Motorola RFID Solutions
Get Ready… Get Set… GO!
From Evaluation to Action
Moving RFID Projects Beyond the Pilot Phase
Professor Bill Hardgrave,
Director RFID Research Center,
University of Arkansas
Joe White
Vice President, RFID
Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions
RFID Evolution
Industries & Applications
• Closed Loop Defining Factor
• Proven Business Value/ROI
• Unplanned, New Applications
Value Beyond The
Supply Chain
• Closed Loop
• In-Company Value
• Beyond UHF, Beyond HF. . .
• Value Beyond Middleware
Technologies
• Horizontal Asset Management
• Gen 2 Success
• Proliferation of Locationing
Technologies
• Multi-Technology Integration
• Item-Level Benefits Before
Supply Chain
• RFID Sensing Technology
Supply Chain Management
Asset Management
2009 and Beyond
Retail Item Level Visibility
Cold Chain - Perishables
Aviation/Baggage Tracking
Leading Adoption
Manuf.
Transp.
& Logist.
Here and Now
Govt.
Aggressive Growth in Defined Markets
Retail
Where It’s At . . .
From Evaluation to Action
• Getting Ready
• Education | Evaluation
• Getting Set
• Deployment Definition
• GO!
• When? How Deep?
Getting
Ready
Getting Ready
Education
Technology Evaluation
Management/Stakeholder Buy-In
• Data Ownership
Business Process Analysis
At The End of The Day, A Better Way To Count!
The Technology Works!
• Validating the Application, Not the Technology
• Buying Solutions / Solution Sets, Not a Product
Business Process Analysis
•Will identify:
• Needed Read Points
• Data Flow
• Low Hanging Fruit
•Output:
• Determine Technologies
• Identify Stakeholders
• Target Areas of Benefit
Its a mandatory process that
will determine your success or
failure!
Is RFID the Right Fit?
High Number of SKU’s
High Valued Items
High Velocity Items
Closed Loop
Reusable
Traceable
Tagging Logistics
Technology Evaluation
The Right Identification Technology
may be a combination of technologies
Capability
Range
Range
UWB
Costs
WIFI
Environment
Battery Assisted UHF
Innovation Curve
UHF RFID
Data Capacity
Asset Requirements
Barcodes
Geography
Security
Industry Traction
EAS
HF/NFC
Cost
Getting Set
Communicate Out
Getting
Set
Clearly Defined Pilot
Set Measureable Goals
Technology Selection
• 100% Science, 0% Art
Avoid Scope-Creep
Site Surveys
Start Somewhere. . .
Ecosystem Build Out
• SW, HW, Integration
• Complete Solution vs. Ad Hoc
• Industry/Deployment Expertise
GO!
Validation
• Expectations/Assumptions
GO !
Evaluate Lessons Learned
Adjustments
When to go Open Loop?
Prepare/Espouse Consumer Privacy Objections
Follow the Early Leaders . . .
RFID at AA
Overview
• In the beginning:
• Wholesale clothing (t-shirts) began in 1998
• Emphasize vertical integration, sweatshop-free, American made
products
• Pro-labor philosophy
• First retail store in Montreal in 2003
• Today:
• Retail is composed of 240 stores
and growing
• AA employs over 9000
• Wholesale represents half of
revenue - approx. 65% of sales
• One manufacturing facility located
in downtown L.A.
Getting Ready - Environment
• Closed-loop system
• Made in U.S.A.
• Quick Inventory turnover
• 26,000+ SKU’s
• Boutique sales floor
• Inventory management labor intensive
• Young, enthusiastic employees
Getting Ready
Pilot Goals
•
Test RFID capabilities for accuracy,
performance and adaptability.
Increase visibility thru item level tagging
Effective management of inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
Improve accuracy/reliability
Decrease labor and margin for human error
Keep sales floor @ 100%
Keep it simple
•
Low Impact
Getting Ready
Hardware
• Matching the appropriate
hardware to solution.
• Motorola/Symbol 9090 handhelds
for “cycle counting”
• Motorola/Symbol XR440 Readers
w/ AN400 antenna’s @ Portals
• IntelliPads @ Commissioning
Station
Software
• TrueVUE Essentials
•
•
•
•
Out of box functionality to address RFID goals
Test hardware
U.S. company
Location near factory
RFID Tags
• Avery Dennison AD222 hang tag and sticker tag
•
•
•
•
Performance vs. form factor
Durable/reliable
Attach with existing price tag
Reusable
Location for Pilot
• Columbia University store in NYC
•
•
•
•
•
Average sales comparably
Large stockroom
Dedicated staff
Location/resources
Exit strategy
Getting Set
Getting Set - Installation
• Hardware
•
•
•
•
•
•
Network
Portals/stairwells
Commissioning stations
Black boxes for POS/transfers
2 Handhelds
Insulate metal shelving
• Software
• Server
• Commissioning
• Handheld
• Testing
• Accurate reads
• Speed
• Reliability
• Staff acceptance
Getting Set - Preparation
• Remove unnecessary inventory
• Tagging
• 100% of inventory
• Commissioning
• 4 stations consisting of:
• IntelliPad
• Barcode scanner
• PC w/ VUE commissioning software
Getting Set
Inventory Management
• Scanning/counting
• Sales floor – 1 Zone
• Stockroom – 22 Zones
• Movement of product
• Stairwell portals
• Between front and backroom
• Receiving new product/incoming
transfers
• Tag/commission
• Cycle count to inventory
• Maintain 100% sales floor occupancy
• Using all capture points w/ VUE
software
• Real-time reporting
Results
Counting inventory using 2 handhelds
• Sales floor
• 2 people, 2 hours
• Approx. 12,000 items
• Validations proved 99+% accuracy
• Stockroom
• 2 people 3.5 hours
• Approx. 28,000 items
• Item counts proved 99% accuracy
Moving inventory through portals
• Capturing items moving between backroom and front
• 80+% accuracy using traditional carrying methods
• 90+% accuracy with modified methods
GO !
Lessons Learned
Handhelds
• Performance
•
•
•
•
90 degree rule
Lag/hesitation
Long range reads
Shadowing of tags
• Folded items: fluff tags with free hand
• Hanging items: separate and shake
hangers
• Metal
• Contact interference
• RF barrier
• Hangers: orient handheld below
hangers
• Fixtures on wall: spacers
Lessons Learned
Captures at portals
• More product = lower accuracy
• Carry less items
• Shake items in-front of antenna to expose tags
• Reads through walls and RF reflection
• Create shielding
• Adjust attenuation and angle of projection
Operations
• Wrongly encoded tags
• Flawed inventory data
• Handheld misuse
It’s Going
• Enterprise system up and running
• Source tagging at L.A. factory
• Santa Monica Store
• Immediate sales increase of 15%
• Removed over 60 hours of labor/week
• 20 stores in NYC RFID ready
• Tagging At Manufacture
• Challenge: tagging store’s current stock
• 700,000+ items in NYC alone
• Store level tagging when receiving transfers
GO !
Toward Better Counting
• READY
• Commitment
• Definition
4 Months
• SET
• 1 Store
• 40K Items
5 Months
• GO!
• 20 Store Roll-Out
• 800K Items
National Rollout => NOV
• 225 Stores
6 Months
Motorola RFID Solutions
Get Ready… Get Set… GO!
From Evaluation to Action
Moving RFID Projects Beyond the Pilot Phase
Thank You!