UK retailer claims RFID success

UK retail chain Marks & Spencer says three of its largest food suppliers are starting to realise business benefits from using RFID, reports ComputerWeekly.

Northern Foods, RHM and World Wide Fruit have tagged the pallets that they send to Marks & Spencer since the retailer mandated pallet-level tagging its 115 of its food suppliers in 2004.

The three food producers are using RFID to control the movement of pallets through their own supply chains. Northern Foods says it is now able to monitor 700 000 tags a week using a single centralised read-and-write system, making it possible to trace every tray from time of fill at manufacture through to the time it is out-loaded and at which particular depot.

The RFID Lab at the University of Parma in Italy is developing a model of a full-scale warehouse to test RFID technology in collaboration with 20 manufacturers and retailers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

RFID Journal says the model includes receiving docks and storage racks. Using input from 20 Italian companies, the project will reproduce warehouse logistics processes typical to the food and FMCG sector.

The project will examine how RFID can help automate data collection and data sharing at warehouses. It will also test how companies can use RFID to automate and optimise storage, shipments and other internal processes.

RFID tag maker AdvantaPure has announced what it claims is the first read/write RFID tag that can be sterilised by gamma radiation for use in the pharmaceutical, bioprocess, biomedical, food and beverage industries that require clean production environments.

ProcessingTalk says RFID tags are used increasingly in clean applications because of their many advantages over traditional paper records and log books. Tags provide a dependable electronic link to certifications, installation instructions, warning notices and disposal procedures.

However, AdvantaPure says it has been difficult to sterilise tags in the past. The company says its new GammaTag addresses that issue because it can be sterilised as a unit using gamma radiation.

The latest version of Sybase iAnywhere's software infrastructure for developing and managing distributed sensor network applications including RFID solutions is available.

More RFID says version 3.0 of RFID iAnywhere enables business to track assets from a range of data collection points and then enhances the value of this data by associating environmental inputs and location data.

According to iAnywhere, RFID Anywhere's Location Information System is able to add location awareness and business intelligence to the sensor network, providing context-sensitive, real-time views of the enterprise.

Germany's University of Munich has developed a prototype application using an industrial staple gun mounted on a single-grip harvester to attach RFID tags automatically to felled logs to help track timber moving through the processing line.

The RFID Journal says the system is designed to help forestry companies track the multi-step process of cutting down trees and transporting them to a processing plant. This often involves four or five independent contractors.

The prototype application helps keep track or how much wood has been harvested and the location of the wood at each stage of the harvesting process. The report says the automatic attachment of RFID tags to logs is what differentiates the solution from other systems.