Identifying with New Radio Technology
New technology provides a world of new opportunities for business.

By Toby Rush

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is being touted as one of the hottest new technologies on the market. Its proponents claim it will radically change the way we work, play and live. Others scoff at the hype or raise privacy concerns. What most people don’t realize is that RFID is already here.

If you have ever used a speed pass (e.g., the Kansas Turnpike Authority’s K-Tag system) on a toll road, you’ve used RFID. If you have ever used a building access card that was not a magnetic strip, you’ve used RFID. With most newer cars, you cannot simply have duplicate keys made at the local locksmith, because an RFID tag is inside the key. There is a small RFID reader inside the steering column that recognizes the tag when the key is put in the ignition. Department stores and retail outlets use electronic article surveillance tags (a cousin of RFID) to fight theft of clothing or high value goods. American Express and Visa see RFID as a faster and more reliable payment mechanism and are now embedding RFID tags into their credit cards.

A “Talking” Technology
At its core, RFID is quite simple. The RFID tag is a small microchip with an attached antenna that communicates wirelessly with an RFID reader. Usually, the tag communicates nothing more then a unique ID. It simply says: “4951827 is here.” But, in its simplicity lies its power.

Imagine if many of the inanimate objects in our world had a unique name, and each of those objects would “speak” its name when asked by a reader. Our analog physical world would become digitally visible. As an object arrives or departs a given location, it could let the “system” know it is on the move. If an RFID reader were carried into proximity of the tagged objects, it would get an immediate accounting of all items present.

With the invention of TCP/IP in 1979, computer networks gave us the ability to process enormous amounts of data from multiple sources and synthesize that into discrete bits of information. The Internet revolution has made distributed computing as commonplace as telephone service, and has made the collection and correlation of multiple data sources a daily occurrence for most Americans. RFID is now creating a network of things.

Harness the Power
This simplistic technology has not gone unnoticed. Industry giants, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Albertsons, Best Buy and Kroger are all pushing hard for RFID to be deployed across their enterprises. They also are forcing their trading partners to implement RFID so that inventory items are visible throughout the entire supply chain.

So what can a small business do to leverage the power of RFID? First, think different. Don’t simply try to do what you are doing today a “little bit better.” RFID should enable you to do something radically different, something that wasn’t feasible before.

Put RFID on items that would normally have a time-based warranty, and give your customers the option of having a timed warranty or a usage warranty. For example, a product such as an expensive accessory for a medical diagnostic machine is warranted for two years or 50 uses. With an RFID tag on the item and a reader monitoring if it is present or missing, you could calculate how often it was used. The first mover with this concept will have a pricing model that their competitors can’t compete with.

Another idea is to use RFID to monitor inventory in consignment scenarios. If the items are tagged and a reader is monitoring their presence, you would know immediately when a product was removed. Billing could occur more quickly, replenishment would be automated and the customer would be assured that their product would never be out of stock.

These are examples of not just improving existing processes, but enabling completely new ones. Companies that need to lower inventories, increase cycle times, track assets or generally increase visibility of the products and processes within their organization can harness the power of RFID.

We are limited only by our creativity and ingenuity. RFID has been described as similar to the wheel—we haven't begun to find all the applications for it.

Toby Rush is president of Rush Tracking Systems. He can be reached at (913) 227-0922 or .