s when the Los Alamos scientists who worked on the
project left to form a company to develop automated toll payment systems. These
systems have become widely used on roads, bridges and tunnels around the world.

Under Watson-Watt, who headed a secret project, the British developed the first
active identify friend or foe (IFF) system. They put a transmitter on each British
plane. When it received signals from radar stations on the ground, it began
broadcasting a signal back that identified the aircraft as friendly. RFID works on
this same basic concept.

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1338/1/129/

Companies investing in RFID are experiencing new levels of supply chain

efficiency. This innovative technology is increasing the visibility of goods
across the chain and beyond.

Utilising RFID technology, large quantities of information can be analysed and

made available to internal and external systems in near-real time, which is
proving crucial to improving the quality of business operations.

With the help of RFID, you will be able to achieve:

* Improved tracking of high-value items.

* Reduced shrinkage and shipping errors.
* Inventory visibility, accuracy and efficiency.
* Improved production planning and smart recalls.
* Technology standards to drive down cost.

The main benefits to using RFID in the supply chain come from
improved inventory tracking, especially when the technology’s
capabilities are used to collect information and provide
visibility in environments where tracking was not done before.
Manufacturers, distributors, logistics providers and retailers can
all use RFID for inventory applications, and in carefully planned
systems, may share the same tags to reduce implementation
costs. Because it can be read through packaging, without concern
to orientation, without direct line of sight between object and
reader and can withstand exposure to dirt, heat, moisture and
contaminants that make bar codes unusable, RFID can remove
blind spots from inventory and supply chain operations.
By using the highly accurate, real-time and unattended
monitoring capability of RFID to track raw materials, work-in-
process and finished goods inventory manufacturers can improve
visibility and confidence into their inventory to enable overall
inventory levels, labor costs and safety stocks to be reduced.
Readers covering warehouse racks, shelves and other storage
locations could automatically record the removal of items and
update inventory records. If an item was misplaced or needed
urgently to complete an order, fixed-position readers or a worker
with a mobile computer and RFID reader could automatically
search for the item by reading for its specific ID number.
To secure inventory from theft and diversion, readers could
be set to sound alarms or send notification if items are placed
in unauthorized areas of the facility or removed from storage
without prior approval. An Auto-ID Center study found consumer
goods manufacturers would reduce shrink (inventory loss) by an
estimated 10 percent by implementing secure storage areas

RFID will initially be used to manage the identification of large lots of goods—
for example, at the pallet and carton levels. RFID tags, therefore, must have
unique serial identifier information that associates each lot with a corresponding
bill of lading sent from the originator. Because RFID readers can scan tags many
times during a 1-second period, the serial identifier will prevent the application
making the data request from getting multiple counts of the same items.

ndustrial control and material handling

systems can integrate with RFID readers to identify materials
moving down a production line and automatically route the
items to the appropriate assembly or testing station. This
capability, which requires no human intervention to look up
item serial numbers or other identification marks, provides
the accuracy and labor savings needed to efficiently execute
complex sequencing and make-to-order production

RFID tags or labels on pallets, cylinders, RPCs and other shipping

containers can be automatically read at the dock door as they
leave with an outgoing shipment. By matching the reading with
specific shipment information in a database, manufacturers
could automatically build a record of what specific shipping
containers were sent to each customer. This information could
be used to document cycle times, improve returns and recoveries
and aid in disputes with customers about lost or damaged
assets
read as they are assembled into a complete customer order or
shipment. The individual readings could be used to automatically
produce a shipment manifest, which could be printed in a
document, recorded automatically in the shipping system,
encoded in an RFID tag, printed in a 2D bar code on the shipping
label, or any combination. For example the Serial Shipping
Container Code (SSCC) data structure, which is commonly used
in bar codes on shipping labels, could be encoded into RFID to
facilitate automated handling. The new RFID application could
be very effectively integrated into existing business processes
because it takes advantage of data structures that are already
supported in enterprise databases and software application

The program, called the AVIS system, implants a tag in each product that
identifies the component at various parts of the assembly chain and tells the
operator exactly what to do. The data is then shifted from station to station, and
determines whether or not the component is fit to pass to the next stage.

Wal-Mart, the world’s second largest company, is deploying RFID technology in its
stores. “Wal-Mart is positioning itself at the front of an inevitable
technological revolution, even if it means dragging others into a future they’re
not sure they want,” said Dillman, Chief Information Officer, Wal-Mart.

Furthermore, Dillman states, “I had no idea we’d get a reaction like this. But the
fact that this is happening in public doesn’t change our focus on making sure it
happens.” Dillman is referring to some resistance from consumer advocates who are
concerned about privacy issues and
suppliers who are concerned about the fair cost for their end of the technology

aimglobal.org. Technologies: RFID / What is RFID?

http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/what_is_rfid.asp
Bemrose Booth.com. Supply Chain Management
http://rfid.bemrosebooth.com/retail_supply_chain.php
epic.org. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems: What you Can Do to
Protect
Your Privacy. Retrieved November 2, 2009 from
http://epic.org/privacy/rfid/
Hicks, Donald A. 2001. Next Generation Supply Chain Strategic Planning.
Ascets Vol 2
Intermec Technologies Corporation. (2007). Supply Chain RFID: How It Works and Why
It Pays.
http://epsfiles.intermec.com/eps_files/eps_wp/SupplyChainRFID_wp_web.pdf.
Information Technology Association of America. (2004). Radio Frequency
Identification RFID...Coming of Age
http://www.itaa.org/rfid/docs/rfid.pdf.

Hicks, D.A. (2001), "Next generation supply chain strategic planning technology
and applications", LLama-Soft Inc., White Paper, available at:
http://hicks.ASCET.com, .

RFID Journal. The History of RFID Technology

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1338/1/129/
Schwartz, E. (2004). Wal-Mart promises RFID will benefit suppliers. InfoWorld.
Retrieved November 2, 2009 from
http://www.infoworld.com/t/data-management/wal-mart-promises-rfid-will-benefit-
suppliers-160

Wisconsin Technology Network. Upgrading your business with RFID. Retrieved

December 8, 2007 from
http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=946#Scene_1
.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a system that facilitates the tracking of

objects, primarily for inventory tracking, via a three part technology comprised
of a reader, a transceiver with decoder and a transponder (RF tag). RFID is a
wireless system that works in conjunction with an organization’s information
technology infrastructure to improve business processes such as inventory
management and efficiency in supply chain management.

The development of RFID was spurred by the need to enhance tracking and access
applications in the 1980’s in manufacturing and other hostile environments. This
noncontact means of gathering and tracking information proved to be resilient.
RFID is now an established part of specific business processes in a variety of
markets

* The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag and to read and write
data to it.
* The reader emits radio waves in ranges of anywhere from one inch to 100 feet
or more, depending upon its power output and the radio frequency used. When an
RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's
activation signal.
* The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon
chip) and the data is passed to the host computer for processing.

RFID technology has been used in closed loop supply chains or to automate parts of
the supply chain within a company's control for years.

As standards emerge, companies are increasingly turning to RFID to track shipments

among supply chain partners.

The reader emits a radio signal that activates the tag and reads and writes data
to it. As
products are shipped, received or stored, the information (encoded on a bar code
like tag) can be read and received by the reader, which is attached to a computer.
RFID has been integrated into the EPCglobal network and uses the EPC (Electronic
Product Code). The EPC is a unique number that identifies a specific item in the
supply chain. The EPC is stored on a RFID tag,
which combines a silicon chip and a reader. Once the EPC is retrieved from the
tag, it
can be associated with dynamic data such as the origin of an item or the date of
its production. Much like a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) or Vehicle
Identification Number (VIN), the EPC is the key that unlocks the power of the
information systems that are part of the EPCglobal Network
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