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RFID

RFID Asset Tracking Systems: Features to Look For

RFID asset tracking and management systems should have certain features that meet tracking challenges. Continue reading for six specific attributes to look for when deciding which system to choose. 

With costs coming down and the technology making great advances, more and more industries and businesses, large and small, are investing in RFID as a cost-effective solution to meet their asset tracking challenges. One study estimates the global market for RFID technologies will be $38 billion by 2021, more than double the market today. If you are considering using RFID, below are six characteristics that a good RFID asset tracking and management system should have.

RFID Tracking System Characteristics to Look For

  1. Easily Integrated. No manager wants the pain and cost of completely replacing existing infrastructure. If you can’t integrate a system easily, few of the decision-makers will get on board for implementation. An RFID system does involve purchasing additional equipment and software, but the right asset tracking system will also work together with existing systems, meaning modification rather than replacement.
  1. Growth Options. Your asset management system should easily expand as your company grows. Make sure the software is flexible and future-proof.
  1. Customizable. “One-size-fits-all” is not a desirable feature in asset management systems – every business need and situation is unique. The solution needs to adapt to your specific needs and budget.
  1. Asset Visibility. Improved technology reduces some of the limitations of RFID. The system should track in any environment, indoor or outdoor, and track moving assets if required. The best solution provides real-time tracking with accurate, up-to-date reporting.
  1. Secure. A secure RFID system is one that offers safeguards. Tracking assets makes it easier to monitor compliance and security issues, but an effective system will monitor and sends alerts, and then create reports for auditing purposes.
  1. Cost Effective. This means more than ROI. An RFID asset tracking system may improve safety, which goes beyond positive or negative ROI. But your asset tracking solution should easily install and be maintainable, and it should not require intensive training or additional staff.

RFID Tracking System Alternative Options

When analyzing the cost of these systems, you will need to consider whether you need passive or active RFID. Active tags are more expensive, but by being battery-powered and always “on”, they are better for tracking real-time locations and moving assets. Active tags are also read from further away than passive tags. Passive tags depend on the reader for power but are used in many instances and are a more economical solution for some applications.

Conclusion – Consider Aware Innovations

Knowing the basics to look for is important, but most companies don’t have the in-house resources to install and commission an RFID asset tracking system efficiently and effectively. The additional expense of having expert guidance will more than pay for itself through a faster deployment with less risk.  You start seeing the advantages of the RFID system – and the resulting positive ROI – much sooner.

Aware Innovations has the consulting and integration services to help you make the right decisions. For more information on how an RFID asset tracking and management system can help your business be more efficient and productive, contact us today.

Categories
RFID

RFID Tracking

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking is indispensable for thousands of businesses worldwide. There are several benefits to using RFID to automatically identify and keep track of assets and inventory. Continue reading to learn more about this tracking option and the benefits it has. 

What is RFID Tracking?

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking is the use of RFID tags to track assets or inventory. These tags are attached to items that an organization wants to collect data on. Once the tag is placed, an RFID scanner scans them, and data is captured and stored.

RFID Tracking Benefits:

Time and Cost Savings

Perhaps the primary benefit of using RFID technology to track your assets is the time and cost savings. According to a comprehensive study by RAMP RFID, an organization with approximately 100,000 assets can save up to $150,000 by moving to RFID-based asset tracking technology.

Unlike traditional barcode scanning and manual tracking, RFID technology uses radio and electromagnetic signals to track truckloads of information. For example, for an organization to check inventory on a service van, they just need to turn on the RFID reader and information about the inventory loaded on that specific van will be transmitted instantly. Receiving this information instantly saves the company time that would have been spent manually tracking the inventory.

Another case study showed that a client company was able to dwindle its inventory costs by a whopping 60% after it moved to an IoT-based RFID solution made by GenPact.

Avoiding ‘Lost Sales’ and Theft

Companies around the world suffer massive losses amid ‘lost sales’ which may be a result of the lack of RFID tracking technology. Human error gives the opportunity to misplace physical items. By placing tiny radio transponders or tags, companies can track their assets and items constantly.

Tracking constantly, without the vulnerability of human error, could result in literally thousands of dollars in savings annually. Walmart made RFID technology mandatory in its warehouses and supply stores in 2005 when they realized the cost savings and efficiency that resulted. American Apparel was able to get 100% visibility over its assets after introducing an Ultra-High Frequency (UHR) RFID solution in its stores. The company also managed to track and recover 1,500 lost items due to RFID technology.

Standardized and Scalable

RFID has become a standardized way of tracking assets and inventory. In 2008, the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) was founded by big companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and other tech companies. The purpose of the consortium was to standardize the RFID tracking technology of assets. This initiative made RFID scalable and secure.

Passive RFID technology is used for tracking physical assets. It doesn’t matter what kind of assets a business wants to track. Everything from IT assets like computers, smartphones and tablets to healthcare assets like medical equipment and patients.

We have a Tracking Solution for Every Business Need:

At Aware Innovations, we give businesses the power and visibility to make intelligent decisions by providing improved process, supply chain and asset visibility through innovative and modern solutions. We know that tracking assets and inventory is important. We also know that it can be labor-intensive and vulnerable to error. Implementing an RFID tracking system is the solution thousands of businesses worldwide have chosen to save time and money. Our ItemAware software helps locate, track and sense what matters to your business using RFID, barcodes, BLE, cellular GPS, and other automatic identification and data capture technologies.

Contact us for a free 30-minute demo of this intuitive, modern tracking software. We will show you how using ItemAware can save you time and money, how you can recover ‘lost sales’, and how we can scale it to fit your specific business needs.

Categories
RFID

Omni-ID Launches New Passive UHF RFID Tags

Omni-ID Launches New Passive UHF RFID Tags

New Passive UHF RFID Tag Suite expands Omni-ID’s established RFID leadership to Manufacturing, Transportation and Defense markets. Continue reading below for information on this news release.

September 14, 2009, 09:01 ET

FOSTER CITY, CA–(Marketwire – September 14, 2009)

News Facts:

  • Omni-ID, the leading supplier of high-performance passive UHF RFID tags, today announces a suite of new products specifically designed for the manufacturing, transportation, and defense industries. The Omni-ID Ultra™, Omni-ID Max™ HD and Omni-ID Max™ Pro RFID tags are individually engineered to meet a range of market and customer needs, including those of global functionality across all geographic regions; near-perfect performance on, off, or near metals and liquids; and record read distances in on-metal-only environments.
  • The Omni-ID Manufacturing & Transportation product line takes full advantage of Omni-ID’s next-generation technology platform design, also announced today. Omni-ID has a fundamentally new approach to cost-effectively address the traditional limitations of passive UHF RFID, enabling the Company to meet market and customer needs for longer read distances; improved performance and reliability; and global functionality and interoperability with other RFID hardware and software. Omni-ID’s new passive RFID tags include:
    • Omni-ID Ultra: The Ultra is the longest read range, passive RFID tag currently available on the market today by a significant margin. In addition, the Ultra offers global functionality without any compromise in performance — an extremely important feature for applications being tracked internationally. By providing a balanced performance on, off, and near metals and liquids, Omni-ID Ultra protects customer investments and enables them to use the tags on different materials and in mixed-use environments. The Ultra’s heavy-duty casing supplies a level of durability essential to customers that require reliable identification of assets, and its ultra-long read ranges will target applications traditionally considered to be the domain of active and semi-passive solutions. This combination of features makes the Ultra an ideal tag for tracking containers, vehicles, and cargo commonly stored in outdoor environments.
    • Omni-ID Max HD: The Max HD is optimized for on-metal performance and offers a rugged encasement for added durability and high heat resistance in applications where a tag is subject to high impact and extreme weather conditions. Its global functionality offers broadband performance for use of a single tag worldwide. The Max HD is ideal for containers, cargo, racks and bins that will be moved between regions with different operating frequencies.
    • Omni-ID Max Pro: The Max Pro is an evolution of the Omni-ID Max product line. It provides longer read ranges than the traditional Omni-ID Max tag, and an additional level of ruggedness and more resistance to impact or vibration. The Max Pro is ideal for applications that require maximum performance in on-metal environments, such as retail warehouse inventory tracking, and offers a longer read range for on-metal applications than most tags currently on the market.
  • Omni-ID has already established itself as a value innovation leader for bringing the benefits of RFID applications to commercial services markets. By designing a new suite of tags that can cost-effectively track high-value assets across global regions and harsh environments — all with no compromise to performance levels — Omni-ID is extending its reach to meet the RFID needs of manufacturing, transportation and defense customers worldwide.

Quotes:

  • “With this Manufacturing & Transportation product suite, Omni-ID is taking the passive UHF technology innovation it brought to IT asset tracking solutions to now enable additional markets,” said Michael Liard, RFID Practice Director, ABI Research. “Omni-ID’s new offerings target a multitude of manufacturing, transportation and defense applications, including harsh and challenging environments where range, reliability, and ruggedization are key requirements.”
  • “Our next-generation passive RFID technology offers an unprecedented opportunity for tracking high-value assets in manufacturing, transportation/logistics, and defense markets,” said Tom Pavela, President and CEO, Omni-ID. “By evolving our technology platform and designing a new suite of RFID tags specifically geared to meet customer needs in these markets, Omni-ID provides exceptional global broadband accuracy and high performance in environments where passive RFID performance was previously unreliable. From tracking cargo and transportation vehicles to warehouse inventory environments, we anticipate Omni-ID’s Ultra, Max HD and Max Pro tags will enable new applications, no matter what global region or surrounding environment.”

About Omni-ID

Omni-ID is the leading supplier of high-performance passive UHF RFID tags that deliver near-perfect read rates on, off and near metals and liquids. Using a fundamentally different approach to RFID design, Omni-ID created a patented technology structure that allows for continued innovation and product development. Omni-ID has built a global partner ecosystem with leading RFID technology companies to deliver complete RFID asset tracking, supply chain management, work-in-process and cargo and container tracking solutions. To complement its product line, Omni-ID has a full-service bureau offering to ensure efficient and seamless deployment of RFID implementations. With offices in Foster City, Calif. and in the UK, along with a manufacturing facility in China, Omni-ID’s mission is to drive the widespread adoption of RFID technology as the optimal tracking and identification solution. For more information, visit www.Omni-ID.com.

Omni-ID Unveils The Ultimate Passive Tag with 135 Foot Read Range

For more information regarding how we help businesses solve their business needs with RFID tags, contact us here.

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