By Joaquim P. Menezes -
Radio Frequency Identification or RFID is usually thought of as an asset/inventory-management technology, and that indeed is one key way the technology is used today.
However, other non-conventional but fascinating applications of RFID are possible, and a group of us witnessed some of these during a media visit to the HP Canada's RFID Labs (they call it the RFID Customer Experience Centre) located at the company's headquarters in Mississauga, Ont.
John Keogh, Director, RFID & Supply Chain Solutions, HP Canada, who conducted the demo, clarified that this “Centre” is not an R&D lab in the strict sense of the term, but rather an Applications lab.
“The focus is on how you actually apply the technology.”
Most applications showcased in the lab, Keogh noted, were not developed in a vacuum but in response to specific business needs of HP customers. He said HP Canada is currently working “with more than 50 customers on RFID opportunities across Canada.”
One pretty cool demo illustrated how three discrete RFID-driven applications could be integrated to provide a single seamless shopping experience to the customer. The apps were: Digital Signage – that involves beaming down video to a point of consumption or useSmart Shelf – An HP Canada patented invention developed at the lab Inventory/Asset tracking
The scenario simulated was a retail store, and my colleague Mari-Len De Guzman was asked to pick up an HP iPAQ from the ‘Smart Shelf.’
As soon as she did that, an information video on the product was fired up on a screen located on top of the shelf.
Next Mari-Len picked up a movie DVD jacket from another part on the shelf, and this action launched a trailer of that movie on the screen.
In a retail environment, the same technology could be taken even further, Keogh said. He cited the example of a book store, where some of the merchandize is outfitted with RFID tags. Lifting the book off the smart shelf would launch information about that volume on the screen: what it’s about, how many are in stock and so on. But, according to Keogh, it could go beyond that, triggering other, more innovative, services that further enhance customer experience. Says Keogh: “It could send you an SMS message saying – ‘you’ve identified yourself with your loyalty card, so we know you’, and then whiz an e-voucher to your mobile phone that offers you a discount on the purchase price of the book.”
Of course – the "cool" factor aside – I don’t believe the demo scenario at the HP lab accurately simulated a real-life retail situation, which can get pretty chaotic.
For instance, in the lab demo when one person lifted one item off one section of the shelf, a video relating to that item was triggered.
In a real electronics store, for instance, you could have several shoppers checking out several items simultaneously from the same shelf.
When this happens which info video would play first? How would they be sequenced?
All these issues would need to be sorted out before the technology can be deployed in any practical way.
Another non-conventional use of RFID technology, Keogh said, is in the area of business intelligence.
He related how by using RFID to track its printer production process, HP Canada discovered that its production time estimates were off the mark.
“We thought that we produced 90 per cent of our printers within 60 minutes. The actual number was 75 per cent in 60 minutes. We thought we were fully optimized. But we realized there’s a lot more room for optimization.”
This intelligence, said Keogh, helped HP drive significant improvements its production cycles – speeding it up by around 27 per cent.