RFID Business Process Review

A business process review is almost universally accepted as one of the first steps any company should take before implementing an RFID solution. This idea can be summed up by Dan Mullen, president of AIM Global (a trade association representing the automatic identification and data collection industry), who says that the first thing you need to do to implement an RFID system is to analyze your business processes/operations and identify pain points. Included in this process review are considerations for the following:

Find out how your software vendors (e.g. warehouse management and transportation management vendors) are prepared to deal with RFID technology.
Conduct an RFID site survey to identify what in your environment will cause interference with RF signals. Some examples include nylon conveyor belts, proprietary wireless LAN implementations, electronic motors on lift trucks, and electric pallet jacks.
Consider the composition of your products. "UHF tags can't be read through liquids, but LF [low frequency] tags can," explains Allen. "Conversely, LF tags don't work as well around metallic environments. Also, you'll probably need an array of readers on a portal door instead of just one for reading all of the tags." ( From Integrated Solutions Magazine, January 2004)

CaptureTech’s professionals have many years of experience implementing RFID solutions in many different environments. Our diverse experience can help you through your RFID implementation. We will work with you to accomplish three pre-implementation goals:

Validate the business case for RFID in support of your business processes and goals.
Provide a project scope, and
Recommend hardware configurations, including type, quantity, and placement.

One of the better articles we have found about all the considerations when thinking about an RFID solution can be found here, http://www.rfidproductnews.com/issues/2005.01/feature/cost.php.

Contact CaptureTech for complete RFID systems and RFID consulting.