Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. The technology requires some extent of cooperation of an RFID reader and an RFID tag.
An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.
There are generally two types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery, and passive RFID tags, which have no battery.
Today, RFID is used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management.

How RFID Works

An RFID tag is embedded in a component item. The item tag can then be read and written to during the manufacturing process in order to gather and exchange Work-in-Process data. That same tag could then be read or written to by shipping personnel at the manufacturer’s shipping dock to release the original manufacturer’s item from their inventory. Shipping information could then be written to the item tag by the transportation carrier as it’s transported from the manufacturing plant. That item could now be on its way to the end user, the next add on manufacturing site, or distribution center with complete item, source, process, and ultimate destination information included. Upon arrival at any of these locations the item tracking information could be read automatically with a fixed or portable RFID interrogator.

Finally, that same individual item tag could be read and written to at the retail store level, providing the retailer with additional pricing, receipt date, inventory, and theft prevention information.



Logistics and Transportation Solutions

In logistics and transportation operations, processes change rapidly; vehicles and equipment move within and between facilities and inventory levels highly fluctuate. Location, status and condition data of assets (i.e. shipping containers, racks, carriers, vehicles) can boost operational efficiency and drive profitability in logistics environments indoors or outdoors, including yards, parking lots, transportation hubs, warehouses and distribution centers. Solutions involving RFID enable logistics and transportation operations to maintain visibility in any environment throughout the enterprise by combining various sources of location, status and condition data - including Active RFID, Passive RFID, GPS, and advanced sensors – over standard Wi-Fi networks, into a single platform.




Warehouse Management

Real-time visibility is critical for streamlining business processes and operations in logistics warehouses. The RFID solution enables overseeing the location of all trailers and containers as well as yard service vehicles throughout the yard in real-time while automating and increasing efficiency of gate and dock operations. The data can be integrated to any inventory management system in order to ensure optimal scheduling and planning. Customers can efficiently manage trailers and containers in large distributed yards, improve labor productivity, expedite gate entry and reduce costs related to vehicle patrols.



Transport and Shipping

The delivery industry is extremely dependent on location and condition of delivered goods. Truck, trailer and container departure and arrival times at hubs and other destinations can be monitored in real-time. By maintaining accurate and real-time visibility of roll-cages and shipping containers moving in between distributed hubs and locations, the efficiency and speed of delivery services can be significantly improved. Sensitive products can also be monitored throughout the supply chain (i.e. temperature monitoring of pharmaceutical products) to ensure safety and regulatory compliance.



Distribution Outlets

Dynamically changing inventory in large distribution centers can be very challenging for suppliers that are required to meet high customer service levels. A visibility solution from RFID enables distribution centers and warehouses whether indoors or outdoors to constantly monitor inventory levels, capacity, arrival and departure of assets to the site or to specific stations on site. Such information enables significant improvements in efficiency and quality of service. Sensitive products can also be monitored while in storage or transit (i.e. temperature monitoring of food and pharmaceutical products) to ensure product quality and regulatory compliance.




Healthcare Solutions

Healthcare organizations today face numerous challenges due to lack of visibility – low utilization rates, over rental and over purchasing of medical equipment, non compliance with regulatory mandates, inefficient use of staff time, loss and theft of equipment and more. Solutions based on our RFID leverages the existing hospital Wi-Fi network to provide visibility over a single unified solution at the lowest cost of ownership, combining a wide variety of location, status and condition information about valuable medical assets, patients and staff. Our solutions span all hospital departments and serve the needs of clinical staff, IT, materials management, clinical and biomedical engineers, laboratory personnel and others.




Proactive equipment maintainence:

Clinical and bio-med engineers maintain thousands of medical devices periodically. In many cases, a high percentage of the equipment is not maintained on time since assets cannot be found, leading to non compliance and quality of care issues. With the RFID solution, any tagged equipment throughout the hospital campus can be located according to preventive maintenance pickup schedules, and automated maintenance alerts can also include equipment location and status. The solution can also be integrated to any existing clinical engineering system.




Asset control and management:

Mobile medical equipment inventory management poses many challenges: clinical staff is constantly searching for medical devices such as infusion pumps and wheelchairs, wait times for ordered equipment are long, clean utility rooms do not have the appropriate par levels for equipment, hundreds of thousands of riyals worth of assets are lost and stolen on an annual basis and assets have ROI. With a visibility solution hospitals can automate all the inventory management and receive real-time inventory counts at the click of a button, full control of rental equipment inventory is achieved, par level management is automated and material management and distribution services can receive automated alerts. In addition, trends in equipment availability and utilization can be easily identified and analyzed.




Temperature Monitoring:

Lab, pharmacy and nursing staff are required to perform manual temperature monitoring and logging several times a day on hundreds of refrigerators and freezers (i.e. storage of blood, organs, drugs, vaccines, tissue samples or food) to ensure safe temperature ranges. RFID temperature sensing Wi-Fi tags are battery powered and can be easily placed in each hospital refrigerator or freezer sending the temperature reads over the Wi-Fi network every few minutes.
Workflow and Resource Management:
In OR and ER/ED environments, knowing the exact location and status of patients, physicians, available rooms and key clinical equipment is critical to improving patient care, automating departmental workflow and increasing throughput. In these departments it is important to be able to get not only to a room or zone level accuracy, but also to a bay level accuracy (i.e. in Pre-Op or Recovery areas).




Government Sectors

Visibility solutions are relevant not only for private corporations but also for the government sector. The requirements for such solutions vary greatly depending on the nature of the government institution, but public organizations that can benefit from visibility include healthcare, military, local government and others. The following are some common applications:
•    High value and sensitive asset tracking. Assets need to be tracked in many segments of the government, including weapons and sensitive materials in ammunitions and manufacturing facilities, valuable military supplies being carried through the supply chain to the front line, as well as medical devices in government healthcare institutions.
•    Military personnel tracking. Tracking applications have relevance both in training environments and in the field. Location-enabled training environments are important for better learning during exercises, and RFID solutions are highly suited for urban indoor/outdoor combat environments. Security systems in military bases can also be improved through personnel tracking and the ability to determine unauthorized entrance or exit from defined areas.