Tag Archives: RFID

Warehouse Automation Module for Dynamics GP: Barcoding, RFID with Some International Aspects

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Article by Andrew Karasev









Corporate ERP systems typically do not support Barcoding in its typical scenarios, including scanned batch of documents upload. Instead you would have to do your homework in selecting Warehouse Management System module to handle barcoding operations on the warehouse floor and uploading it to GP Distributions modules: Sales Order Processing, Inventory Control, Purchase Order Processing, Bill or Materials. WMS is pretty popular among mid-size or smaller retailers and distributors, this is why we believe the topic deserves USA nationwide and even International consideration:

1. Why do I need WMS, as far as I know Great Plains already has Inventory transaction, Sales Order Processing and Purchase Order processing documents functionality? Technically you may try to install GP user application on tiny computer, attach generic USB barcode scanner and use this pair in the warehouse. However, if you expect high volume of scans, it might be impractical, as the worker has to complete the document by tabbing, entering required edit fields, drop down lists and only click on the scan button, when only one of few fields are in focus. You also have to have permanent wireless connection for the Netbook. In some scenarios, this method might be feasible, especially when you are scanning only few items and they are high price ticket ones, and when your warehouse worker is trained to use client interface (and probably does scanning once per day during maybe twenty minutes or so). For the rest of us, we need WMS client to be installed directly on the Scanner computer with very simple interface, where you do mostly scanning and simple decision making, such as

Let the RFID Cycle Begin – Intemec

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Article by Randy Durig









Let the RFID Cycle Begin – Intermec

By Randy Durig

RFID a great growth market

A new revolutionary technology is forming called RFID or Radio Frequency Identification. This technology greatly improved the ability to track items, any item. The current leading market solution uses a one way system where, for example, a simple “bar code” at your local grocery store where the grocery clerk has to run the bar code over a scanner. These readings are very man-hour intensive as each individual item must be scanned RFID is a two way system where a reader could scan every item at a Wal-Mart (WMT-48.14) store. Then each item with a RFID tag would respond or “chirp” back to the reader. Using the two way RFID system a single person could take complete inventory of a store almost eliminating all the man-hours of manual inventory. A reader mounted on a fork lift truck would track each item the hyster moves into the warehouse. The RFID will allow a single person the ability to inventory unlimited amounts of items.

Using our simple forecasting theorem which mathematically helps us forecasts how successful technologies will be; our approach signaled that RFID will be revolutionary.

Please refer to forecasting a revolution Multiplication of Moore’s law http://www.durig.com/duriglaw.html.

Here are some of the many uses of RFID. Tracking gamblers at a black jack table so the house knows who’s betting big, tracking prisoners in a jail to see who was involved in a scuffle, tracking prescription drugs for counterfeit, tracking cattle for mad cow disease, tracking cars so police could immediately identify a stolen car or a car with outstanding issues. More examples, tracking passports to see if the picture is correct, tracking products for Wal-Mart to almost any store and warehouse, tracking the Department of Defense inventories for most items, Boeing can track parts for building aircrafts and Ford tracking parts for it automobiles. It appears that both the scope and magnitude at this time is limitless.

Industries tracking consumer goods from shoes to cement blocks to frozen food to cars, including boats, planes, parts and supplies can utilize it in all aspects from manufacturing, inventory and shipping to retail outlets.

Judging from our theorems, RFID will see revolutionary growth to the likes of the cell phone, Personal Computer and the Internet that also at the beginning of their cycles scored extremely high.

IdtechEx forecast

From IdtechEx, the market for RFID is to grow from 2.7 billion in 2006 to 12.3 billion in 2010. The value is expected to be about 26.2 billion in 2016 or ten years to grow almost 10 times.

Selecting the company that could lead that market

Identify the correct market to invest is only part of the challenge. Possibly the bigger challenge is to identify the company that will lead this technology. This is where we have identified Intermec. Intermec is one of the leading companies in bar codes. Over the last few years Intermec has been focused on developing products that would comply with the new Gen 2 RFID standard rather than introduce products that supported the older Gen 1 Class and 0 Class protocols. This strategy has allowed Intermec to utilize its roughly 149 patents to allow Intermec to extract royalties from the entire RFID industry and appear to be essential when utilizing the Gen 2 RFID standard. The Gen 2 RFID standard and Intemec’s patents are very co-depended of each other. In my opinion Intermec is gaining an integration monopolistic position.

Why monopolies have great success

Past monopolies have had great success from controlling the market like Intermec integrating their solution into and then helped become part of the standard. Compared to war it is the equivalent of having the high ground in battles – this approach is extremely valuable. Control in new revolutionary technologies is very rare. Our studies shows that in the past when companies achieved control they are usually able to hold it for 1-2 business cycles or from 9 -19 years. Some past successes that have demonstrated integration and or control of revolutionary products were Microsoft (MSFT-27.13) and Intel (INTC-19.78) in the Personal Computer, Cisco (CSCO-21.44) for the Internet and Qualcomm (QCOM-49.87) currently for Cell Phones. When I was young child IBM (IBM-84.32) controlled the standard for Mainframe and AT&T (T-26.81) the phone business. You can often see companies that are monopolistic in a revolutionary industry have a probability of achieving super wealth. Several monopolies we listed achieved the world’s largest stock value.

Is Intermec a new monopoly?

Intermec or any company for that matter to have a chance to be great monopoly it must have a degree of control. The question is how much control does Intermec have over the RFID industry?

To answer this simple but very important question we devised an extremely effective test. Intermec claim’s to be an integral part of the Gen 2 standard. The definition of de facto standard is recognized by all its peers as the standard.

Does the RFID industry recognize Intermec as the standard?

Companies like Symbol Technology (SBL-10.64), Zebra Technology (ZBRA-45.45), Philips Electronics (PHG-32.38), Texas Instrument (TXN-30.59) are some of the leading companies in RFID space that also have the size, technical background, law staff and other resources to verify or reject Intermec’s claim. Accepting Intermec’s claim means paying royalties to Intermec for years, you must understand if possible all theses companies would NOT want to pay royalties so their preferences is to reject Intermec’s claim.

All the companies mentioned above and more have agreed that Intermec will receive royalties on every Gen 2 RFID product they make. No one wants to pay 2.5-7% royalty to Intermec to utilize the Gen 2 RFID standards. Especially leaders in RFID like Phillips, Texas Instrument and Symbol which all have a major leading position in the market, and their agreements with Intermec greatly validated Intermec’s claims.

It was when the largest company and Intermec’s closest competitor, Symbol Technologies, that created the biggest challenge to Intermec’s claims. Symbol Technologies not only refused to pay early in the process, but sued Intermec asking for Intermec to pay Symbol royalties for their many patents and Symbol wanted their own version of the standard.

Symbol gave up their court fight and agrees to join Intermec’s Rapid Start Licensing program. When your biggest competitor allows you to sign a controlling contract where Symbol has to pay royalties to Intermec every time Symbol sells a RFID hardware product. To me the Intermec/Symbol relationship Intermec has provided validation with a very high degree of control.

Many experts assign a similar agreement to the rise of Microsoft and the downfall of IBM when IBM accepted the Microsoft PC standard. I believe history will say the same thing when Nokia (NOK-20.52) then the largest cell phone company in the world signed and agreed to pay royalties to Qualcomm on all Nokia 3G phones.

It reminds me of a very old saying “the king is dead, long live the king” if you can dictate your will to the powerful companies your have a high degree of control.

Gutter vs. Shingles

Intermec is using their RFID control to establish what I call a gutter business. In Oregon it rains a lot and what we know are roofs. Water from shingles flow into a gutter. In some cases the gutter and shingles are co-dependent and need each other for the roof to work properly. First gutters have tremendous leverage. Second you could measure the number of shingles or measure the square footage of the roof to understand the amount of possible water flow or leverage the gutter might achieve We believe gutter based companies are far better companies to own. If you wanted fill a cup of water would you put your cup under a shingle or a gutter? It’s my believe that by far most companies are shingles business models, but the gutter business model have far great potential to grow profits utilizing and leveraging the shingles.

In a few situations all the shingles combined could flow into a single gutter. A roof with a single gutter or a monopoly has one of the best business models and has a chance to leverage the entire industry to enrich its profits.

Intermec is possibly building this type of business model and has awarded the premier client of Cisco, and IBM while having alliances with Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Companies that joined Intermec’s Rapid Start Program and agreed to pay Intermec a royalty on every RFID hardware product they sell.

WCS Leader QC Software Review Bar Code vs. RFID Solutions

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“We specialize in delivering innovative and practical solutions. RFID is an emerging technology that helps our clients to improve inventory tracking, reduce costs and errors, and minimize theft,” stated Jerry List, Vice President of QC Software.  List noted that both barcode and RFID are used to track items in the supply chain. While barcode technology has been the standard, RFID can increase transparency throughout the lifecycle of the product.  Frequencies used for tag reading by Bar Coded systems utilize optical frequencies, whereas RFID use radio frequencies. The type of communication is also different because Bar Coded systems use line of sight communication where each tag must be scanned, and RFID uses non-line of sight communication, where multiple tags can be identified at the same time.

 

While RFID is more expensive than Bar Coded systems currently, this is likely to equalize over the next twelve months.

 

John Smith and Troy Matteoli of QC Software completed the comprehensive training program from the Computer Technology Industry Association. The exam measures the ability to install, maintain, repair and troubleshoot the hardware and software functionality of RFID products.

 

Both barcode and RFID are used to track items in the supply chain. While barcode technology has been the standard, RFID can increase transparency throughout the lifecycle of the product.  

 

 

QC Software (www.qcsoftware.com) is the leading provider of Tier 1 warehouse control systems to the warehousing and distribution industries.   Since 1996, QC Software, utilizing state of the art technology combined with extensive research, development, and rigorous testing, has developed the QC Enterprise suite of products.  Designed to be modular in nature, easily configurable, and platform independent, this highly scalable solution satisfies the needs of any size warehouse. 

 

 

QC Software, Inc.

www.qcsoftware.com

Jerry List

JerryList@qcsoftware.com

 (513) 469-1424

 

Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines


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RFID Chip Found To Cause Cancer

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In 2004 the FDA approved an implantable, rice grain sized microchip for use in humans. The tiny subcutaneous RFID chip, made by a company called VeriChip, is being marketed as a lifesaving device. If you’re brought to an emergency room unconscious, a scanner in the hospital doorway will read your chip’s unique ID. That will unlock your medical records from a database, allowing doctors to learn about your penicillin allergy or your pacemaker.


The tiny, passive RFID devices are injected under the hide. They do not contain the medical data in question, but instead store a unique ID number that is used to access records on a remote server maintained by Applied Digital, using a handheld reader.


VeriChip’s biggest human-chip market is Mexico. Eighteen members of the attorney general’s staff were implanted with a chip in order to control access to a new government facility.* Building security isn’t the biggest part of VeriChip’s south-of-the-border sales pitch, though. Mexico’s kidnapping wave the country’s 3,000 abductions a year are second only to Colombia worldwide has led VeriChip to partner with the National Foundation for the Investigation of Lost and Kidnapped Children. So far, 1,000 Mexican citizens have voluntarily had RFID chips implanted.


You shouldn’t trust RFID to stop a kidnapping or to save your life in an emergency. Perhaps a more realistic suggestion is to use RFID implants to replace the tracking bracelets now imposed upon those who a) aren’t trusted to be in the right place at the right time; and b) aren’t given much of a choice: kids (at theme parks like Fort Lauderdale’s Wannado City and Legoland in Denmark), the elderly, and prisoners. Though injection is unpleasant to think about, subdermal devices are far harder to remove and, thus, far more reliable than an external bracelet. And what about the lighter side of chip injection? Patrons of Barcelona’s Baja Beach Club now pay for drinks via a system that links their VeriChip implants to their credit cards.




These small electronic chips approved by the FDA for implanting beneath human skin have been linked to cancer in laboratory animals, according to a research review conducted by the Associated Press.


The radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are made by VeriChip Corp. They are designed to carry a serial number, which can be read when scanned by anyone with an RFID sensor. Medical workers can then use that number to access a patient’s medical history from a web site maintained by the corporation, provided they have paid the annual access fee.


The chips, which are approximately twice the size of a grain of rice, were approved by the FDA for human implantation in 2005. But the Associated Press has revealed that as early as 1996, researchers had uncovered a link between the devices and cancer. Rodents implanted with the chips were found to develop malignant tumors beneath the skin, usually surrounding the devices. The rates were high enough — as high as 10 percent of animals implanted, in a 1998 study — to raise warning bells with the researchers, who reported their concern in peer-reviewed journals.


None of the studies were looking for carcinogenic effects from the RFID tags, but in each case the researchers ruled out other possible causes. Although there was no non-implanted control group in many of the studies, the evidence is strong enough to convince many researchers that more research is needed before any more human implantation takes place.


There’s no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members, said Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.


This research review clearly shows cause of concern over the mass microchipping of our population for medical purposes,” explained consumer health advocate Mike Adams. “Intelligent, reasonable people will naturally reject such chip implants, which is exactly why the company is targeting individuals suffering from cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer’s patients,” Adams added.


So far, 2,000 people have been implanted with VeriChip’s RFID chips. The company has identified is target market in the United States as 45 million people, starting with Alzheimer’s and diabetes patients.


Lastly, these RFID implanting has become a hot topic in the past few years. Early on, the dangers of implants at least in terms of privacy and security appear to be outweighing the benefits. The biggest fear is that the tiny rice-sized implants may someday become mandatory and would then be used as some sort of Big Brother type device to keep tabs on private citizens. Some states, such as Wisconsin, have even gone so far as to pass legislation banning any such mandatory chip implantation. Preemptory? Perhaps, but concerns about RFID implants are not unfounded. Implants can be read by anyone with access to a RFID scanner, and hackers have shown that the chips are not as secure as had been previously thought.

Jigfo.com is a global platform for sharing and learning knowledge. For more information on this article topics visit:

http://www.jigfo.com

http://verichip.jigfo.com/

http://rfidjournal.jigfo.com/

http://calypsorfid.jigfo.com/

http://cancerbats.jigfo.com/


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RFID Asset Tracking Helps You Locate Products Quickly

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Asset inventory software tracking helps companies to track their resources electronically. This can be a highly effective and exact method to control inventory. Through assigning every item in the business’s inventory a bar code, business owners may easily watch their assets so they can discover exactly what they have got available at any time.

The information this application provides translates to peace of mind for business people who would not have the time to handle the inventory by hand every single day. It saves money because it tremendously reduces the level of effort required to successfully operate a company from day to day.

Business owners hoping to save money and time will need to invest in asset inventory tracking software to help them deal with the company’s inventory in a timely and productive manner. As soon as an asset is given a barcode and that barcode is entered in the system, it becomes simple to track.

Business owners will not be required to speculate or use important time determining exactly what assets they have available at any time since their software program tracks it for them. They are able to easily manage their inventory by quickly glancing at their display screen throughout the work day. You will see no more wasted time thoroughly counting and reviewing stock since the software does this electronically. Of course, there will be some time expended installing the software and barcode symbols, however this is very small compared to following every item personally.

Asset inventory software tracking is usually essential for any kind of successful business because it enables employers and their staff to devote their time to running the business, not continually tracking assets. Following the primary expenditure of capital to get the solution and occasional upgrades and maintenance issues, the costs are minimal in comparison to the amount of time it would take staff to do the same job manually.

Business people that choose to use asset tracking software will no longer need to hire employees solely to monitor assets and evaluate inventory since the software tracks assets automatically. This can be a huge time and money saver that enables assets to be committed somewhere else. These kinds of assets can be used to help grow the company instead of track inventory.

Business owners should invest in asset inventory software tracking before they open up their doors for the public. It is vitally important that business owners are mindful, from the very beginning, of their inventory supply. Simply by beginning with inventory tracking software, this knowledge is simple to get and manage.

When inventory is attained and set up, it is easy to assign each and every specific item a barcode and begin tracking it in the system. Businesses will understand from the first day the condition of their inventory and will be able to very easily maintain that information for the lifetime of the business, at a fraction of what it at one time cost to do.

Tracking assets can be complicated, but with the proper hp asset manager, the process can be smooth.  Find out what rfid asset tracking can do for your company.


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RFID and GPS Child security solutions for School

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Need is the basic root of every invention and discovery. So I just want to begin this knowledge sharing with the need behind child security in schools by RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.

Basic Need of RFID and GPS tracking system in Schools:

Children are less attended during their periods between school and home. Children’s are children’s more often they do judgment errors due to age result into their movement in insecure areas in schools.

For parents the peace of mind is less when children are out of house till they are back even for the schools.  Mischievous kids took advantage of the loopholes of the system and can lead to unwanted scenarios.

Advantage of Student Tracking Solution:

School management and Parents are always aware about the real time location of students and children’s.  Automatic attendance system helps teachers to save their valuable time. It can also help teacher to record exact time for yearly review of student’s discipline.

Alarms and alerts are generated by authorities providing whereabouts of students in real time. No manual maintenance of attendance resister. Removes chance of manual manipulation of records.

Return on Investment Components for School management

Biggest ROI component is peace of mind for both the parents and the school administration

There is no return equal to something where even one life is saved because of real time alert generated from this system. Image of school in terms of security improve, this is the point of differentiation they made among other schools.

This system can attract more parents to get their children admitted in the school. Saving in terms of penalties, bad names image tarnishing when some mishaps takes place

The proposed and implemented solution is based on concept of online, real time tracking of students in school premises and bus by integrating Active RFID system along with GPS and GPRS devices. The Student tracking system in the school premises uses Active RFID system to know the movement of students inside the campus; Active RFID integrated with GPS and GPRS is used to determine availability of student inside at bus at any point of time.

SMS system is integrated in the School system for updates on attendance to the parents and alerts to the school administrators in real time. Same system is integrated with the bus monitoring devices for boarding and disembarking the bus.

For more information regarding the tracking system feel free to email me on sachin.singh@agnicient.com

Sachin Singh

 

sachin.singh@agnicient.com

 


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Benefits of RFID in Manufacturing Automation

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Article by John F. Mitchell, Jr









Radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and their associated tags bring great wireless support to manufacturing automation. With the advent of RFID in manufacturing automation tags can be both “read” and “written to” in real time by readers that are not in line-of-sight with the tags. This is of great benefit to manufacturing automation. Now there is no need for the endless search for a raw material location that did not get into the inventory system when it should have. As time goes by suppliers of raw materials are going to place the inexpensive tags on the materials they produce at the point of manufacture before shipping to manufacturers. Having these tags in place when the materials first arrive at the manufacturer, will allow the history of the movement of these to be tracked effectively with RFID in manufacturing automation.The inventory system that needs to be in place to keep track of materials and finished products that rely on RFID in manufacturing automation will assist manufacturers in reducing the cost of inventories. Lead times for the ordering of additional raw materials can be done accurately when management knows exactly how much is on hand at all times. Production rates will be very consistent since there will be an accurate gauge of raw material availability. Supply of raw materials to the production line will be very accurate since the location of all materials is always known. Connecting the capabilities of RFID in manufacturing automation with existing computerized inventory systems will keep inventory costs at an optimum level. There should be no excess of raw materials in inventory for scheduled production jobs.The use of bar code readers and bar codes become obsolete with the use of radio frequency identification. A bar code has to be very close and in the line of sight of a bar code reader for its information to be read. With the reader and tag combination the reader does not have to able to “see” the tag, but can “read” the information very readily from quite a distance. To get a proper inventory of several different products on a pallet, probably because of the way that producers have required that products be packed, it would have required the unstacking of these products on arrival at the warehouse. Now with the capability of RFID in manufacturing automation all the products can remain on the pallet just as they were packed at the shipper while the inventory of those arriving products is taken. The pallet of products can be assigned a warehouse location for storage and the reader can “write” that information on the tag of the pallet.If a pallet is put into an incorrect location in the warehouse it is possible to “find” any products that are on it with the RFID reader, so that it can be placed in its proper location. Overall contents of the warehouse is immediately available to management when it is demanded when RFID in manufacturing automation is in place.. Raw materials that are being processed on the production line into finished goods can have the tags that are attached to them “written to” to tell that certain steps have been completed. Tags can be loaded with the production date and location for products that require such tracking. Tags and tracking make it much easier to track what raw materials were used in the manufacture of any given finished product.Production processes can be assured that the correct date order of processing is done on raw materials with RFID tracking. Tags can be linked to databases where even more information about products and raw materials are stored. Visual images of parts can be displayed from a database for verification or other needs. Tags are an excellent way for manufacturers to review and determine the authenticity of products. If a tags are always attached to products, using an reader will be easy to find whether any given product is a counterfeit or not. Each tag has its own unique identification so that one tag can be distinguished from another. Previously tags could be read by just about any reader. Now there are tags that have built in security to limit access to those readers that have the right to access the information on the tag.There are variations in the types of radio frequency readers and tags that are available for different purposes. If products are on a pallet six feet or more from the reader, the UHF type tags and readers should be used because they can give the appropriate range. If products are stacked on a shelf then an HF tags and readers should be used to keep and send the information. There is some variation in the types of readers that can be used with the tags. As time passes technology will continue to improve readers and tags, and there will be additional applications of these devices available to help manufacturing automation.



About the Author

John Mitchell is President of Provision, Inc, an online publisher of information about the uses of automation in business. The company website, http://www.provinc.net, allows companies to evaluate RFID uses with automation Requests for quotes can be submitted to automation specialists










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U.S. FDA actively RFID tracking system for identification of medical equipment – medical equipment,

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Article by jekky









, By the end of 2008 will identify the development of medical equipment and supplies tracking system the draft specifications. Present, it is actively seeking RFID industry and market in health care systems have tried RFID end-user participation in the motion. This is CDRH’s spokesman AnnFerriter, in last week’s RFID Journal LIVE! 2008 annual meeting of the statements. Two years ago, FDA began to study the unique device identification system (UDI) in the role of automatic collection of information. August 2006, the agency issued a notice to solicit then use UDI’s equipment industry, health care industry and the device user’s evaluation. Summarizing the views of 3 months after the evaluation, FDA had planned to draft in early 2007, the motion system specifications, and publish them for public review and comment, but U.S. pressure not to be. Ferriter in RFID JournalLIVE! 2008 annual meeting also talked about, CDRH is now being studied hospital or other health care facilities if the use of RFID technology, will produce radio frequency interference or health risks. Ferriter reference RFID readers may not be able to differentiate between pulse and heart pacemaker pulse, for example, also lists a number of other, including infusion pumps, hearing aids, defibrillators and programmable sensitive equipment, including heart valves, indicating and RFID is not aware of any interference. Ferriter said, FDA recognized that the RFID tracking in the field of health care products in the role. However, CDRH will do further research, especially research focused on the use of 13.56MHz hospital wristband. CDRH senior adviser JayCrowley that in the United States has no specific medical equipment tracking system or serial identification system. While prescription drugs are based on the product type identification number label mark, but not medical equipment. Currently, FDA is now studying for drug pedigree tracking systems. Crowley pointed out that counterfeit drugs are very frequent, high-value medical equipment, counterfeiting has, just not common. In addition, drugs can quickly identify the specific recall of the location of equipment is very important. Application of medical equipment recall system so it becomes very important, but the recall system for medical devices has not. FDA medical device may eventually consider implementing a similar pedigree system, but did not develop in the draft. Crowley pointed out that, to date, no country can implement a nationwide medical equipment tracking system. To this end, FDA currently working with Japan, China, the European Union and several South American countries, with research and development can be internationally recognized uniform tracking system. Crowley said that the current medical device FDA still studying the market itself, trying to solve this identification system looks and works the problem. Identify objects from rubber gloves to drugs worth 30,000 U.S. dollars stent, the specific tracking requirements and tracking technology depending on the instruments are different. Finally, Crowley said, “There are many types of devices, can or should use RFID technology to track, but the bar code is also under consideration. We will remain technology neutral.”



About the Author

I am an expert from China Building Materials, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as metal letter holder , wooden calendar holder.










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