RFID is a core element for the future of manufacturing logistics, and more companies are moving towards implementing the technology for supply chain management and inventory control, amongst other uses. Schenker, a global logistics company and subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, is doing a test run on RFID on ten of their service containers. Currently, the containers travel between Hamburg, Germany and Hong Kong. Future plans include electronic seals, using RFID, to document container access. [via Food Production Daily]

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Speaking of money, the Taiwanese government is planning to spend over NT$2 B to promote RFID. The industry there is expected to be worth around NT$70 B by 2013. [via DigiTimes Systems] Taiwan has been proactive in testing new technologies. Earlier this year, Taipei City's government announced a municipal Wi-Fi project for government workers and others to use up to 200,000 wireless VoIP phones by the end of the year.

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IDTechEx is offering free help in hooking up RFID-related businesses, including printed electronics and smart packaging, with VC (Venture Capitalists) who want to invest in the industry. Get more details from IDTechEx. They also have a report that can be purchased about RFID and how to raise funds, etc. There are free sample pages (PDF), an overview (PDF), and a listing of the table of contents.

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RFID use in the reusable container market is expected to grow, and a trial is being conducted by the Reusable Pallet & Container Coalition (RPCC). Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target tend to use reusable pallets and containers in their supply chain, and their preferred means of tracking assets is with RFID technology. The study is being conducted to see what type of multi-use RFID tags can withstand long-term reuse. [via RFID Watch Weekly]

Besides RPCC, other testing of RFID-enabled reusable pallets are being conducted by iGPS, Intelligent Global Pooling Systems. iGPS entered an agreement with Schoeller Arca Systems. The latter will manufacture several million reusable all-plastic pallets to iGPS's specifications. The resulting pallets weigh under 50 pounds and handle over one empirical ton of material. They can be used for a variety of industries, which is likely to make iGPS a busy company. [via RFID Solutions Online]

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Infant products manufacturer Peg Perego USA has contracted Northern Apex Corp. to install its RFID technology in Perego's manufacturing and shipping facilities at their Indiana location(s). [via Inside INdiana Business]

SATO American and ThingMagic are partnering to combine their collective RFID experience. Together, SATO's label printers and ThingMagic's readers are expected to serve a wider base of customers. [via Textile Fashion News]

The NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) in the Philippines has published their guidelines (PDF, 4 pages)on the use of radio frequency technology. RFID equipment must operate within three frequency bands, and suppliers have to register with the NTC. [via INQ7]

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SmartCode has set up an RFID manufacturing plant in Chicago, it's largest of all operations. The plant will produce EPC-based products, for use by companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. [via RFID Blog]

Cattle owners in Texas have managed to recover over 5000 cattle, from rustlers, due to the RFID tags used on each animal. [via RFID Blog]

Concerns over the security of the new RFID-enabled ePassport has been a boon for security providers such as Smartrac, whose revenues doubled in Q1+Q2 2006, compared 2005. [via RFID News]

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Impinj, once the only Gen2 RFID chip manufacturer, now has increased competition. However, having been the company that helped draft Gen2 standards, they are way ahead of the new Gen2 manufacturers such as STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Philips.

Now Impinj has stepped even further ahead with new RFID Gen2 chips, Monza/ID and Monaco/64, that have better data storage features, including user-programmable memory.

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RTLS (Real-Time Location System) solutions seem to be the hot thing in the RFID industry. RF Code is offering the TAVIS platform for tracking high-value assets and people. [via RFID News]

Because RFID-based asset management is seen by a number of large companies as a way to cut down on losses, RTLS is expected to a hot industry. So hot, in fact, that companies in the RFID industry are even giving up their existing radio frequency activities to develop and market RTLS systems.

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More companies in the RFID industry are partnering up to offer solutions jointly to customers. Partnering for companies includes co-marketing. The expectation is that partnerships increase the likelihood of customers for a given company. [via RFID News]

The other reason for this increased trend is to reduce the cost of RFID projects, which have been prohibitive for some clients. Personally, I still think that developing a single RFID chip standard will go a long way towards doing that.

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A California company, Kena Kai, is offering a new line of wallets for people carrying RFID-enabled smartcards. [via Contactless News]

Kena Kai's DataSafe Wallets(tm) are most likely based on the Faraday Cage principle, which Emvelope's RF-shielding wallet insert supposedly uses.

A similar solution, Shelly, consists of a card which temporarily disables a smartcard's communication. These cards come in "Hello Kitty" cutesy themes.[via RFID in Japan]

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The Spanish Armed Forces (SAF) has deployed an RFID solution from Savi Technology. The network is interoperable with similar solutions used by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and other allied forces. This allows SAF and NATO to jointly manage combined supply chains. [via PR Newswire]

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RF Code a $30M, three-year deal to supply RFID asset management software to SYMX Corporation, a company that makes medical equipment and provides related services. At its completion, this project will involve approximately one million RFID tags. The potential for further projects may exist at the end of this deal. [via RFID Update]

RF Code is a company that RFID industry insiders think may be a candidate for going public soon.

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It's not RFID but it serves a similar functionality. IBM Japan and another company have developed 2D barcodes that remain invisible unless exposed to black light. [via RFID in Japan]

ABI Research has identified four trends in RFID software and services: (1) Consolidation; (2) Vendor collaboration and partnerships; (3) Off-the-shelf solutions; and (4) Experience. All four trends will have positive effects for end users of RFID technology. [via RFID Update]

Intelleflex Corp, an RFID platforms maker, secured nearly US$16M in series B funding. Some series A lenders also participated. [via RFID Solutions Online]

KDDI may be releasing an RFID reader attachment for cell phones in Fall 2006. The device would communicate with mobile phones/ PDAs using Bluetooth. [via RFID in Japan]

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Engadget has an interesting story of how a couple of UK criminals and a crooked gas station attendant intercepted RFID-enabled smart credit card numbers, then actually flew over to India to make withdrawals. Although they rescinded their story and later said that the cards were "smartcards", not RFID.

Umm, no. Smartcards use radio frequency chips, too. At least the ones I'm aware of. [via Engadget] By the way, a Boing Boing post says it was Sri Lanka, via India, for the scene of the second part of the crime. [Follow the trail of hyperlinks, and this is like a game of "telephone", where information mutates. Scott Carney has the full story. The crooks were Sri Lankan, they went to England for the first part of the crime, and then to India to use the stolen numbers.]

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PricewaterhouseCoopers will be using AXCESS International's ActiveTag RFID + RTLS (Real-Time Location System) technology to track assets in PWC's Mexico City office. The system will be able to signal in real-time when an asset such as a laptop has been removed from designated areas. [via BusinessWire]

Asset management is an important application of RFID for many large companies, and a system like ActiveTag helps reduce losses and thefts. PricewaterhouseCoopers is the second global consulting firm to use the ActiveTag solution.

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A privacy researcher is demonstrating how the data and signals from the RFID chips in smartcards and e-passports can be cracked or cloned. Melanie Rieback, a doctoral student of Vrije University in the Netherlands, came up with a device to hijack radio frequency signals. Although she says that she's not anti-RFID, she feels the technology has to be used responsibly. [via Australian IT]

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IBM and others have already foreseen the need for skilled RFID workers and are trying to do something about expected shortage, especially of IT people. To start with, they're offering free RFID system modelling tools that help businesses understand standards and get up to speed much faster.

The IBM tools, however, do require other not so free software before they'll run. Other companies have taken a different approach, offering up RFID equipment and lab facilities to universities and colleges.

Additional sources: Information Week.

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As part of their RFID trials, Unilever has been tagging cases of its products using EPC Global's EPCIS standard. Unilever is expecting that EPCIS will help them eliminate some of the time and cost of the supply chain for CPGs (Consumer Packaged Goods).

Unilever's trial uses a new prototype data repository based on EPCIS and created by IBM. The repository also uses the XML standard, so data can be sent back and forth more conveniently to and from software applications. XML is a generalized markup language that is fast replacing the HTML code that powers web pages on the Internet, but can also be used for other software purposes.

Sources: RFID Journal.

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With India's economy (and inflation) booming due technology jobs and outsourcing services, it's not surprising that someone decided to finally set up an RFID tag manufacturing plant there. Chennai, once called Madras, is where the new plant will be set up, by Gemini Traze RFID Pvt. Ltd., in an electronics industrial park.

India is the first of the seven SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations to build an RFID tag plant. Production output is expected to be 45 million UHF (Ultra High Frequency) tags each year, with the possibility of more. Potential future tag price reduction is as much as sixty percent. [via CIOL]

Personally, I'm surprised that an RFID plant hasn't been built a lot sooner, considering how much moaning there's been about the cost, and how successful India's been in handling technological work outsourced to them from Western countries .

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RFID technology has not made as much of an inroads into consumer use as originally predicted by some experts. At least not in the expected time frame, with widespread adoption expected to take much longer. In fact, a lot of announced future applications are still prototypes. However, there already are RFID applications in use that are little known.

For example, 150 million car keys have had RFID technology since 1991. Such a key has to match up with a sensor in the steering column, or the car won't start. So counterfeit keys will not work. [via WFAA.com] Well I'll be! That's one app I wasn't aware of. And 15 years in use, too.

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While enthusiasm for RFID from retailers may have been low the past couple of years, David Hogan, CIO of the National Retail Foundation (US) thinks that will change. He points out that bar-coding took up to 12 years for adoption by retailers, and that it may take longer for RFID's adoption because of its complexity relative to bar-coding. [via RFID Journal]

Of course, a reduced price per RFID tag will make a difference as well. With inflation being what it is, and with consumer perception often being that RFID is more for the benefit of manufacturers and retailers, they would not stand for price increases due to the use of RFID.

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Alien Technologies was supposed to offer their IPO sometime last week. Having missed the news of the delay, I came to the same conclusion by checking the stock market board (Nasdaq). In truth, Alien's IPO delay was supposed to be for one day, and now its indefinite.

This delay or postponement of IPOs has been a trend for tech companies this year, and given the volatility of the stock market, might be for some years. Whether this will affect the IPO plans of other RFID companies is to be seen.

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BlueBean's DIY RFID SecureAccess Solution Kit is available to be used with an existing yard management system, in order to identify inbound and outbound trucks and trailers. The kit comes with several components, including a reader, antennas, tags, software, instructions, a demo application and more. [via WebWire]

The University of Kansas is offering a two-day implementation course for RFID Cold Chain management. The course takes place in early Feb 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is aimed at technical people and executives new to RFID and how it applies to the cold chain. More RFID has more info as to who should consider attending.

Jeco Plastic Products has specially designed RFID-ready pallets for th printing and automotive industries. The pallets have slots that can accept RFID tags. [via ThomasNet]

The Royal Post (UK postal service) is using RFID to monitor mail delivery, with the hopes of improving service and reducing lost or stolen letters. [via VNUNet]

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Modern Materials Handling notes that Wisconsin became the first state in the USA to ban the forced implantation of RFID chips, but says that it's "like a law in search of a crime that has yet to be commited." But that's not for lack of trying. One of my university computer professors mentioned in 1986 (might have been 1991) that there's a group in California who wants every newborn baby microchipped like our household pets. So just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean we should wait to pass laws banning this.

The US DOD (Department of Defense) Distribution Center is having over 300 passive RFID portals installed across their logistics network. ODIN Technologies won the contract. [via PR Newswire]

Venture Development Corp's new report says that the market for RFID printer-encoders and applicators will grow by approximately 80 percent annually, on average, for the next few years. This will largely be due to applications in CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods), healthcare, agnd government. [via RFID Journal, Supply + Demand Chain Executive] Compare this to Datamonitor's report that says the revenue of the RFID market in general will double over the next five years, due to the wide variety of possible applications. [via CBR Online]

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