RFID self-service asset tracking

Posted on 29 April 2012 | No responses

Last month my colleague Graham Fenton asked “Has RFID finally come of age?” he concluded it had, and promised more details on our Asset tracking project that proved the point.  

Codegate has taken the concept of the supermarket self-service check out and, using RFID technology instead of retail barcodes, applied it to the issue and control of capital assets. Using this system, designed in conjunction with Speedy Hire PLC (Speedy Services), power tools can be issued to workmen, firearms logged out to Police Officers, equipment hired to customers or Firemen can be issued with tools – all from an unmanned store.

How does it work?

Firstly, all the items, or tools, or assets, or consumables, are stored in a secure area or container. This store could be of almost any size from a standard shipping container, a retail shop, or a warehouse with hundreds or thousands of items in stock. All the items are tagged with an RFID tag and the entry door to the storage area is replaced by the secure entry portal called ePod™. Each authorised user is issued with an RFID key that gives them access to the store and, once through the secure portal, they can select which piece(s) of equipment they want.

Having collected everything they need they leave through the same entry door where the RFID tags on the equipment are automatically read, logged and assigned to the individual user. This information is then forwarded electronically to the supplier’s back-office billing system and, if appropriate, forms part of their normal monthly invoicing – automatically. You can read all about how Speedy Services use the system here.

Where could this be used?

The example detailed in the above link to a recent press release is Speedy Services using ePod™ to automatically issue tools and equipment from a standard shipping container situated on a building site. Equipment is hired out to authorised individuals on an “as needed” basis. The workmen can take out exactly what’s needed for just the amount of time needed, without having to spend time going to the hire shop or wasting time when returning the goods.

The user saves money by only incurring cost when the hired item is in use, and Speedy Services gain significant customer loyalty through having a Speedy Services branch, physically on the construction site, without the staffing cost. Faulty or damaged goods are placed in a “Returns” cupboard and the ePod™ automatically alerts Speedy engineers of the make, model and serial number of the faulty device. An engineer is then scheduled to collect or repair the item. Customer invoice queries are dramatically reduced because invoicing is accurate and detailed.

As well as the tool hire market the ePod™ could be used by…

Police to issue firearms, ensuring only authorised officers are taking firearms they’ve been trained to use with appropriate munitions and quantities.

Fire service to ensure equipment is issued to suitably trained officers while tracking how many hours each item is in use, maintaining insurance and keeping up with maintenance schedules.

Mobile engineers, to take out battery-powered equipment from regularly maintained charging bays, recording battery cycle statistics and warranty information.

Computer engineers, taking replacement equipment from a central store to ensure their user is back up and running quickly.

Film studios issuing lighting units, scenery or props to film crews for use on set.

Manufacturing, for the issue of expensive tools where calibration and work hours or use cycles need to be monitored.

Do you think RFID has come of age?  If so I’m interested in your thoughts, leave a comment below. Of course, if you’d like to discuss a possible mobile computer soultion for deployment in your business, drop me an email or call the office on +44 (0)845 345 0808.

Codegate wins Motorola Solutions ‘Most Innovative Mobility Solution’

Posted on 29 March 2012 | No responses

2012 is turning out to be an exciting year for Codegate with the first three months seeing some important contract wins and intriguing project developments, one of which has been recognised by Motorola Solutions as the ‘Most Innovative Mobility Solution’.

Most Innovative Mobility Solution award, from left to right:
Richard Hudson, MSSI Vice President Motorola Solutions, Rene Schrama, Regional Channel Manager Northern Europe Motorola Solutions, Ian Quint, Sales Director Codegate Ltd,
Phil Jefferson, UK & Ireland Sales Director Motorola Solutions.

Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI) is a leading provider of mission-critical communication solutions and services for enterprise and government customers and is the world’s largest manufacturer of rugged hand-held computers used in the automatic identification market (Auto-ID).

By way of background, what is now called Motorola Solutions was split from the consumer electronic giant Motorola in January 2011. Its involvement in the Auto-ID industry started with the purchase of Symbol Technologies in January 2007. Symbol Technologies first became involved with rugged hand-held computers through its purchase of what was then the largest manufacturer, coincidentally called MSI, in 1989. It is ironic; MSI was purchased by Symbol Technologies which was bought by Motorola, which split out its Auto-ID and communications division to become Motorola Solutions Inc., MSI.

The award was presented to Codegate’s Sales Director Ian Quint at the MSI Channel Power Roadshow 2012 held at the Hilton Coventry Hotel earlier this month, by MSI’s Regional Channel Manager for Northern Europe, Rene Schrama. He commented, “Codegate’s expertise in building out solutions is second to none. With close support of our account team, Codegate built what we believe to be an industry first, namely a RFID portal for remote container storage for plant hire equipment. We anticipate being able to replicate this many times over with Codegate’s enthusiastic team. As such they are the worthy winner of the Most Innovate Solution Award.”

The award reflected the innovative design and utilisation of MSI’s RFID technology within an unmanned equipment or asset store, enabling users to self issue items with the system automatically tracking when, and to whom, equipment has been issued. Launching in April this system will initially be used to provide an unmanned tool hire facility at major construction sites, offering greater convenience and equipment availability to users whilst reducing the down time, travelling costs and uncertainty of relying on local providers. The brain of the system is a ‘Control Module’ developed by Codegate using Windows Embedded technology. Full details of the product will appear on the Codegate website in April

Codegate are thrilled to receive this prestigious award recognising, as it does, the considerable contribution made by its design and software development teams to an innovative new paradigm in equipment or asset management.

Do you have a need to automatically track equipment or assets issued to individuals?  If you do, I’m interested in your thoughts on how it can best be achieved, please let me know by leaving a comment below. Of course, if you’d like to discuss a possible mobile computer solution for deployment in your business, drop me an email or call the office on +44 (0)845 345 0808.

Has RFID finally come of age?

Posted on 9 March 2012 | No responses

After many false starts RFID is beginning to fulfil its true potential. That’s a bold statement, so what has changed? Why is Codegate making greater use of this ever-promising technology and why now?

Guest writer –  Graham Fenton

First of all the scope needs to be narrowed. There are many variants of RFID operating in different frequency bands from 120Khz to 10GHz. I’m referring to UHF (866 – 868 MHz in Europe). Whilst Near Field Communications (NFC) is also really catching on and is used by Codegate it has been discussed in a previous post.

It’s interesting to see how articles on RFID have changed over the years. Here are a some examples:

April 2004: What is the RFID hype all about?
September 2004:  Users resist RFID hype
April 2005: The role of RFID in the mobile phone
October 2007: RFID: Over hyped and over here
March 2009: Has RFID hype helped or hurt user adoption?
September 2010: Is RFID Heyday just around the corner?
May 2010: The evolving business of RFID
Dec 2010: Is RFID dead? Should it be?
February 2011: Is RFID in apparel finally coming of age?
September 2011: The promise and problems of radio frequency identification
March 2012: RFID looks better without the hype

What’s clear is RFID was over-hyped by the press and over-estimated by market analysts. Many businesses invested heavily only to find themselves at the bleeding edge of a technology that didn’t live up to expectation. However a glance at the more recent articles shows strong signs that a tipping point has been reached and RFID is paying its way and gaining wider acceptance. Why now?

Codegate always adopted a prudent approach to RFID projects, only using the technology when bar codes wouldn’t work, when risk was low and it was cost effective to deliver a proof of concept. For fifteen years we have seen the RFID market slowly develop. In the UHF space some important factors have recently coincided to make the commercial argument for using this technology more attractive:

It’s over seven years since the unifying ‘Gen 2’ standard was ratified, but now it is effective and manufacturer interoperability is a reality. The proprietary nature of hardware that stunted RFID market growth is becoming a thing of the past.

Similarly the GS1 (formerly Article Numbering) organisation introduced RFID into standards for global item level tracking that can be applied beyond the traditional retail supply chain. Codegate is a member of GS1 and has adopted the standards.  For example we apply the Global Individual Asset Identifier standards (GIAI-96 and GIAI-202) to asset tags, making it easier to trace equipment back to suppliers or owners irrespective of what tracking system they are part of. Take the example of a large complex construction site – traceability and accountability of tools and plant becomes much easier, leading to less waste and shrinkage.

Putting aside the argument over whether HF or UHF is best for item tracking, in UHF world the development of ‘on metal’ and ‘in metal’ tags has taken away one major issue, the ability to track metallic items. Indeed some of the newer tags work perfectly well both on and off metal.

Next add in the performance improvements of the latest generation readers and tags, the cost reductions coming through as worldwide demand has increased and you can begin to see the historic barriers to deploying an RFID solution are now crumbling.

Codegate is now expanding the use of RFID within its product range. Our on-site event registration system can now print UHF RFID passes and track delegates unobtrusively through any number of entrances. Visitors to the BAPCO event in April will be able to see it in operation. The same system can track the attendance of visitors to a specific stand, recording what they looked at and for how long. This can be seen in action on the Codegate stand A2. This technology is now commercially viable for event management because of the falling cost of ID cards.  We’re finding UHF tags are significantly better than HF for document tracking to the point where it’s viable to track individual documents rather than folders. One of our item tracking projects is a finalist in the RFID Live Awards 2012 – more details will appear here soon. At BAPCO we will be featuring Motorola fixed and mobile readers and demonstrating how RFID can help improve asset management and safety for Police, Fire and Health services. RFID is a technology that Codegate is now building into new solutions with confidence. RFID has come of age.

 

 

Happy New Year!

Posted on 4 January 2012 | No responses

From everyone at Codegate may we wish you and yours a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year.

If the pundits are to be believed 2012 will see the full effect of government cut backs, tax increases and higher commodity prices taking money away from the pockets of the consumer. At least inflation is predicted to slow from its current high of nearly 5% to nearer the Bank of England target of 2% within twelve months, giving the consumer a little respite. So how do you prepare your business for the worst?

Obviously it will be essential to minimise overheads without sacrificing efficiency, and to maximise the return on every GB£ invested, but how?

If some of your workforces are mobile, performing customer visits or maintaining plant ‘in the field’, or are employed in the supply chain, or in logistics, Codegate can help. Our unique software and hardware solutions enable our customers to beat the competition by:

• Minimising invoice disputes through open and transparent business transactions
• Avoid Service Level Agreement penalties by providing undisputable evidence of compliance
• Providing on-line transaction history and viewing of progress, minimising return visits
• Increase efficiency by reducing the employee’s administration overhead, allowing more visits per man/day
• Reduce mobile inventory by showing what stock is available and where
• Minimise employment costs through “where’s my nearest…” web portal view of staff availability
• Ensuring employee protection by including “lone worker” reporting concepts
• Minimising your corporate carbon footprint by integrating navigation and optimising routing instructions
• Providing evidence of corporate compliance with Health & Safety and Working Time Directives

As you can see this isn’t just about saving money, it’s about creating and maximising profit at a time when profit will be hard to come by. By enabling your staff to become “trusted experts” with their customers, loyalty is increased, making it more difficult for the “cheapest price” competitor to match your add value proposition. As a result, you win more competitive bids, increasing profits.

Imagine increasing your market share while your competitors contract, staying profitable while they make losses, expanding – against the trend. For sixteen years, companies employing mobile workforces to ensure they can monitor and measure field operations, enabling managers to maximise efficiency and minimise costs to give a better bottom line, have used Codegate’s software. That’s what makes our customers talk about us the way they do, but don’t take my word for it, read their words here.

Do you have a better plan for beating the competition and maximising your return in what may be the second dip of a recession?  If you have I’m interested in your thoughts, leave a comment below. Of course, if you’d like to discuss a possible mobile computer soultion for deployment in your business, drop me an email or call the office on +44 (0)845 345 0808.

Will Your Seasonal Gifts Make it on Time?

Posted on 7 November 2011 | No responses

I know the clever, organised ones amongst you will have already purchased and wrapped all your loved ones gifts for the coming festive season, but some of us haven’t been quite so ‘on the ball’. Fortunately for us there are many on-line retailers able to supply gifts right up to the eve of Christmas Eve.

Which gets me thinking about just how these last minute orders are fulfilled, or more specifically how many times a package’s barcode label is ‘read’ from the time it’s applied to the time we take delivery. We’re all familiar with the courier’s consignment number being scanned when it finally arrives at our door, but have you considered how many barcodes are scanned as a result of your one product purchase? Let’s have a closer look! Read more

Could Apple’s Siri benefit your business?

Posted on 20 October 2011 | No responses

You’d have to be living on another planet to miss the launch of Apple’s latest iPhone the 4S, but have you spotted ‘Siri’ the personal assistant and voice recognition application? This is, in my opinion, the most exciting development to hit computing since the microchip!

All the demonstrations I’ve seen ask Siri ‘What’s the weather like today?” or “Will I need an umbrella today?” Then they add as an after thought, “in San Francisco?” and miraculously Siri returns with the spoken response “You’ll need your umbrella today in San Francisco.”

The demonstrations are clever but whilst Siri is still in beta, it isn’t claimed to be Artificial Intelligence (AI) although it does understand conversational concepts and will link previous requests to the current. It also knows where you are, from GPS co-ordinates and from your diary what your schedule is, so by asking what’s the “Weather like today?” without adding “in [place name]” it can give you the forecast for your current location. Read more

Has the stylus lost its style? What next for rugged data capture?

Posted on 27 September 2011 | No responses

Are smartphones and tablets changing the way we input data into rugged mobile computers?

Back in the bad old days, we entered everything through the keyboard, and on hand held rugged devices it was tough, sometimes involving three key depressions to input one alpha character. Then came a mini version of Microsoft Windows complete with a touch screen and stylus. The display became more graphic, the drop down selection boxes and menus became more fiddly, hence the ingenious stylus. Using the stylus meant you could be precise about your selection, double tapping to confirm. But, the stylus was often difficult to find!

Many users easily overcame the problem; everyone carried the instant stylus replacement tool, the ballpoint pen.  To the user this was an ideal, dual function, replacement for the evasive stylus, although the benefit would be short lived. The ballpoint pen left deep scratches on the sensitive touch screen and quickly made the screen more opaque than transparent. After a few weeks of this abuse the device would become unusable and the reputation of its manufacturer tarnished, through no fault of its own.

Could the latest smartphone and tablet technology provide a more effective input mechanism than the stylus? Finger swipes and gestures have replaced many selections previously  carried out by stylus stabbing, but can they be used in our rugged Auto-ID environment? Read more

Visitor Logging at Reception. Do You Take Note?

Posted on 21 September 2011 | No responses

In a slight deviation from our normal Auto-ID industry focus, I’d like to discuss a common problem within numerous small businesses, namely; compliance with Health & Safety in the way we record visitors to our premises.

We’ve all been to the large companies where the receptionist, seated in a grand foyer, keys our details into their computer system, a local printer feeds out a smart company visitor badge emblazoned with the organisation’s logo, along with our name in prominent type. The receptionist deftly inserts the badge into a clear plastic sheath and clips it to our suit jacket, enabling everyone to see our name (as wonderful or embarrassing as it may be) as we are escorted around the facility.

But what do small companies do? Invariably, the person you are meeting shakes your hand and says “welcome” or where technological  advances have allowed, an employee writes out a multipart, no carbon required, tear-off slip, by hand! Sorry for being so sweeping but I speak from bitter experience… Read more

Google Says ‘Hello’ to Moto

Posted on 24 August 2011 | No responses

In the Auto-ID industry there is no bigger hardware manufacturer of rugged mobile devices than Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI), a spin off from Motorola Inc. MSI’s business is split into two main segments Government, including sales of two-way radios and public safety systems and Enterprise which markets Auto-ID products including bar code scanners, mobile computers, wireless network systems, RFID readers and writers and OEM scan engines.  To give you an idea of size, MSI Enterprise sales worldwide were $2.7bn in 2010, 16% of that figure was accrued in Europe.

Back in March this year, my blog entitled “Windows Mobile 6.5 or Android?” questioned if the major manufacturers in our industry would utilise the Android operating system, obtained by Google in 2005, which is developed together with the Open Handset Alliance, and issued under a free software licence. To date, only Motorola’s Xoom tablet product employs Android, in this instance the ‘Honeycomb’ version designed specifically for tablets.  Honeywell have made a recent announcement launching its Developer Program for Android, suggesting it will be incorporating the OS in its new products. However, other manufacturers including Intermec, Psion and Datalogic have yet to integrate Google’s OS into their product line.

In news somewhat unrelated to the rugged mobile computer market but pertinent to the mobile phone arena and the wider software issues raised here, Samsung is reported to have hired an Android specialist hacker, further indicating the potential market impact of Google’s OS.

Given Google’s history with Android, the customer base that has grown on the back of the free software licence and the absence of an alternative from Microsoft, it’s understandable that Android has become widely adopted in the smartphone market. Many of the manufacturers, which are founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, including HTC, Samsung, LG, T-Mobile and others, have put their faith in the search engine giant’s operating system, in part because Google was not a hardware competitor. Now however, a new day has dawned as Google has purchased Motorola Mobility Inc. (MMI), one of the top five global mobile handset manufacturers. This move has instantly put Google into the hardware market, openly declaring itself a member of the competition.

So why would Google pay a premium of over 60% for the shares of MMI, if it was likely to hack off its customers and take the business into an area outside its core competence? The answer, we’re told by Google, is to protect its Android customers by acquiring MMI’s impressive patent library, rumoured to be over 17,000 strong with a further 7,000 awaiting approval. So armed, Google will be better placed to defend Android customers from patent suits originated by Apple, Nokia, RIM and HTC. Google further suggests its customers are ‘happy’ with the acquisition, and has suggested that it will operate MMI at ‘arms length’ and may even sell off the hardware business.

Some industry watchers suggest Google is really attempting to build an integrated ‘ecosystem’ for Android, copying Apple’s iPhone and iPad success through controlling the hardware, software (iOS) and delivery of applications through app stores. The concept of a Google controlled mobile with Android operating system, predominantly (one would assume) displaying a Google search screen with a Google+ social networking icon, may be attractive, but this road is littered with corpses. Given the experience of others that have tried this approach, including Microsoft with Zune and the Kin phone, RIM with Blackberry, Oracle with Sun, HP’s problems of Palm and more recently with WebOS, it’s all pointing to the difficulties of an integrated business model.

The only company that’s succeeded with the integrated model to date is Apple, although some say Amazon are hot on their heels with their Kindle product. Can Google emulate Apple and succeed in creating an integrated business model, or will they end up like Microsoft and their Kin phone?

I’m no financial advisor, but as they say in financial circles, I’m short on Google.

What do you think of Google’s acquisition, good move or, end in tears?

Feel free to leave a comment below. Or, alternatively if you’d like to discuss a possible deployment of a mobile solution for your business, drop me an email or call the office on +44 (0)845 345 0808.

The Internet of Things, the Auto-ID Utopia!

Posted on 16 August 2011 | No responses

The concept isn’t new but is brilliant! Everything will have an Internet Protocol (IP) address, every fridge, kettle, painting, sofa, livestock animal, vehicle, you name it – everything. OK, more specifically, everything that can be uniquely identified by an RFID or NFC tag, (or even a 2d bar code) which when you think in Auto-ID terms encompasses almost everything.

Everything becomes traceable, uniquely identifiable and connectable. You’d be able to Google your WiFi connected fridge to see if you need to buy milk on the way home, connect to your boiler to increase the house temperature 30 minutes before you arrive and get the digital freesat recorder to record the first half of The One Show because you’ll be late. Or, if you don’t want the hassle, you’d use BBC iPlayer to replay it later. All this sounds very “Tomorrow’s World”, but the only thing that isn’t in place to make this happen is an affordable way of printing NFC tags…and yes if you’re a regular reader here you will know that I have written before about the need for lower cost tags.

Most homes and the majority of businesses are equipped with a wireless network and a broadband internet connection. By giving everything a unique IP address, you’ll be able to connect to anything from any internet connection. As with everything wireless, it would obviously be a good idea to install some security to discourage opportunistic enquiries from undesirables. Once tagged, asset management, product movement, supply logistics, insurance schedules, environmental control and product traceability become simple applications fed with accurate, machine readable data.

The missing link is affordable wireless (NFC) tags.

A privately owned UK company, Additive Process Technologies of Market Harborough, Leicestershire has come up with a possible solution as reported in NFC World. APT’s Allan Goodman is quoted in the article:

“Our process takes a lot of the cost out of the tag manufacturing process, taking away the plastic (inlay), the expensive conductive adhesive and expensive inks, using the lowest cost materials to produce a tag instead, in one efficient step.”

This sounds exactly like the breakthrough needed to bring the benefits of unique identification within economic range, i.e. less than 5 pence a tag, removing the last barrier to mass proliferation…price!

Once critical mass is achieved and NFC equipped mobile phones enable consumers to ‘read’ the tags electronically, applications will emerge to facilitate everything from electronic wallets to monitoring your heart through the NFC ‘patch’ stuck to your chest. Your mobile phone will become the key to your car, your front door and will act as your proof of identity for benefit or taxation purposes, all protected by biometric, finger print or iris recognition via the inbuilt digital camera.

With everything uniquely tagged it will be much easier for police to identify goods stolen by looters/thieves, giving the Courts irrefutable evidence of guilt. The potential benefits to manufacturers tracing a batch of products with a faulty component, or determining the maintenance history of an air conditioning plant, would be considerable. Even established bar code applications, like the NHS blood bag marking, livestock, “farm to fork” and food traceability applications could be significantly developed and enhanced to eliminate manual keying errors.

UTOPIA! Well it is to an Auto-ID evangelist like me.

Do you think we’ll ever get to the stage where everything is tagged or is it a pipedream?  Feel free to leave a comment below. Or, alternatively if you’d like to discuss a possible deployment of a solution for your business, drop me an email or call the office on +44 (0)845 345 0808.

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