RFID

Building on a strong foundation of more than 60 years of experience SATO offers a wide selection of Automatic Data Collection Solutions for a range of industries. SATO solutions enable any business to quickly and efficiently identify items, be it products, components, actions or people. Labelling an item with a barcode, or RFID tag, allows that item to be immediately and accurately tracked throughout its journey.

Whether you are required to implement an RFID compliance system, or are just looking to increase efficiency internally, trust SATO to provide you with complete support, from start to finish.

RFID vs Barcode

Because barcode and RFID technology exchange data in different ways, the two systems complement each other. They are both valuable in different situations, and can often be used together effectively for many purposes.

RFID technology has been used in various applications for many years, but now chips are getting smaller and tags cheaper. With new applications developing, the benefits are undeniable.

RFID Benefits

RFID offers higher data storage capacities higher identification speeds and greater immediacy and accuracy of data collection. An increasing number of supply chain management companies worldwide are embracing RFID technology to identify multiple items in a single container - a feat that is not possible with barcoding systems. The technology's enhanced accuracy and security in data collection makes it an ideal data collection platform for the healthcare pharmaceutical manufacturing warehousing, logistics and retail sectors, for the following reasons:

No Line of Sight

• Less time for reading, resulting in faster processing
• Tag readable through non-metallic material, i.e. hardened plastic coatings, grease, dirt and paint
• Tag can be hidden or placed inside a container
• Tag orientation is less critical
• Greater resistance to scratches and physical abuse
•  Longer read distances
•  Information in tag is more secure

Decentralized Data Collection - Tag Dependent

• No database connect needed, hence less infrastructure cost
•  Information on demand, hence no waiting for data

Easy Integration into Existing Processes

• High employee acceptance
• Reduction of human error
• Improved quality assurance
• Small surface area requirement

Read/Write Operations

• Tags can be rewritten in real time as the items move through the supply chain
• Long life: reusable, rewritable

Simultaneous Identification (Anti-Collision)

• RFID systems can simultaneously capture data from and write onto many tags within antenna range
• Easy identification of the different data blocks

Rapid and Easy Reading

• Readers can capture up to 200 tags per second
• Label can be read while in motion
• Faster processing of items

Data Storage - Tag Dependent

• Store large amounts of data - up to 4 KB
• Greater accuracy in data retrieval
• Reduced data errors

Maintenance Free

• No maintenance needed for passive tags

RFID Implementation

Implementing an RFID solutions involves much more than just a tag or a printer so it must be considered as a complete project to improve a wide range of operations over a considerable period of time. The evaluation of the investment should not only include the cost of all the different components but also take into account both quantitative and qualitative benefits.

Steps of Development and Implementation of an RFID Project with SATO:

1.Analysis of Requirements

RFID is not only about replacing barcode throughout the supply chain. SATO leads you through an analysis of the requirements of the various stages of the process to better understand what kind of RFID solution you need.

2.System Design

With SATO you will determine whether your RFID system should work independently or to be integrated into an existing system.

3.Technology Selection

SATO helps you select the right technology best suited to your solution requirements: frequency range read/write or readonly technology range performance environmental conditions and standards compliance.

4.Hardware Choice

You can trust SATO’s experience as the Auto ID industry pioneer in assisting you to select the most appropriate hardware for your RFID solution including the choice of printer, antenna, reader, controller and RFID tags.

5.Software Considerations

In partnership with SATO, select or develop a software to be integrated into the RFID solution.

6.System Configuration

Let SATO support you in bringing together all the RFID system components and testing your system in the user envionment.

7.System Adjustment

SATO will assist you in adjusting the RFID system according to the test results to optimize performance and worker acceptance.

8.RFID Solution Implementation

SATO will help you in bringing the RFID solution into service and supporting the users to ensure your targeted results.

Case Study

SATO and UPM Rafsec Implement the First Automatic RFID Pallet Tagging System at Nestlé

METRO Group’s Future Store Initiative

Ever since METRO Group launched its major RFID initiative everyone’s been talking about Radio Frequency Identification. The ultimate aim of tagging with RFID labels is to automatically track pallet and case movement and enhance transparency across the entire supply chain.

METRO’s largest suppliers are currently in the first phase of RFID technology roll-out. Initially the suppliers are to apply UHF-RFID tags to pallets. Tagging cases with RFID labels will follow in the near future. At Nestlé Deutschland one of METRO’s most important suppliers the RFID project was not considered merely an irksome chore but was seen as a strategic opportunity. Thus Nestlé went to great lengths to seek a practical and effective solution. With the support of the RFID specialists from SATO and UPM Rafsec and extensive testing at the two Nestlé distribution centres in Lüdinghausen and Rangsdorf this project actually led to a significant breakthrough. The readability of UHF-RFID labels is highly dependant upon factors such as the position of the label on the pallet the type of product on the pallet and the packaging materials used. This is why a great many obstacles had to be overcome to make the UHF-RFID technology fit for everyday industrial use and to render automatic pallet labelling with UHF-RFID labels possible without any manual intervention. This led SATO and UPM Rafsec to the development of a completely new development in RFID labelling technology: the FlagTag. The resulting solution that was implemented at Nestlé sets a new standard for the suppliers to METRO and the wider supply chain.

Partnership between Nestlé SATO and UPM Rafsec

Nestlé Deutschland AG is the German subsidiary of the Swiss Nestlé Group. With more than 14000 employees and sales in excess of EUR 3.4 billion in 2003 Nestlé Deutschland is one of Germany’s foremost food and beverage companies. The head office of Nestlé Deutschland AG is in Frankfurt am Main. From the outset Nestlé Deutschland saw the RFID issue as a project of strategic significance. Their approach was to introduce RFID in a way that realised benefits not only METRO but also Nestlé itself. This is why Nestlé is currently sounding out all the opportunities that RFID technology presents and by subjecting it to rigorous evaluation.

Collaboration on the RFID pallet labelling project with SATO and UPM Rafsec began at Nestlé in June 2004. It was obvious that no ‘off-the-shelf’ RFID labelling solution would do the job. Highly competent partners were found in SATO and UPM Rafsec. From the word go, all were agreed as to what the solution had to be capable of. The key objective was to be able to utilise a single RFID tag design and to automatically apply the tags to all pallets.

SATO is the inventor of the portable labelling device, of thermal transfer printing, and is the world’s number-one manufacturer of label and barcode printers. SATO ranks among the leading specialists in Data Collection Systems (DCS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Further, as a Gold partner of the METRO Group RFID future store initiative, SATO is playing a key role in the roll-out of the new UHF-RFID technology.

UPM Rafsec is one of the world’s foremost producers of RFID transponders. The company’s headquarters and research and development (R&D) centre are located in Tampere, Finland. UPM Rafsec is a subsidiary of UPM-Kymmene Corporation, the largest printing and label paper manufacturer in the world. Supported by UPM Group, UPM Rafsec boasts extensive skills and know-how in the development and production of RFID tags and is a Silver partner of METRO’s RFID future store initiative.

Pallet Labelling using UHF-RFID tags

The RFID inlay is the heart of every RFID label. The inlay consists of a thin RFID semiconductor device and radio antenna. In addition to the data stored within the RFID device, text and barcode information is also surface printed onto the label using a conventional thermal transfer printer. The great advantage of pallet labelling using the newly developed UHF-RFID labels is that the data content of the RFID device, and hence the pallet identity can be read automatically when the pallet passes through a gateway fitted with a RFID reader. What makes the new generation of UHF-RFID tags so effective is that the higher radio frequency provides a reading range of two to three metres. The European frequency standard for the Ultra High Frequency RFID tags is currently 869 MHz. This is why, generally speaking, pallet labelling has only become truly practicable with the advent of the new UHF-RFID tags.

Live Tests

The three partners – Nestlé, SATO and UPM Rafsec – began the pallet labelling project with thorough live tests. June 2004 saw the first series of tests carried out at the Nestlé distribution centre in Lüdinghausen. Nestlé’s Maggi range is distributed through the Lüdinghausen facility, which is operated for Nestlé by logistics company GEODIS. The Maggi products come in a vast array of different forms; dry and liquid goods, in cans, jars, foil and aluminium packing. Jürgen Schweitzer, RFID project leader at Nestlé, explains the approach: “It was important for us to test the entire spectrum of possible packaging and contents under realistic conditions, as we wanted one single, universal RFID tag solution for pallets with different contents.”

As is often the case, the devil is in the detail, and so it is with UHF-RFID tags. These tags do have the greater reading range needed for pallet labelling, but in practice the range which can be achieved is extremely sensitive to variations in the type of packaging and the contents within. In the worst case, the resonant frequency shift and the absorption caused by the materials on the pallet are so great that the antenna in the RFID tag generates a signal so weak that a UHF-RFID tag applied in the normal manner can scarcely be readatall – no matter how close the UHF-RFID tag is to the antennae of the gate. This is to say that the antennae on the gateways which generate the radio field have to be ‘de-tuned’ to compensate for the frequency shift caused by the palletised product and packaging. Alternatively, the tags to be applied need a modified antenna design and resonant frequency to compensate for the frequency shift.

On two days of testing in Lüdinghausen, the test team passed more than 70 different pallets with 70 different products through the gates. To test readability and reading range with different application variants and different pallet contents, the pallets were repeatedly driven through the gates by elevating platform trucks and electric stacker trucks – in all, more than 2,000 test runs were conducted. Liquid products and metal packaging materials proved to be particularly problematic. Andreas Kolb, Strategic Business Development Manager for RFID at SATO recalls: “In some cases it was like a wall. Nothing got through.” In most cases it was possible to overcome the problem of insufficient field strength by applying the tag to a suitable point on the pallet – often, the UHF-RFID tag was affixed to a place with a hollow space behind it – but that was not viable for a universal pallet labelling solution. “For our real aim was not, of course, a slap & ship solution but an automatic print & apply,” explains SATO RFID specialist Kolb. “The RFID tags were not to be printed and then applied by hand, but applied automatically after printing, without human involvement and in the same way for all pallets, no matter what they contained.” This is why the first approach at solving the problem – the spacer – was quickly dismissed. With this idea, the actual RFID label would have been applied to a spacer made of cardboard. Although the distance to the surface of the pallet would have met the relevant reading criteria, the spacer approach still relied on manual application.

Achieving a Working Solution

Once the practical problems had been identified in tests involving the Lüdinghausen products, the next test phases in July and September 2004 at the Nestlé distribution centre in Rangsdorf finally produced the desired universal solution. Nestlé products such as Nescafé, Nestlé cereals, Humana baby foods, Smarties, Lion bars and Nesquick are distributed through the Rangsdorf location, which is operated by Nestlé partner TTS Global Logistics. In early 2004, Nestlé had already decided that the RFID pallet labelling would be started in Rangsdorf. The Rangsdorf tests were carried out with the antenna configuration also deployed by METRO Group; two pairs of Kathrein antennae per gate, set at two different levels so that double-deck pallets could also be automatically captured while passing through the gate.

Development of the FlagTag

What finally produced the breakthrough during the series of tests at Rangsdorf was the innovative FlagTag. Under a patent registered by UPM Rafsec, a FlagTag is created when the narrow, flat strip of the RFID label that contains the actual RFID tag, i.e. the chip and antenna, is folded over, so that it protrudes from the label, and stands vertical to the surface of the pallet – as the term suggests, like a small flag. Proceeding from the FlagTag idea devised by UPM Rafsec, SATO then hit upon a solution, the patent for which has since been registered, whereby the flag is folded automatically by the applicator immediately before application. The SATO RFID applicator uses negative air pressure to suck in the area of the flag bordered by three perforated lines and forms the flag by creating a fold along the middle perforation and pressing the two adhesive surfaces together. The result an automatically formed, vertically protruding FlagTag. Thanks to the FlagTag concept, universal readability is assured irrespective of the point of application and content of the pallet, moreover, the design can be used in an automatic application device.

In Rangsdorf, Nestlé, SATO and UPM Rafsec also tested the resilience and robustness of the FlagTags. Labelled pallets were loaded onto a truck, transported and then unloaded. All the pallets were subsequently passed through an RFID gate, after which the loading began all over again. The entire procedure was repeated approximately 30 times to see how the FlagTags performed with a variety of loading methods. The outcome; the resilience of the FlagTag is in no way inferior to that of a regular flat RFID label applied to the pallet.

Since it would be illogical and costly to equip pallets with RFID tags when the recipients cannot yet read the data they contain, Nestlé initially opted for a twin-track solution. To this end, SATO developed a parallel tagging system comprising two SATO S-Type print modules. One of these imprints and programs UHF-RFID labels while the second produces conventional barcode labels. Depending on the recipient of the pallet, either the UHF-RFID module or the barcode module is activated to perform the label printing task. The printed label is automatically fed to an applicator, which, if required, automatically folds the FlagTag and applies the label. In the case of double-deck pallets, the applicator automatically elevates in order to apply the label to the upper pallet as well. SATO plans to install a fully automatic system, with two print modules and a double-deck applicator in Rangsdorf in January 2005.

Successful Implementation of a Pilot UHF- RFID Pallet Labelling Solution