National radio label (RFID) trial switches on

The Federal Department of Communications have allocated funds to the National Demonstrator Project, a six-month scheme that seeks to shine a light on the technology's capabilities in tracking goods as they move through stores and supply chains.

The RFID technology will be deployed during the trial using traditional labels, with the appropriate silicon chips and antennas embedded inside. GS1 Australia has confirmed that talks are underway with local producers to determine who will print the labels, but a particular provider has not yet been decided upon.

Brenton Barrett, president of LATMA, claims the RFID technology will be of vital importance to label converters in the future. “While it is still in its infancy, the development of a common standard will lead to the adoption of RFID for widespread use,” he says.

Brenton believes the current pilot scheme is a step in the right direction for the evolution of RFID. “I think the trial will help demonstrate what is possible with the technology, and it will allow the users to have a good think about the ways in which it can be used to solve logistics problems.”

With RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, items can be packaged and palletised as per normal, but a single 'non line-of-sight' scan communicates not only the pallet number, but every package and item number inside, along with other relevant data like dates and destinations.

Since radio waves are used to retrieve the data, the pallet can be moved freely throughout a large area with any number of obstacles and still broadcast accurate, instant and detailed information at all times.

A consortium of high-profile Australian companies are involved in the trial, six of which will have the RFID technology deployed at their sites. These companies include Metcash, Chep, Gillette, Proctor & Gamble, Visy Industries and Linfox.

Fiona Wilson, general manager of standards development at GS1 Australia, claims the potential exists at some point for the entire RFID manufacturing process to be performed by the label producers, a development that will no doubt provide a boost for the local industry.

“The long-term objective is to make the RFID insertion process part of the production line, with the printers performing it themselves, but for the moment it remains an offline process,” says Wilson.

Helen Coonan, Federal Minister for Communications, said the benefits generated by the project will go well beyond the life of its funding. “They will make information exchange and business transactions more efficient and lead to increased productivity across a range of sectors,” she says.

The plan is for GS1 Australia and the CSIRO to share its findings with the public as the trial progresses, with a detailed report on the trial available as early as June next year.