RFID: 4 Steps To Do It Right
Determine if RFID is really the answer.
RFID is still, for the most part, an emerging technology for many customers, Morris said. While various components have been around for a while, customers still don't have a clear idea of what RFID really means. Some people think RFID is a GPS system, and there are others who consider it a replacement for bar codes.
In fact, BrickHouse Security tries to avoid using the word during the initial sale and discussion stage. "Many customers often call and say, 'I need RFID,' but to them, it's just something they heard about," Morris said.
Solution providers should talk with the customer to understand, first, what the problem is that needs to be fixed, or what risk they are trying to minimize, Morris said. This is essential. For instance, Morris told of a client that supplied fresh seafood to restaurants around the country that requested RFID. After further discussion, it turned out the company was concerned about thefts of lobster tails and crabmeat from the warehouse. RFID was not the ideal solution in this situation because of the cold temperature and the way the seafood is packaged. No one wants to insert an RFID chip inside food. BrickHouse Security installed security cameras instead. A simple conversation saved the customer time and money.
For small to midsize businesses, making sure RFID is the best solution is crucial, since some RFID deployments require a significantly high buy-in, such as investing in expensive Oracle databases and Symbol Technologies hardware.
Next: Step 2: Design by understanding the specs.
Design by understanding the specs.
Morris said RFID systems are generally simple enough that once deployed, customers can use one without a lot of training. On the other hand, to sell these custom solutions requires a trained sales and engineering force. The training is not on the technology, but rather on the industry's best practices and to think strategically about a situation. Solution providers should not offer RFID solutions to break into a new vertical; they should stay in verticals they know and understand.
First and foremost, RFID is not a technology sale. While compliance requirements from Wal-Mart and government agencies may be the reason the customer wants to get RFID, it's not enough to just plop in the tags, the readers and database. Solution providers must perceive the problem, the associated risks and pitfalls that make a solution difficult to deploy, and the specific business rules that would apply. Solution providers have to think about how the technology is being used.
For example, one of BrickHouse's clients, a microscope manufacturer, had a problem. The company sends its microscopes to universities, research labs and hospitals for evaluation over a specified period of time. At the end of the evaluation period, when sales engineers show up to take the microscopes back and/or to make a sale, they may discover that the person they initially dealt with is no longer part of the department, or the equipment has been moved around and no one has any idea where that particular microscope is ($40,000 per microscope is a big loss for the manufacturer to swallow).
This microscope manufacturer needed a solution that helped its sales engineers recover the evaluation units with the least amount of frustration. While this seems straightforward, for this to be accomplished there were several things that needed to be specified. Some were simple considerations, such as whether the manufacturer wanted to be able to pinpoint the exact location of the product within a facility (might not work so well in a hospital) or just to establish that the product was still on premises. The facility might be small enough that all the microscopes are, for the most part, in one area—which would simplify tracking. Sometimes the concern may be employees stealing the equipment, not the evaluators. Perhaps different groups have different levels of flexibility in how the evaluation units are used or returned.
Once all the requirements are established, a decision must be made on what kind of information needs to be in the database. While in some cases, a serial number of the evaluation unit and the address of the facility is enough, some more detail might be required to pinpoint location in other cases.
Next: Step 3: Pick the technology.
Pick the technology.
Solution providers and customers are too used to thinking of RFID as purely an asset management solution. But RFID is much more than a glorified bar-code system or a matter of entering data in the database. Whether the customer needs passive or active RFID is something the solution provider can determine during the design phase, when specifications and business needs are discussed.
Sometimes, the customer just needs to show that packages arrived and left the warehouse. For that scenario, passive RFID, the most common type of the technology, is just fine. Passive RFID tags are dropping in price (and will probably drop below a penny someday) and are small—they can even be a sticker—since there is no power supply or transmitter. The tags can be read by proximity readers from about 18 to 24 inches away. Symbol Technologies (now a part of Motorola) is the leading vendor of passive RFID solutions.
However, sometimes the customer wants to know what happened after the courier left the warehouse. This is where active RFID steps in. For suppliers of high-end goods, more information is necessary. Active RFID tags emit a signal, and the readers can measure the strength of the signal being emitted. Using a GPS-enabled component, the reader can then translate that into a fixed location.
Morris said one of his clients, a construction company, had a problem with air-conditioning units being stolen from its build sites. The units were equipped with RFID tags and were tracked to a storage facility. If the units had passive RFID tags, then the company would have been out of luck regarding a warrant, because the proximity readers could just indicate that there were units in the facility, but could not pinpoint the exact locker they were in. Since the company had active RFID tags on the units, the signal readers were able to measure the strength to identify the exact locker within the facility. Active RFID provides location-based security.
An active RFID tag is slightly larger—a circuit board that's roughly the size of a postage stamp, with its own battery, power and transmitter—and a bit more expensive, at about $15 a tag. Unlike passive tags, active tags can be reused, which helps justify the initial expense. These active tags provide a wealth of information, such as current status and a report on the object's condition. As part of a GPS-RFID solution, the tags can provide information about its exact location. Morris calls it a technological game of Marco Polo.
For the microscope manufacturer, active RFID was more helpful because it pinpoints which of the microscopes in a box with hundreds of identical boxes inside a warehouse is the one that needs to be sent to a prospective customer. Sales engineers know the university biology department has the microscope and they can find which biology laboratory on campus has the unit.
BrickHouse Security partners with London-based Loc8tor for its active RFID tags and readers. Loc8tor's tags transmit its location back to the readers continuously, letting the reader display its location in realtime. It can also be used to define a certain area the tag should stay within and send alerts whenever it is taken out of that zone. For the microscope manufacturer, this second function is more helpful. The RFID tag is configured to stay within the confines of a hospital. If the equipment is ever removed from the hospital for any reason, an alert will be triggered. The handheld readers can pick up signals from the tags from as far as 600 feet away. The readers can also track multiple tags at once.
BrickHouse Security also partners with Lightning GPS for GPS RFID solutions. Lightning GPS combines Google technology with GPS and wireless data to create an easy-to-use interface for managing mobile resources. The solution integrates realtime tracking into third-party applications using the company's XML-based API. Like Loc8tor, Lightning GPS also supplies RFID tags and handheld scanners among other types of solutions.
The company hosts the database that holds all the information collected. Users see a simplified virtual database interface listing assets, serial numbers, location and tag identifiers. Because it's a Web-based system, the customer has access to the information at all times. The system is also secure. The online manager lets the dispatcher see exactly what is happening with all the tagged items. The database can also be programmed with business rules that trigger specific actions when the condition is met.
Next: Step 4: Deploy and test.
Deploy and test.
Deployment generally takes two parts. First, BrickHouse identifies a small group of users and rolls out a pilot program. This includes setting up the database, assigning the readers and attaching tags. In the case of the microscope manufacturer, the tags were placed inside the microscopes themselves so that the tags couldn't be removed. BrickHouse worked with the client to make sure the tags were inserted correctly so that they are able to transmit signals and to protect them from getting damaged.
After deployment and getting familiar with the setup, the field engineers were encouraged to test the equipment in possible scenarios. "For testing, we push the risk envelope," Morris said. The microscope manufacturer's field force was sent to a hospital that had some of the evaluation microscopes and told to play "hide and seek" to try to find the units. This way, the engineers got firsthand experience on how the system worked and any problems could be ironed out before full-scale deployment. While the engineers didn't know the actual product locations, someone did, so it was a controlled test that gave engineers the opportunity to see what the system could do.
For a jeweler or gemstone supplier, the risk may be a little different. Instead of misplacing equipment, the supplier might be concerned about robbery. The test can be a staged mugging, where the sales rep is stuffed into the trunk of his car, Morris said. Enacting scenarios, even the really far-fetched ones, tests the system to its fullest and ensures the RFID technology meets all of the customer's requirements and rules. Structure is key.
In the end, everything boils down to having a well-balanced business.
Initial conversations and the design phase of the project can account for as much as 60 percent of a project. Because the hardware is not yet commoditized, margins are still high, but a successful practice balances professional services, hardware expertise and software solutions.