RFID NFC are used in many industries, branches and areas of economic and social life.
RFID NFC around the world is gaining more and more supporters and applications. Currently, it is practically difficult to find an area related to material things, where the use of the possibilities offered by radio identification does not effectively solve many problems. Most often it concerns the challenges of identification, records, inventory, control and management.
Now, thanks to the new possibilities offered by RFID technology, you can easily and automatically monitor many millions of items in real time. In addition, they can be not only static, but also moving objects. In addition, they do not have to be visible at all and can be even several meters away from the readers. If you add to this that the tags by which these items are identified are cheap and do not require power. Moreover, they are very resistant to mechanical and environmental conditions and can be small in size, it becomes clear why this TECHNOLOGY is gaining so much popularity.
Radio identification means not only “more modern”. It is mainly: cheaper, faster, easier and more accurate than using traditional methods. In addition, you gain completely new possibilities offered by modern technology and currently available technologies. In this context, the possibilities of RFID tags in relation to e.g. barcodes or QR codes can be compared to the possibilities of a good car in relation to a scooter, on the highway 🙂
In which industries you will find RFID most often?
In fact, it is difficult to list the industries and areas in which tags and RFID are the most popular. Anyway, the situation in this respect is very different on a global scale. For example, there are countries where completely maintenance-free supermarkets already operate. They operate on the basis of radio frequency identification technology.
How does an automated shop using RFID work?
Imagine you are a customer 🙂
You go in, you take what you want and you go out with your shopping. Can you imagine a more convenient shopping experience in a real store?
You don’t even need gates, barriers, etc.
Upon exit, you will see a list of your purchases and the amount due for confirmation.
Alternatively, you may be asked for the card’s PIN code during the payment process. Unless you prefer to use the application, also contactless, on your smartphone with NFC.
Virtually everything happens in such a supermarket automatically and in a discreet way, giving you a sense of comfort. You don’t need to know anything, follow any rules, ask or wait for anything. Other customers or a few supporters do not need to see what you are buying.
If you want detailed information on a product, you simply bring your phone close to it. You immediately receive comprehensive multimedia information about it. Doesn’t that look like the store of the future? Wouldn’t you like to buy it yourself if you already go to the store?
And what does it look like from the management and service point of view?
In such a store, all processes from goods receipt, through inventory control, display, sale and payment, can be automated thanks to RFID. This may also include anti-theft inspection, after-sales and warranty service. If the RFID tag is permanently embedded in a given product, then reading and modifying the information stored in it is possible throughout its “life”. Even several dozen years! This opens up great opportunities for the manufacturer, distributor, seller and service.
Of course, in the case of linking this data with the user’s personal data, it may in some cases also raise various doubts and threats. It all depends on the extent to which customers and institutions established to protect privacy will be aware of these threats and effectively prevent surveillance and building such connections. Anyway, this does not only apply to stores and RFID, but is a big challenge in our increasingly automated world.
What else?
For example: the system automatically monitors when the buyer took a specific product from a given shelf, or whether another was delivered to its place on time. In addition, whether the product arrived at the exit door in the expected time and was paid. Or maybe he stayed “too long” in the changing room or was taken outside the assigned area. Did the goods taken from the store not appear, for example, in the elevator, aisle or parking lot without payment, and whether their sale was included in the next order, etc.
To make it more interesting, this information may refer to each specific item. This can be of great importance for the after-sales service and warranty service. It is even possible to record and automatically analyze how customers move with specific goods within the facility. Of course, such a system can do much more than described above 🙂
At the other extreme, there are countries where RFID tags are not even used in official state documents, and the average citizen uses terms such as: radio frequency identification, RFID, NFC, tag … they say nothing at all.
And with us?
It seems that currently in Poland radio identification is most widely used in industries related to security, transport and production. For example, proximity cards and key fobs act as personal identifiers in access control systems and intercoms. Tags in the form of self-adhesive or screwed disks work as control points, placed on specific objects / devices. For example, in systems supervising the work of guards or maintenance and service technicians. Various types of RFID tags are used to mark: products, returnable packaging, replaceable elements, batteries, vehicles, specific places or areas, machines, tools, equipment, etc.
For now, NFC is dominated by payment systems (contactless cards and phone applications) and advertising (e.g. NFC tags built into calendars, folders, printed publications and other advertising forms). More and more often, tags are also used as identifiers and markers of equipment, devices, files and documents, etc.
It seems that the largest “natural” beneficiary of this modern technology should be logistics, in conjunction with production and trade. However, in this field in our country, graphic codes (one-dimensional, such as a barcode or two-dimensional, such as a QR code) still dominate. It is not known when this long-awaited breakthrough in this respect will take place.
In fact, apart from the lower price, the graphic code has only disadvantages compared to the RFID tag. Fortunately, tag prices have been falling for years. Currently, the cost of the tag is several to a dozen or so groszy. For most goods, this is certainly not a barrier. Probably, most often it is not the price that inhibits the use of many new opportunities offered by RFID technology in logistics.
In addition to the above industries, currently in Poland, RFID / NFC tags are most often used in:
laundries (to identify items subjected to the washing process),
libraries (identification of users, books, magazines and other collections),
archives (marking files and other resources),
sports competitions (systems for measuring time at mass events, marking checkpoints in orienteering and cross-country runs),
entertainment and recreation (e.g. identification of elements in games and activities),
education (IDs and ID cards for students and teachers, access to devices and selected facilities),
healthcare (personal identifiers, identification of tools, equipment, laboratories, materials, etc.),
tourism (interactive marking of tourist attractions, facilities, routes, publications …),
power industry (information plates, infrastructure markings, identification of personal protective equipment, etc.),
road construction (marking elements of road infrastructure, identification of contractors …),
telecommunications (identification of cables and other elements, device marking, supervision of service and repair works),
judiciary (marking and supervision of files, control of access to rooms and devices, etc.),
museology (discreet labeling of exhibits and works of art, inventory and inventory of resources and equipment, access control),
and many others.
RFID NFC in the future?
As a summary, it must be said that the RFID / NFC technology, which is already used in many places, has even greater, unused development potential. In the future, a significant increase in the scale and areas of its application should be expected. It will probably also appear in industries and sectors of the economy in which it has not been known and applied so far. This will be due to its many advantages and convenience of use as well as the decreasing price of RFID tags. An important supporting factor will be the increase of users’ awareness and expectations. The technological development in the field of radio frequency identification is also constantly progressing. Therefore, it should be expected that in addition to the already very wide possibilities offered by RFID, there will be additional ones, important for the next generation of applications.
Admittedly, the forecasts from the turn of the century, announcing the rapid development of this field in the world, did not come true. Nevertheless, we have witnessed continuous development in this area for over 30 years. Also in Poland, we can see continuous progress in the application and level of solutions based on RFID. There are also more and more companies and entities professionally involved in this field, in many areas.
We do not hide that our company, operating since 1990. it also has a significant share in developing and raising to a high, global level national solutions in the field of radio frequency identification. This is achieved both by providing a stable supply of various RFID / NFC tags tailored to the user’s needs, as well as by our research, design, education and consulting activities in this area.
If you are looking for the right solution for RFID applications, do not hesitate!
Call (+ 48 33 8218 777), WRITE or visit our office in Bielsko-Biała at ul. Krakowska 33.
RFID NFC – do you need tags or a system? Contact us !
We are happy to solve various problems in the field of RFID / NFC technology.
Not only the simple ones, but also the most complex ones.
However, if your needs require an individual and innovative approach, that’s even better. We are passionate about such challenges!
Of course, we can also help you integrate RFID (NFC) systems with other solutions, such as: automatic identification systems, QR and bar code readers, monitoring systems, alarm systems, time measurement systems. In addition, recording and inventory systems, etc.
Until after, events and sports, NFC on the phone, badges, workwear, laundry automation, museums, schools, communications, aviation, etc.
Finally, we would like to inform you that we do not deal with animal “chip” systems. Not to mention RFID tags to permanently tag people.
