RFID powers up for supply chain take-up

The prospect of supply chain RFID with less hassle is coming closer, with ETSI’s (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) recommendation last month that the EU releases more radio spectrum. ETSI has also put its weight behind allowing use of RFID readers at 868Mhz and 2Watt rather than he current half watt of power – paving the way for higher tag read rates at greater distances without the cost and bureaucracy of buying low power radio transmitter licenses to operate. “We’re not anticipating any objections,” says Geoff Barraclough, marketing director BT Auto-ID services. “Germany has ratified this and the Benelux states will follow. The UK government, through Ofcom, has launched a consultation.” And he adds: “The increasing power level is important. Even at 2W, the radio regulations are stricter than in the US, where there’s a wider bandwidth and power up to 4W, so they can read more tags, faster and on the move.” Barraclough believes we can look forward to six weeks of consultation followed by a rubber stamp. He points out that will coincide with the release of EPC Generation Two tags onto the market later this year. “We’re already putting orders in and have deliveries planned [for Generation Two]. Companies will be able to buy these and the higher power readers and they’ll be legal.” Nevertheless, BT is not expecting a landslide of RFID implementation. “That’s not going to happen – it’s too costly and big budget for IT departments. We’re seeing organisations with business problems looking to RFID as another way to solve them based on pragmatic business cases. Barraclough also refutes the earlier prediction that supply chain RFID adoption will start with pallets, then boxes and finally items. “Actually, there’s more interest in the high value item level because that’s where you can’t track well today.” That will be the nature of RFID uptake: “Recent proposals include: one with a gambling machines operator who wants to make sure they’re in the right place right time; one with an investment bank that wants to know where IT assets are in the building; another at a re-usable transit packaging company; and one at an aerospace company in the US that wants to manage stillages of spare parts.” It’s starting to warm up, he says, and it’s important to note that the business case isn’t necessarily predicated on the value of the parts being tracked, but the value to the business of their location and audit trail.