Fascinating facts you learn when working on RFID #1....
It takes 1000 logs to build a log cabin.
This weeks interesting application comes from Finland where log cabin maker Honkarakenne is using RFID to track logs through the production process, encoding tags with the specific milling instructions for each log.
With the credit crunch we'll all be living in mud huts soon if I believe the news. I wonder what role RFID will play in that?
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Thursday, 23 October 2008
More foodie thoughts....
In my weekly trawl of the interesting RDID web sites, I picked up on a release from BearingPoint Inc, which I thought harked back nicely to the foodie theme that I've been following for the last few entries.
It also highlighted to me one of the weaknesses that seem to turn up in most RFID case studies and press releases and made me think about what we are doing with ours.
BearingPoint helped the Chinese Food Safety Administration Office to deliver an RFID based end-to-end food tracking system for the Beijing Olympics. (More details here)
Now, it seems to me that this sort of system can be viewed as a sort of insurance policy. What to me is interesting about this system is not the number of trucks equipped with sensors (206) or the number of food deliveries monitored (3800 - this sounds curiously small to me, given the number of athletes and visitors that there were at the event) - what I wanted to know was had the thing actually done any good!
The real business benefit only becomes apparent when you say how many instances of faulty delivery were detected or how many food recalls were actually enabled by the system. Without this it's impossible to judge whether the insurance policy was worth while. Sure it's encouraging that the technology was successfully deployed and worked but the real payoff comes from the benefit it delivers.
I'm as guilty as the next man of writing press releases or brochures that focus on what we know about a customer's solution (and of course what they are prepared to have said about it) rather than trying to dig up things that folk haven't counted, so I'm not pointing any fingers at BearingPoint here. I guess this is a plea for more information on HOW the technology of RFID delivers value, not just on what is being done. (I'm writing myself a note to get better at it too!)
It also highlighted to me one of the weaknesses that seem to turn up in most RFID case studies and press releases and made me think about what we are doing with ours.
BearingPoint helped the Chinese Food Safety Administration Office to deliver an RFID based end-to-end food tracking system for the Beijing Olympics. (More details here)
Now, it seems to me that this sort of system can be viewed as a sort of insurance policy. What to me is interesting about this system is not the number of trucks equipped with sensors (206) or the number of food deliveries monitored (3800 - this sounds curiously small to me, given the number of athletes and visitors that there were at the event) - what I wanted to know was had the thing actually done any good!
The real business benefit only becomes apparent when you say how many instances of faulty delivery were detected or how many food recalls were actually enabled by the system. Without this it's impossible to judge whether the insurance policy was worth while. Sure it's encouraging that the technology was successfully deployed and worked but the real payoff comes from the benefit it delivers.
I'm as guilty as the next man of writing press releases or brochures that focus on what we know about a customer's solution (and of course what they are prepared to have said about it) rather than trying to dig up things that folk haven't counted, so I'm not pointing any fingers at BearingPoint here. I guess this is a plea for more information on HOW the technology of RFID delivers value, not just on what is being done. (I'm writing myself a note to get better at it too!)
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Separating the Sheep Fom The Goats
We do quite a bit of work with various animal tagging applications for RFID so I tend to keep an eye on what's going on with regard to regulations that require electronic tagging for animals.
DEFRA are currently implementing (after much procrastination) EU legislation on its use for sheep and goats. Except that it's not for goats.
Why not?
Apparently we don't have enough goats. The EU doesn't think its worth bothering if there are fewer than 160,000 goats and that (allegedly) is more than we have.
So, no chance of traceability for the contents of your goat curry.
(these posts have been a bit foodie this week).
DEFRA are currently implementing (after much procrastination) EU legislation on its use for sheep and goats. Except that it's not for goats.
Why not?
Apparently we don't have enough goats. The EU doesn't think its worth bothering if there are fewer than 160,000 goats and that (allegedly) is more than we have.
So, no chance of traceability for the contents of your goat curry.
(these posts have been a bit foodie this week).
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Which came first.....
Well after Monday's post (the egg) here comes the chicken....
http://tinyurl.com/5ok6yq
Seems like IBM is engaged in food chain tracking on a proof-of-concept for poultry.
It won't be too long before we're saying, "Waiter there's a chip in my chicken noodle soup!"
http://tinyurl.com/5ok6yq
Seems like IBM is engaged in food chain tracking on a proof-of-concept for poultry.
It won't be too long before we're saying, "Waiter there's a chip in my chicken noodle soup!"
Monday, 13 October 2008
Traceability....(I guess the diet is kicking in....)
I was browsing the GS1/EPC Global RFID In Action website this morning - one of the applications they profile is using RFID to provide traceability and quality control for eggs.
How long before when you get to your restaurant you are given a hand-held to scan your meal as it arrives so that you can see just where all that food has come from???
On a more serious note, as more folk get interested in food-miles (no, it's not a reward scheme for over-eating) and the quality of produce, traceabillity in food is going to get to be more of an issue.
How long before when you get to your restaurant you are given a hand-held to scan your meal as it arrives so that you can see just where all that food has come from???
On a more serious note, as more folk get interested in food-miles (no, it's not a reward scheme for over-eating) and the quality of produce, traceabillity in food is going to get to be more of an issue.
Friday, 10 October 2008
RFID Helps Stop Vibration Injuries
I guess everyone is familiar with the most common uses of RFID - tagging pets for example and keeping track of stock or corporate assets - but we have a few users that get into more interesting areas.
One of our partners - Reactec Ltd - has just posted a great video of their application where they use RFID enabled data collection devices to keep track of workers exposure to vibration in the workplace. This helps them to reduce the risks of industrial injury from machines like angle grinders, compressed air drills and the like. It's in areas like these that RFID seems to me to offer some quick paybacks for relatively little investment.
One of our partners - Reactec Ltd - has just posted a great video of their application where they use RFID enabled data collection devices to keep track of workers exposure to vibration in the workplace. This helps them to reduce the risks of industrial injury from machines like angle grinders, compressed air drills and the like. It's in areas like these that RFID seems to me to offer some quick paybacks for relatively little investment.
Missing EDS disk drive
More missing government data! This time it looks like data has been lost for 100,000 service personnel. Somehow there has to be a better way of handling data than this.
They found out because of an "audit" and I'm betting this was only done because of the takeover of EDS. If no one ever checks what's out on the desktop then it's no wonder that people forget to take simple precautions. The reality is that this disk drive has probably been lost at the back of a drawer somewhere but it would still be interesting to know how much data is out on desktops and on pen drives compared with how much there is in data centres, these days.
We're doing some stuff developing applications in this area, so I hope to be able to post some more thoughts on this soon.
They found out because of an "audit" and I'm betting this was only done because of the takeover of EDS. If no one ever checks what's out on the desktop then it's no wonder that people forget to take simple precautions. The reality is that this disk drive has probably been lost at the back of a drawer somewhere but it would still be interesting to know how much data is out on desktops and on pen drives compared with how much there is in data centres, these days.
We're doing some stuff developing applications in this area, so I hope to be able to post some more thoughts on this soon.
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