The one-store RFID success story
Issue #223 | Feb. 4, 2010 | by Andy Kowl
If it is worth it for one bike shop to implement RFID, can your company's use of the technology be all that far behind?
Uptown Cycles, a customer service-dedicated bicycle retailer in Charlotte, N.C., recently was mentioned in a flurry of press releases about their use of RFID. I had the chance to catch up with owner Chris Sheehan and learn how he approached this.
Let's face it: when you think of RFID implementations you don't often think of a one-store solution. Has RFID gotten to the point there is ROI for a small business with a handful of employees?
My first reaction is to feel happy the industry may be at the point ROI comes in a size for Main Street. Then I thought, nostalgically, despite all the talk of "Main Street" by politicians
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All RTLS are made up of similar components executed in different fashions. The most visible component is the asset tag itself. Unlike passive RFID tags used in supply chain applications, RTLS tags are powered; therefore, battery life is a factor in operating costs. Tags can have other features like switches, buttons, indicators, and tampering (unauthorized removal) indicators. Tags communicate with receivers - sometimes referred to as sensors, readers, nodes or detectors
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Even before federal and state laws requiring manufacturers and distributors to keep detailed product identity and chain of custody records take effect, industry leaders are looking at RFID as the likely solution. It is important to note that RFID is just one of various approaches to meeting drug pedigree rules. Regulatory standards for the format of pedigrees and the technologies used to generate them have not been set - and a particular technology may never be part of written law.
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For asset tracking, and particularly for Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), RFID is not always the answer. Ultrasound technology implementations also provide these auto identification benefits. Ultrasound refers to sound waves that are higher than 20,000 cycles per second, which is beyond what the human ear can hear. The ultrasound used for asset tracking is not the same ultrasound we often first encounter as expectant parents viewing a fetus in the womb, which operate on far higher
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