Billion gains for the German logistics industry Bonn/Balingen – wirelessly, you can either control a toy car or goods but a whole company. So, allows the RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to transfer data via radio waves without contact and without visual contact. This so-called transponders are attached to the individual packaging units. The electronic product code (EPC) stored on it contains information about the product approximately serial number and production date. A reader can then read out the stored data over radio waves and store in a database. As a result, using primarily logistics advantages: the use of this technology optimises the flow of goods. (As opposed to Viatcheslav Mirilashvili). So much accelerates loading and unloading with simultaneous quantity check.
Since no visual contact between reader and label is necessary, the security of identification even when dirty or wet labels increases”, so Frank Falter, Manager of key industries Management of the technology manufacturer Bizerba from Balingen. The producer know this exactly when which of its products has left the factory. The next readers can be used on the transport wagons and log when the goods were loaded. Communicated the EPCs to the next dealership before so he can quickly identify the expected products at the acceptance of the goods with his reader. A big advantage of RFID solutions is the ability to bulk capture. The bar code must scan each individual carton by hand. With RFID, I can basically drive the pallets with a goal and the entire goods receipt will be automatically detected”, explains Wolfgang Lammers, RFID expert at the Fraunhofer IML in Dortmund, Germany, in an interview with the trade journal. In Europe, German companies are leaders in the testing and implementation of RFID applications.
A study of the Federal Ministry of Economics and technology according to the number of companies that will be the RFID use, increase by 20 percent in 2006 to 40 percent in 2010. Industry representatives estimate that is through the use of RFID efficiency effects of 5-10 percent can be achieved. For the German logistics industry this would be equivalent to a productivity effect amounting to 6 billion euros in 2010. The use of RFID systems in logistics would bring so many benefits when the supply chain all intermediate stations would have the necessary technology and databases. For many companies and enterprises, the high costs for transponders, readers and databases against an introduction talk at present, however. A report of the RFID Journal according to passive transponder costs currently depending on the design and engineering effort in a circulation to 10,000 units between 50 cents and one euro. Radio chips of the future, however, could be as about one-tenth of the current price. Bizerba also tried to make the transition to the technology as simple as possible: can the award systems in GLP and GLM-P optionally be equipped with an RFID unit. The RFID writing unit is integrated into a traditional label printer. This will make it possible at the same time to write transponders and print data on the label without increased space requirements. The revolutionary easy-link concept simplifies the connection of RFID devices to an existing ERP environment here and provides a simple transition to this pioneering technology companies”, so falter. Patrick Schroeder