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With the help of RFID technology, organize your business’ inventory management efficiently. The technology puts your items in the order and visible throughout the supply chain. Achieve maximum productivity at work because, with this technology, you replace assumptions with observation, estimates with facts, and confusions with certainty.

RFID provides insight into your business

RFID can solve insufficient insight in the business, stores and warehouse if you have numerous stores and don’t know how to manage them. RFID technology can help you. The technology identifies objects and items through radio waves that communicate with the tag on the item, and the RFID reader recognizes it. This technology also identifies the location of the item, no matter whether it is in cardboard or the back room. The primary aim of the technology is to ensure the availability of a specific item and keep them safe and protected within the premises.

Read about three reasons why RFID boosts your business below.

#1 RFID transforms your inventory management processes

As we all know, the manual inventory counting method is a hassle for businesses worldwide. The manual counting data could result in a miscalculation or missing items that you might have no idea about. But, later on, these minor mishaps might result in business loss. RFID technology provides accurate inventory data, and proper insight and an overview of your inventory. The right fact-based knowledge will help you to make the best decisions for your business.

With the appropriate insight in your warehouse, you won’t be buying unnecessary resources. You will get automated messages for missing items, and you can also easily remove the items or out-of-fashion items.

#2 RFID strengthens customer service

Quality customer service is significant if you want your business to excel. Customers can’t expect to have a great shopping experience if your inventory is not organized, quick and easy to handle. Easily accessible information, instant customer service, easy check-out, and accurate stock numbers are all part of the customer experience.

For precise stock numbers, you need RFID technology that makes inventory insight accurate and all the items available for your customers. At the same time, it also helps to increase your productivity as your staff can spend less time searching for a product and focus on something more substantial. When all the items are available readily, it will enhance the customer shopping experience.

#3 RFID for loss prevention

If your business has several stores and warehouses, it gets challenging to keep track of each item. With inventory management through RFID technology, you can identify objects, their location and other movement data. This insight allows you to prevent the loss of items and gives you an intimate insight into the movement of the items. By knowing the movement patterns, you become wiser about the details of the theft. In addition, you can support the theft of your items with video recordings if you know the exact time and place of theft.

RFID is a well-known technology that benefits several industries such as healthcare, retail, manufacturing, distribution, food and beverage, and many more. The benefits of adopting RFID include tracking assets and managing inventory, saving time and money through automation, improving data accuracy and availability, enhancing health and safety and more. In a nutshell, RFID is helpful to companies looking for an improved way of keeping track of important things. However, there are certain myths or misconceptions about RFID, which we want to discuss in this blog.

Rfid Is Expensive To Pilot / Try Out

The benefits of adopting RFID are numerous; however, the main challenge is deciding what’s the most affordable way to try out RFID technology for your business. Whatever you decide, just keep in mind these few things including:

• Hardware selection (RFID Tags, Readers & Antennas)
• Software selection (RFID Business Applications, RFID Middleware & Integration)
• Business Process Management

If you consider the above pointers, you might be able to jumpstart the pilot process of any RFID initiative cost-effectively. You can opt for a kick-start bundle i.e. 30-day trial access, which comes with all RFID tags, readers and more. You can also add other varieties to RFID tags and readers.

RFID Is Newer Than Barcode

You might be surprised that RFID is relatively older than a barcode. The first patent for barcode was filed in 1949, while RFID was first used in World War 2.

RFID Data Is Difficult To Manage And Integrate

RFID technology excels in capturing data quickly and efficiently, which may be otherwise expensive to do. Once the data is collected, it’s essential to integrate RFID data swiftly back to core business systems such as an ERP, WMS or MES. You can use softwares that helps to quickly integrate RFID data and filter, aggregate, and massage data to the desired format.

RFID Is Just About “IDS”

RFID has a lot in store than just the “identification” of items or assets. With the emergence of IoT, RFID technology has evolved, progressed and now is being used for numerous cases. A few use cases include:

• Capturing sensor data (Temperature, Humidity, GPS, Movement) with advanced tags and using RFID as a data medium.
• Hazardous Area Assets – Capture data from assets without human intervention.
• User Engagement – Increase User Interaction such as NFC-based marketing campaigns.
• Brand protection – Use RFID for brand protection against fake goods.

RFID Tags Can’t Scan Liquids or Metals

For a long time, it was believed that RFID tags could not be applied to liquid items. It might be true in the early 2000s, but today things have changed. Advancements in tag technology have made it possible to use RFID on liquids. These tags are slightly thicker than standard RFID tags, but they provide accurate readability.

Is Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology a groundless expense or the solution to all your supply chain management problems? RFID technology offers new possibilities as it solves some of the biggest problems in supply chain management. Some of them are analyzing and collecting large sums of data, low labour costs and operational costs, and more.

RFID tech is a costly investment, and although the cost has come down over the past couple of decades, it’s still essential to assess precisely how RFID can deliver value for your buck. Before using RFID technology, businesses should access their budget, goals and priorities. RFID is pretty great as it has the potential to transform your business, but it all comes at a cost.

A Rundown of RFID Technology

RFID uses radiofrequency waves to transfer data without contact, i.e. wirelessly. A barcode represents information in a set of black and white lines. When scanned, a barcode allows computers to understand the difference between a box of cake mix and a brownie mix box.

A barcode functions differently from RFID scanners because they need a line of sight to the barcodes. RFID scanners communicate with the RFID tags on items without seeing them. RFID techs alone is a mouthwatering proposition; imagine slashing the inventory time by checking every box without opening them. An RFID tag ensures a manufacturer can track every single part and providing visibility over every moving part in the supply chain.

Wells Fargo data centers, for instance, uses RFID scanners in laptops to track whether a computer is leaving with its rightful owner, preventing data breaches and thefts. In other words, RFID, with its abundance of uses, helps companies maintain control in a formless, fast-moving world.

How Businesses Incorporate RFID Into The Supply Chain

The supply chain consists of four elements such as integrations, operations, purchasing and distribution, each of which presents an opportunity to leverage RFID technology.

Integration: Key elements to a successful supply chain include good integration, communication and information sharing. Imagine running a restaurant where you have to fill out four forms to submit an order. It makes no sense, right? With RFID technology, placing an order can happen in a jiff. RFID makes it easier to share information between suppliers, warehouses, and transportation companies. In other words, a tighter supply chain is a more robust supply chain.

Operations: RFID help companies track goods as they move through their warehouses. Inventory management becomes more efficient since companies have real-time information about the goods in transit, the warehouse, and what’s been sent to customers. In the future, RFID integrations will be capturing data from a few centimetres of a warehouse with the help of RFID scanner drones.

Purchasing: Purchasing is such an essential part of the supply chain process. Whether you’re making clothes or computers, you need specific pieces to create the final product. Suppliers who have RFID technology provide real-time visibility over in-stock raw materials and semi-finished materials. It allows you to verify everything you’ve ordered is in a given shipment. It minimizes the time and moves items to the production stage sooner.
If you and your supplier use RFID technology, your goods and customers are protected, and your company’s compensation from that supplier is sped up as well.

Distribution: Logistics refers to the coordination and movement of goods from point A to point B. Good logistics make distribution possible, whether distributing raw supplies to manufacturers, distributing finished goods to warehouses, or distributing individual items to consumers. It is critical to maintaining quality control as the perishable items can get ruined. Thus, it’s essential to know your goods’ status. Access to real-time data allows you to make quick decisions about a shipment crossing from point A to Point B.

Cost of RFID Tags

The expense of your RFID system depends on the type of RFID tags you choose. RFID tags come in two categories, active RFID tags and passive RFID tags. Active ones have their power source, for example, a battery, and can transmit a signal. And the passive ones don’t have their power source; they receive power from the RFID reader. There are also different types of RFID tags with numerous capabilities within each category, determining each tag’s cost. Remember that a pricier RFID tag may be expensive as it provides a good return on investment, depending on your business.

Drawbacks of RFID Technology

Security concerns: A chip must have appropriate authentication features; otherwise, an employee could change the item’s price to using the chip’s read and write capabilities.

Privacy concerns: RFID technology can track customers’ data to understand their shopping behaviour.

High upfront costs: Although the cost of RFID technology has come down over the years, some RFID techs are highly expensive in addition to the cost of the tags.

Every business has certain assets that are required for day to day tasks. Without these assets, business around the world cannot function. Therefore, businesses need efficient IT asset management, and for it, asset tracking is primarily an effective method to manage and track physical assets. You can know the status, location, maintenance schedule, and other information related to your business’ physical assets. Issues like missing equipment and improperly maintained equipment during emergencies can be avoided. Not to mention, lower administration is another advantage. Track missing equipment or equipment that has reached the end of their maintenance cycle can also be accessed with asset tracking methods.

Assets Tracking System

There are numerous ways for effective IT asset management. One of which is asset tracking through barcodes, serial numbers, lot numbers, revision numbers and more. Asset tags are attached to each piece of the equipment for the tracking system. RFID and GPS can also be used to ensure physical assets are in their respective place.

Asset tags help to monitor assets as they move through the organisation and provide automated data collection about asset utilisation, documentation, maintenance, and repair tracking. It can also be used for loss or theft prevention as it ensures your office equipment does not leave the office premises. Asset tags are a safeguard against the loss for the departments who share the equipment amongst each other.

There are numerous types of asset tags designed to be durable and for preventing theft. Options include metal asset tags, tamper-evident tags, barcode labels, foil asset tags. These tags when connected with all the necessary details; description, purchase date, lifecycle end date and more, helps in the management of the physical assets. The tag when scanned, the details of a particular product are easily accessible.

Asset Tagging Benefits

Whichever tracking system you choose, your organisation will gain a lot of benefits. Some of them are:

• Improve cut costs
• Inventory management
• Locate assets in real-time
• Improved asset utilization
• Lower asset loss
• Lower administrative costs
• Identify which items are where, allowing you to create a better structure for your physical system
• Scale your asset tracking as company growth dictates

How To Set-up Asset Tracking

Before you choose the best asset tracking solution, consider the requirements and needs for your business. Choose a software solution that caters to your needs and ensure your goals can be achieved through implementing the software. Setting up the asset tracking system will require you to create an inventory and then attach the inventory tags. Connect it with all the necessary information that you want to see on the tags, along with current status and location. After the complete set-up, track your physical assets as you get asset tags.

Attaching and tracking tags on every asset might be a headache at the beginning, but as your business keeps growing, the benefits become even more rewarding.

The Internet of things (IoT) and machine learning are the two buzzwords right now. Although, this topic has not imploded yet but surely moving in the right direction. Leaders and scientists across the globe are working every day to combine IoT and machine learning for an advanced world. Imagine, what if your coffee makers know when to brew your coffee without any inputs. Sounds great, right? Similar to this, Machine learning and IOT can permeate every aspect of our lives by cutting manual labour and eliminating human errors.

All of our smart devices, from coffee maker to wearables, have at least one thing in common; they all require manual input to give us optimal results. It may not seem like a disadvantage at first glance, but there are more shortcomings. We, humans, have a random way of living our lives, not all of us perform tasks with the highest order of punctuality. Therefore, on aggregate, this manual input will not exhibit optimal functionality. For example, I wake up at 8:00 in the morning and need my coffee exactly 15 minutes after I wake up, naturally, I have to use the optimal setting for my coffee maker to start brewing at 8:15. But, am I punctual to wake every day at the exact time? Humans are not!

The solution to above and similar situations is to embrace machine learning in the process as it helps analyze data generated by the connected devices and learn human behaviour patterns. It will make devices feel more like an assistant than a liability which has to be encoded.

Let Us Incorporate Machine Learning To The Above Example

In this circumstance, all my devices are connected with each other. When I wake up, my coffee maker will know through my alarm clock, and starts brewing coffee. Similarly, my car, smart shower and all the other devices installed in my house will also know and will start performing their tasks without any inputs from my end. So, in a nutshell, machine learning models learn about my behaviour pattern and accordingly change the schedule of their tasks, no matter at what time I wake up.

Alarm clocks, coffee brewer aren’t the only thing that gets upgraded — group settings are next. Just imagine a restaurant can optimize its lighting and music selection according to the preferences of the customers, or traffic flow optimization by talking to self-driving cars. This technology will help us get better sleep, decrease the time we spend in traffic, and ultimately help save lives, all without any manual effort. We are building a smarter, safer and advanced world.

What Are The Risks?

Well, I’d be lying if I said there is only upside to this. The three risks that involve Machine Learning and IoT are data privacy, physical attacks and grid collapse. These devices will know more about you than you know about yourself. They can interpret your reactions beforehand through learning from your data and behaviour patterns. Steps must be taken to prevent personal data abuse, as it can be used for theft, fraud or malicious attacks.

In physical attacks, imagine a hacker hacks your car, now you are under the mercy of the hacker who can take you anywhere. The similar case applies to Satellites, water services, and power plants. All of these can lead to vulnerable situations. However, better planning and implementation of IoT and Machine Learning Model can dissuade hacking or use of data for such attacks.

Grid collapse means these devices need the power to remain connected. In the event of power failure, safeguards must be in place to make sure the orchestration of these devices continues. Public transports and self-driving cars must be able to continue performing even in a power failure. The IoT and machine learning models must be built as robust as possible so that the public devices continue working even in faulty situations.

Yes, these reasons seem scary, but a smarter world won’t appear overnight, we have to work hard, do careful planning and implementation and correct problems as they appear as we built this out.

Why is RFID Technology a Boon to Healthcare Facilities During COVID-19?

As the pandemic is upon us, the healthcare facilities are working from shoulder to wheel to cure coronavirus infected patients. However, the chaos to manage these patients in the hospitals, labs, testing facilities is undeniable. And more than the patients, the availability of equipment and medications, to treat the patients, is also essential. Amid this chaos, devices and equipment often get lost in operation rooms, labs, patient rooms, among others. Hence, RFID technology is important to healthcare facilities due to their ability to manage and track items that are needed for daily operation times. We have done an overall overview of why it’s imperative to track and manage these assets, and how RFID can be a help and prove to be an effective solution.

Asset Tracking

Hospitals or labs have valuable assets of all sizes that can be either lost, stolen or misplaced, due to unorganized management. These assets such as Microscopes, Sample Holders, Centrifuges, Ventilators, Coolers, Collection Trays are often used for specific use in treatments for which they can be moved to other floors, zones/areas, or individual rooms. A facility should properly manage and track the movement of such assets to avoid theft, misplacement and losing it among the chaos, especially the valued equipment during the pandemic crisis. The idea is to let asset tracking take over the facilities, for transparency in detecting the location, or last read location of important assets. By implementing this, owners and employees will save money, involve less human force and provide better treatment during emergency-like situations. Also, using the data, the facility can use each asset to its best ability. RFID Asset tracking hardware can be installed easily, depending upon the facility’s size, infrastructure, atmosphere, and preferred level of features. While some facilities mount it to the ceiling of each room, others may set up at major doorways or zones that provide a ‘last read’ location for each asset. If the room isn’t too big, the assets can be detected in a room or group of rooms easily.

High-Temperature Asset Tracking

In healthcare facilities, it is essential to sterilize all the usable assets for patient’s safety. It must be washed, disinfected, sanitized or run through an autoclave to lower the facility’s operating cost. If not properly cleaned or managed efficiently, the facility’s operating cost will exceed due to replacement costs associated with losing reusable assets. These items are also tracked differently as compared to other assets. The main reason is the heat and water which is used to sanitize and clean the items. This process involves high temperatures up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and most RFID tags are not waterproof or can stand to high heat. Hence, it’s essential to choose specific RFID tags that can withstand the cleaning process. These tags are also ideal for any shape and size. However, if cautious consideration is not done when choosing the tag, the items can get destroyed and the tags can interfere with the item’s purpose, making it useless for treatments. Some such assets are beakers, test tubes, face shields, aprons, knives, tweezers and more.

Asset Identification

RFID application was implemented for reusable hospital equipment. It was added as a feature to a pre-existing inventory management solution – Kit Check. It helps to track lost or stolen medication trays in healthcare facilities. Kit Check uses RFID enabled cabinets, carts and workstation to keep count of tagged medication trays. And, in addition to that, due to COVID-19, another feature has been added that provides a digital indication to whether the medication tray has sanitized or not before reuse. This helpful feature has allowed the healthcare facilities to keep an eye on each medication trays to eliminate spreading germs.

Consumables – Shipment Verification, Authentication, Inventory Management

Shipment Verification:

Shipment verification mostly involves tracking product shipments with the help of RFID tags. With these tags, it’s easier to track the shipment contents on arrival. The recipient will simply read the tag with an RFID reader, and with the help of software, and categorize the shipment, accordingly. This mostly helps large companies that receive loads of shipments per day. The ability to track the contents of shipment without opening saves a lot of labour, time and also cuts the chances of misplacement. The data can represent information like types of items, quantities of items, order information and receiving department. During COVID-19, thousands of consumables like masks and gloves are needed for the treatment. To track the shipment of each box is time consumable, hence, healthcare facilities must rely on this efficient technology to receive their shipment. It also helps to know the quantities received, without opening the package and counting the items.

Authentication – Manufacturing Level

At the pandemic crisis, issues of authenticity have also amplified. Individuals, businesses are selling and receiving counterfeit items like face masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, PPE kits and more. To fix this issue, RFID tags can be applied to the high-value products or placed on the package during packing for authentication purposes. Businesses or organizations that purchase these items can easily authenticate it with the help of a custom app on a smartphone that tracks the contents and provides authenticate information to the reader.

Inventory Management

During pandemic emergencies, it’s difficult to keep count of each item. But, the items are crucial to healthcare facilities, it’s essential to keep count of these items. With an RFID tag, each box can be tagged, read by a handheld RFID reader and then can then be placed in specific inventory rooms that are enabled with RFID systems. Whenever an item enters a room for the first time, the software can be used to check that item into inventory, then when the item leaves the room, the software can then deduct the item from inventory. This data can be utilized to know the rate at which consumable items are being used, on different floors. With the help of this technology, items will always be available. For theft purposes, RFID technology can also scan an employee badge which will create a log of which employee removed which item. This can be important to determine overuse or inventory theft within a facility.

Unique Samples – Identification, Inventory Management, Authentication

Identification

Whether it’s disease samples, vaccine samples, or any other sample, all of them must be uniquely identified. At any given time, a lab has thousands of samples being tested. Keeping track of all of them is quite difficult. Often, when a sample is not correctly identified, it results in a patient’s health risk and possibly death. Without RFID, the samples are identified with the help of labels written in ink or a small print.

These labels are not always accurate and can cause human error. With the help of RFID labels, it’s easier to find a specific sample in a large group. RFID handheld readers can locate the place, and correctly identify the sample. The chances of misdiagnosed, wrong results shed to zero. The healthcare facilities will benefit from it as human labour will be less along with accurate results.

Inventory Management

Healthcare facilities are always loaded with numerous medications. They have inventory rooms and cabinets where the medication is stocked for the patients. Stock levels are daily or weekly counted to keep the availability of medications at all times. But, to do so, a lot of time is consumed along with labour work.

Utilizing the RFID technology, the healthcare facilities can do this in a matter of minutes. Just keep the medications in RFID enabled cabinets, shelves and refrigerator. It helps to track real-time inventory as each time an RFID smart cabinet is opened, not only it records what was taken but also captures who removed the item. And the entry to these cabinets is restricted to authorized personnel. This type of technology is ideal for larger facilities to keep the availability of medications stocked and tracked at all times.

Authentication

Counterfeit medications or vaccines have amplified, especially during the pandemic crisis. RFID technology can help to authenticate the medications using NFC tags. These tags when placed on the medications can be authenticated upon arrival through a custom-built app via a smartphone or an NFC reader.

Sanitizing Procedures – Identification & Gathering Data

We all know by now that sanitation is important to our survival due to COVID-19. RFID technology has unique devices that can take care of this issue as well. RFID applications help healthcare facilities to identify personnel. It helps to get the data of the employee movement and helps to alert the authorities that the employee has been in contact with a positive patient.

But, it also helps them to track if the employee is sanitizing or not. The soap dispensers and hand sanitizing stations are embedded with RFID readers. To make the reading work, employees wear RFID lanyards which when comes in close range with the dispenser captures information and sends it to RFID software. The software records the reading as a timestamp and compiles it all together. Then, the data is sent to the supervisor who maintains the hygiene in the healthcare facilities. These technologies have also a feature that tracks the movement of the employees through the day through BlueTooth and ultrasound. And if the employee comes in contact with a positive COVID-19 patient, they are then requested to isolate themselves. The technology is known as swipesense.

Some hospitals are already enabled with the RFID technologies, while others must follow it soon to be more efficient in curing the patients.

Having a robust asset tracking system in place protects not only your bottom line but also makes your business operations so much easier and efficient. How? By reducing redundancy, minimizing the scope of human error, and reducing asset losses or theft. Such efficiency gains, in turn, enable your business for unprecedented levels of productivity by empowering your staff with data and the ease of accessing the tools or resources they need to perform the job at hand.

For asset management, RFID has proven to be a highly evolved and successful technology in the market. Manufacturing industries, transport sector, construction, and retail – nearly all types of industries are leveraging this technology. RFID-based asset tracking and management can have endless important business benefits.

RFID Brings Automation And Reduces Human Action

Unlike the traditional barcode-based tracking systems that required a significant ratio of functions to be performed by humans, RFID technology does not assign a lot of jobs to your employees. Scanning a barcode label requires the employee to carry a barcode scanner and directly point it at the tag, which can be hard to reach in large assets. With RFID, the reader can be placed several feet away and still obtain an accurate scan of the tag. Instead of placing several employees with separate scanners, you can now put a broad-range RFID reader to scan multiple assets in just a matter of seconds, without worrying about achieving a line-of-sight between the tags and your scanner.

Advanced RFID tags also come with an on-board data storage capacity, like an in-built memory chip, which can store crucial information related to the asset. When in remote locations with weak or zero connectivity to a cloud server, a database, or any kind of back-end applications, the necessary updates about maintenance activities can be stored directly on the tag. This new information can be written on the tag and, later on, read or accessed by any authorized field technician with the use of a mobile computer.

The many advantages include:

• When integrated with motion sensors and GPS technology, RFID tags can also be used to relay information related to an asset’s condition in addition to providing its real-time location updates.
• An RFID-powered asset tracking system can be connected with a wireless LAN to detect and trace assets remotely within a few seconds.
• The labor cost involved in inventory management is reduced as fewer employees are required to do the job. Also, the time spent reduces from days to hours.

With RFID automating crucial tasks, you can complete important tasks in less time, speed up other functions, and significantly reduce labor costs related to the tracking of your inventory and assets. You will have more time, resources, and peace of mind to work towards improving your bottom line.

RFID Enables Real-Time Asset Visibility

In most businesses, assets continuously enter and exit the facility. Between those two points, your items can be out of radar, which involves an element of risk. RFID works to make this in-transit process transparent, allowing you to manage what is out of sight by keeping it in your knowledge. All of these functions can be performed in real-time. A cloud-based RFID asset tracking system not only allows you to track your inventory but also learn all about the movement of your trucks, forklifts, returnable transit items, and other valuable assets that frequently move in and out of your location.

Also, RFID tags can be read from anywhere within your business premises to obtain valuable information, such as the quantity of an item, its current location, and the previous movements. This gives you whereabouts and previous shipment details associated with all the instances when the said item has left the building. As a result, businesses can utilize this information to learn about and resolve issues arising due to oversight, mismanagement, misplaced materials, and errors related to manual processes. It gives you the flexibility to take important decisions on the fly and make immediate changes, like rerouting an item when stuck in a process.

RFID Eliminate Delays In Deliverables Or Product Deliveries

A business’s reputation is built on its ability to honor deadlines and fulfill expectations. However, what goes behind is the on-going struggle to prevent delays. It is a challenge to fight bottlenecks that rear their ugly heads from time to time and maintain an efficient production flow with the goal of achieving optimal output every day.

Now, what will happen if there is a lack of visibility of an item moving through the stages of production and distribution? Problems are communicated and resolved at a much slower rate due to the dependency on manual functions. In turn, products don’t reach the place they are required to be, and at the time they are supposed to be. Consequently, delays can lead to wasted labor effort, added expense, weakened customer confidence, and/or an increased stock of unwanted items.

However, by automating the process through RFID tracking, you can improve asset visibility, resolve problems in a timely manner, eliminate bottlenecks, and even exceed expectations by accelerating delivery times.

You have a place to call home. However, it turns into a smart one when your residence is equipped with Internet-connected devices, which allow you to control your home’s systems and amenities. The Internet of Things has been a futuristic vision, like a child’s fantasy, for decades, but it is here now to augment and optimize our lives in myriad ways. From connected homes to smart, sentient cities, IoT is set to revolutionize the way we live and go about our routine activities. Very soon, we won’t just co-exist with our machines, but we will be working in partnership with them.

What Is IoT?

Homeowners are constantly looking for options to enhance convenience, energy savings, and security, which has led innovators to develop technologies that cater to these needs. An era of changing devices can be seen through the shift in the role of the many devices we use today. Devices that had a passive role in our lives are now becoming interactive systems, which are embedded with smarter features to be able to perform key functions without human intervention.

Through sensors and data collected by technologies, IoT infuses intelligence into everyday devices. Imagine an IoT-empowered home wherein you wake up to the alarm. As soon as you snooze it, your coffee maker (connected to your alarm) starts to brew coffee automatically. As you brush and freshen up, your smart bathroom can turn on your water heating appliance to your desired temperature and can even put on your favorite song! This is no Sci-Fi movie, but a scenario of IoT at work.

Smart devices not only improve comfort but also bring efficiency in the form of energy savings, contributing to the ‘green’ revolution. All in all, home automation is past its infancy with the next generation of technologies encompassing the entire home. By automating a large gamut of functions, including security and temperature control to re-ordering groceries when required, IoT is offering novel and exciting opportunities for addressing common household problems.

Potential Applications Of IoT In Homes

Solutions for automation and connected living are constantly evolving, meaning the scope of IoT applications in our homes is virtually limitless. With reducing costs, improved Wifi or internet facilities, and simplistic designs, both the growth of IoT based solutions and their demand has been rising in the IoT market. Some popular IoT devices today available are:

Security Systems

The Internet of Things has taken the hassle out of surveillance for homeowners. Advanced security options include motion sensors, cameras that work both day and night, and video doorbells that allow two-way communication. Automating your home’s security functions allows you to monitor your home from any remote location and make crucial decisions. From identifying visitors and receiving deliveries to controlling access of people around your property, you can do it all! In fact, smart locks can detect your smartphone’s GPS to monitor your movements and lock/unlock doors for you automatically.

Lighting

A great advantage of living in a seamless IoT environment is that all its components are connected and communicate to work in harmony. A modern lighting system or bulb gives you limited control, such as regulating brightness or turning it on/off through your smartphone. However, an IoT-enabled light is equipped with more features, like built-in speakers, camera, and presence-sensing technology, that do more than your expectations.

Sensors For Safety

Sensor technologies have become smarter than ever before, with their applications invading almost every industry. Their commendable performance can be noticed in alarm systems that can detect potential safety threats such as an increased carbon monoxide level, a gas leak, fires, and water leakage. They can even deliver regular weather updates and warnings. In the event of unfavorable climate or temperature, your sensors can communicate with other smart home IoT devices to make necessary adjustments. It can direct the window blinds to shut close, for instance.

Bathroom & Kitchen Appliances

The bathroom and kitchen can be two main areas where water conservation can be a challenge. Your smart taps and showers can alert you towards water usage (some do so by changing color). You can monitor your daily/weekly/monthly water consumption and even check quality parameters on an integrated app.

You can equip your bathroom with a television mirror where you can utilize your shower time catching up on the latest news or even preparing for your meeting/test!

An automated kitchen can be a true blessing for many. You can turn the busiest place of your home into a simple and enjoyable area with automated appliances that work collaboratively in an interactive environment. Your coffee maker will brew a cup of coffee right on time without you having to lift a finger, the dishwasher will start automatically when it is loaded, the stove will turn off upon sensing a gas leak, and so much more!

The Future Of IoT

It can be said that IoT gives your home a mind of its own but with customization abilities so that the control is always in your hands. When all the components of an automated home work together, they create a smooth-functioning, streamlined environment where you stay connected through mobile devices from any corner of the world.

When the future of IoT is seen in combination with Artificial Intelligence (AI), this looks even better! As IoT-embedded systems receive the intelligence of AI, they are able to ‘learn’ from your routine, lifestyle, and preference-based behavior. This piece of information can be analyzed by an integrated app, giving you meaningful suggestions or knowledge. These systems can further regulate settings related to various devices to better fulfill your needs.

What Is Supply Chain Management?

This field of work involves handling the entire production flow of a good or a service – from the raw components to delivering final products to the end-user. A network of suppliers is responsible for moving the product along from the suppliers to organizations dealing directly with users.

The key components of supply chain management are:

Planning – It includes proper planning and management of all resources to fulfill the customer’s demand for a company’s products or services.

Sourcing – It includes ordering, receiving, and managing inventory, and authorizing supplier payments.

Making – It includes organizing the activities required to acquire the raw materials, manufacture products, test for quality, package for shipping, and schedule for delivery.

Returning – This step includes creating a network or process to take back defective, unwanted, and excess products.

Enabling – It includes establishing support processes to monitor information throughout the supply chain and assuring compliance with all rules and regulations.

What Is the Internet of Things?

It refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, all collecting and sharing data. With super-cheap computer chips and easy access to wireless networks, IoT’s ability to automate machines and assist self-sufficient technology is unlimited. Adding sensors to any device can improve its intelligence and enables it to communicate real-time data without involving the need for a human being to operate it.

IoT application is a collection of an extraordinary number of objects, such as smart microwaves that cook automatically for the right length of time, or self-driving cars with sensors that detect objects in their path. Also included are wearable fitness devices that measure your heart rate and create customized diet and exercise plans.

Major Ways in Which IoT Applications Impact Supply Chain Management

IoT enabled capabilities, and the supply chain management system operating on them is the new development in the tech-driven world. The following are also examples of IoT applications.

• IoT devices are attached to storage containers or raw materials or products and transmit the location. This can be picked up by GPS satellites and is useful in tracking the movement of goods.
• Tracking speed of movement and flow of goods helps in planning the navigation of products through the supply chain. Suppliers, manufacturers, and distribution centers are better prepared to receive the goods, which in turn reduces handling times and ensures efficient processing of materials.
• Specialized IoT devices help in the proper storage of perishable items by maintaining temperature, humidity, exposure to the atmosphere, light intensity, and other environmental factors. These devices even trigger an alarm in case any benchmarks are breached, which helps in taking corrective measures and reducing spoilage.
• Goods tracking and route planning through IoT devices can identify where and when products get delayed in the transit. It allows for contingency planning and alternative routes to be followed.
• With advanced IoT technology, it is easier to label goods within a distribution center, which in turn makes it easier to locate specific items without wasting time exploring the entire warehouse. It also increases the accurate identification and management of goods.

It is always smarter to opt for professionals and experienced market leaders when it comes to deploying the latest technology. Trakaid is a leading player in providing advanced solutions for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enabled smart asset tracking and factory automation.

So far, most innovations in RFID technology have been geared towards the possibilities in warehouse management as well as in parking systems and toll road payments. However, there is another area where RFID can contribute equally well, and that is supply chain security.

With costs associated with RFID tags decreasing, more and more manufacturers and distributors are adopting RFID technology to smoothen and secure their supply chain process. RFID devices can be used to track any number of assets during the entire supplying process — from allocation to ship-to-store operations to inventory management.

To understand the importance and use of RFID technology in supply chain security, let’s first see what the supply chain process is, and how it works.

What Is The Supply Chain Process? How Does It Work Without RFID?

In layman’s term, a supply chain is basically the flow of materials, information, products, and services from the procurement point until the end-user point. It is an integral part of any business, and for a long time, has been conducted using barcode machines and manual interventions.

In many supply chains, a barcode system is used to scan and collect the data, while others enter the data manually. Both these methods are slow and error-prone and using them to scan large volumes of items can result in a mismatch between the physical inventory and the system inventory. This leads to bottlenecks and poor visibility, which in turn affects the decision-making process and eventually slows down the overall production.

How Does RFID Help Increase Supply Chain Security?

RFID consists of tags containing electronically stored information and readers that automatically identify and read the tags using electromagnetic fields. This provides RFID applications the capability to automate product identification in a supply chain process, leaving little room for security compromise and mishaps. RFID also helps pinpoint any lingering issues and streamline the operations effectively.

With RFID, businesses can ship items worldwide while keeping track of their storage conditions like temperature and humidity. RFID also increases security by providing continuous updates on the goods’ status and location and ensuring that they reach their destination at the right time.

To sum it up better, here are the reasons why RFID is a must-have for supply chain management.

• RFID helps in demand planning by providing real-time and accurate data on goods – whether they are in-progress, in-transit, or finished.
• RFID helps reduce inventory and order errors, increasing product visibility, and minimizing production delays.
• RFID tags are reusable assets that can be used on even the most difficult-to-track assets, such as trays, pallets, and containers.
• RFID does not require a direct line of sight or contact and can be operated from several meters. This provides a high level of data integrity to the users.
• RFID readers instantly alert you in case any attempt has been made to remove a tagged asset from an authorized area, increasing security.
• RFID is automated and needs almost no human intervention.
• RFID is a time-savvy, cost-effective technology that helps in faster invoice settlement, minimizes human error and simplifies the supply chain management process.

While all this sounds good, implementing RFID technology in the supply chain process does have its own setbacks. The major one being the high initial costs and restructuring costs that are required to update an existing analog system. Still, it will be exciting to see how this promising, rapidly evolving solution will advance in the near future – which seems bright as of now.