Standard safety procedure demands that life vests are counted and their expiry dates checked before an aircraft is released for any flight. This check is usually conducted after the last flight of the day as there is enough time before operations begin the next day, but the exercise is expensive as the airline requires having people working late nights just to audit lifesaving equipment. Checks are not done during different halts because of paucity of time and the fact that life vests are stored either in compartments above or below the seats. Expiry labels cannot be checked without taking each life vest out to check.

Dolphin RFID has developed a RFID based solution to audit life saving equipment quickly and efficiently. It requires one person to walk down the aisle of the aircraft with a UHF Handheld RFID reader scanning all the life saving equipment. By the time the auditor reaches the back of the aircraft he get real time information on whether all the life vests that are supposed to be present are present and whether any of them have passed expiry. As each life vest is linked to a specific seat the auditor knows exactly where any life vest requiring change out is located. The system allows audits can be conduct before every flight.

The Dolphin RFID solution allows airlines to meet standard safety audits speedily, efficiently and with compromise. The system allows airlines to manage their inventory of life saving equipment across all their operating locations.

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Aviation:

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has mandated that by 2018, airlines must track each pieces of baggage that comes in at check-in and goes out at arrival. It means that airlines will need to analyse their existing monitoring systems, and implement appropriate technology which can do this in a fool-proof manner while saving on cost and time. Delta Airlines, one of America’s top airlines, has invested over $50million in RFID for baggage tracking and management. Delta Airlines have realized that RFID signals can be picked by receivers 99.85% of times as compared to a 90% success rate of manual scanners. And, the difference of 8% could be the cause that leads to loss or delay of more than 20 million baggage pieces. RFID in baggage tracking will lead to a considerable reduction in lost baggage by 2024 and will enable the air transport industry to save over $3 billion within the next seven years. In addition, airline operators, maintenance and repair organizations (MROs) and manufacturers across the supply chain will rely on RFID to streamline the pace of operations, and ensure fastest possible turnaround for passenger as well as cargo flights.

The scope of RFID in aviation is immense. At Dolphin, we are privy to this global interest and are feeling the pulse in the form of requests from our foreign partners for helping airlines in the respective countries to implement RFID systems to gain a clear business advantage. In India, we are in talks with multiple airlines to help them to adhere to the IATA guidelines and be operationally superior by implementing RFID technologies.

Retail:

In 2016, 4.6 billion clothing items carried RFID tags. However, this does not represent even 10% of the total apparel market, thus the potential for growth in retail and apparel is immense.

In a survey of 60 retailers with revenues of $500 million and above undertaken by Kurt Salmon, 73 percent have said that they are either deploying or are doing a pilot on RFID technologies. That number is more than double the 34 percent for the same study done in 2014.

Retail majors such as Marks & Spencer and Decathlon have had major RFID implementation in 2016. Even RFID tag providers Avery Dennison, Impinj and NXP have all reported a strong growth in tag sales. Avery Dennison has had nearly 30 percent growth in 2016 despite a slow apparel market in the US.

The other micro-segments that fall in the broad retail ambit such as cosmetics, electronics, auto ancillary, sports goods, jewellery and small home appliances are all seeing RFID tagging and tracking. The retail space, it’s entire supply chain, right to the warehouses, are all potential areas for robust RFID implementations. The ever-burgeoning retail market and retailers are seeing the benefits of RFID hence we would see a huge fillip in this space for RFID technologies in 2017. RFID is a must in the emerging Omni Channel sales which is the way forward for Retail.

IT & ITeS:

The IT services opportunity is huge world over. There are many mid-tier to small-tier IT companies in India which employ thousands of people. The laptops, desktops, dongles and mobiles assigned to people are the assets that organizations would want to tag, track and protect.

IT companies are now broadening the perimeter of operations. Important business data can be accessed by employees from home and on their mobiles with policies such as “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) becoming increasingly prevalent. These companies often work with critical data from the clients; hence their server and data centers need to be safeguarded from unauthorised access. RFID systems allow seamless entry and exit of company’s assets and restrict unauthorised access to key servers and data centers.

In a huge IT and ITeS organization, there could be over 100,000 assets. Research shows that if RFID is deployed to track these assets, the annual labour cost savings would exceed $150,000. This cost saving carries forward to subsequent years and goes on forever. Hence, RFID investments lead to significant returns and value over time.

RFID systems also enable to arrest any corrupt practices at entry and exit points and safeguard from tampering of technology assets. There is utmost transparency and accountability at all times as RFID systems can track and monitor all assets within seconds. This particularly helps IT companies that have set up huge development centers in SEZs, hence they are prone to sudden inspections and compliance checks. Companies such as Verizon already track their IT assets worldwide using RFID technology.

Healthcare:

Healthcare is among the fastest RFID adopters globally. The benefit of implementing RFID in hospitals is immense as it enables hospitals to focus on a greater cause – treating patients well and saving lives in a cost-effective manner.

Asset tracking and management in hospitals benefit immensely by use of RFID. About 20% of a hospital’s mobile assets (on average) are lost or stolen during their useful lifetime. The average cost works out to more than USD 3000 per item. Also, 75% of the time for maintenance is spent searching equipment. Hospitals typically over-stack up to 40% of spare inventory to mitigate the risk of running short of equipment during emergency. RFID can solve all these problems and ensure significant savings for hospitals without adversely impacting patient care. The savings can eventually be passed on to the patients to enable more people to afford better treatment.

Another area where RFID significantly benefits hospitals is in patient tracking and management, wherein a smart RFID device accessible by a mobile interface helps doctors and nurses to ensure perfect administration of medicines to patients at the right time. The hospitals are also able to track and manage documents and files of patients better and thus, ensuring seamless and effective treatment. Several hospitals all over the world have embraced RFID. Progressive hospitals in India such as the Apollo group of hospitals, and the Tata medical centre have been pioneers in leveraging RFID. The power of RFID in improving healthcare is such that even progressive Muncipal Corporations like the BMC are looking at introducing RFID based Asset Management in their hospitals.

Hospitality:

There is a latent demand for safe and secure hotel accommodation all over the world. The fact that start-ups like Airbnb are gaining serious momentum is testimony to this. With pilgrimage, medical tourism and leisure travel on the rise, safe, secure and reputed players in hospitality would be in great demand.

For the budget hotels to survive and compete with international counterparts and tackle disruptors in the space like Airbnb, leveraging RFID has become the need of the hour. With smart RFID based locks and energy systems, the customers are assured that their belongings are safe in hotel rooms hence enhancing the perception of safety. This leads to more people opting to stay at budget hotels that offer great service and helps the sector to flourish. The linked energy management systems also enable hotels to bring down their electricity costs. The “audit trail capture” feature of these locks helps to keep a check on any illegal use of rooms for nefarious activities and subsequent loss of both brand image and revenue. With the use of RFID readers, tracking and management of hotel’s assets can be done seamlessly and any unwarranted loss of assets can be kept in check. Hotels, after implementing RFID technologies, have seen a reduction in the inventory shrinkage from a 10% to 66% of the common shrinkage which leads to considerable savings in cost, enhances service efficiency and improves the bottom line.

Dolphin has introduced smart, RFID powered and energy efficient locks namely Aster, Sleek and Vidala that enables the budget hotels to offer the same sense of safety and security as luxury hotels at half the cost. The demand for these locks among the luxury properties is also catching up with hotel chains opting for Dolphin’s RFID powered locks and security systems. By assembling and marketing these locks and energy systems in India, Dolphin is giving a serious boost to our honourable Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative.

Why Dolphin?

Dolphin RFID is one of the leading RFID service providers in the world with over 14 copyrights, 3 patents, and its own proprietary JAVA based middleware that can integrate with any core system irrespective of the sector or industry. With a network spanning 6 continents and a clientele comprising Forbes top 20 companies, Dolphin has been creating disruptive innovations, which has helped large organization and SMEs alike.

While Dolphin is on track to be a world leader in end to end RFID solutions, our larger mission is to empower all industries, especially across these five sectors, to leverage RFID and create disruptive business models for the larger good.

I hope all companies, be it large corporations or SMEs, embrace RFID in 2017 and give their businesses a better chance to succeed and prosper.

The post 5 sectors which will see impactful RFID disruption in 2017 appeared first on Dolphin RFID.

The beginning of a revolution

1. The global airline industry has been formally working on the implementation of RFID technology since 2003 and decided to leverage RFID in two definable heads – flyable areas and on the ground activities.
2. The initial success in the use of RFID in the aviation sector came from “one the ground” areas. It was within the confines of the airlines operations and gave them the freedom to define how to leverage RFID. For example: Airbus has been using RFID for more than a decade now for multiple internal processes such as identifying and tracking the expensive jigs that are used to transport aircraft components or for kit tracking from logistics areas to final assembly areas or even tools tracking so that they are available when needed. RFID could also be used to track the automated production progress and OEMs like Airbus saw clear return on investment (ROI) by employing RFID into their processes. The flyable arena was still a challenge. Boeing and Airbus decided to address this together by talking to multiple airlines and explaining the significant benefits of RFID. They even began tagging flyable parts of their 787 aircrafts. This began the revolution in RFID and the results in terms of efficiency, cost savings, time saving and better service is still “ work-in-progress”.

How does RFID impact OEMs and MROs?

1. The airline value chain is very complex. With RFID, the OEMs were able to track the manufacturing, ensure process automation and be in control of logistics of critical parts to the final assembly. In 2012, Airbus announced it was expanding its RFID activities across its entire fleet. All seats and life vests on new A320, A330, and A380 aircraft were tagged with permanent RFID tags starting 2013. By tagging these items, it did reduce the time required for safety check and inventory activity from hours down to minutes.
2. The use of RFID has immensely benefitted the MROs. RFID technology is being deployed across the civil aviation industry to undertake maintenance tracking to inventory management, asset management to materials monitoring and tracking and management of tools and optimum utilization of manpower. Today, airline companies which have successfully deployed RFID are already realizing benefits such as improved utilization of material, tooling and manpower, reductions in scrap material, improved inventory turns, real-time work in progress visibility enabling effective management and most importantly, enhancement of efficiency across the value chain. Companies which appreciate the data generated and stored by use of RFID tags across devices are able to go one step ahead and leverage the power of data analytics to further improve efficiencies and operate at better margins.
3. The MRO operations at the back-end can be undertaken much faster by the use of RFID. A commercial aircraft is checked and maintained before and after each flight, on the ground and inside the cabin. RFID enabled MRO systems are used for :-
4. Tracking tools, equipment and maintenance schedules and to notify service personnel about unchecked or recalled components. They also closely track and replenish replacement parts and scan safety equipment quickly.
5. The ground staff checks the passenger cabin and each seating area for the required safety equipment and verifies if the number of life jackets, masks, oxygen containers and other critical items is accurate.
6. The RFID applications enables the staff to verify and update  Maintenance Records and track when tools are checked in and out..
7. With RFID enables assets and integrated MRO systems, real-time inventory management is seamless and enables audit trail of tool usage. It enables faster turnaround time while ensuring adherence to safety compliances.
8. The MRO spends is expected to be to the tune of US$80B by 2020 and exceed US$100B by 2025. This would lead to a lot of spending on technological innovations including RFID, IoT and wearables. Europe accounts for almost one-third of the $36 billion global commercial and regional/business jet MRO market. Based on a 4.7 percent per annum growth rate, the world market for civil aircraft above 80 seats could be worth up to $1600 billion over the next 20 years.
9. Based on the above facts, two things stand out –
10. A) The need for having RFID enabled MROs across the world, especially India which, according to KPMG, will be the third largest aviation market in the globe.
11. B) The second is the need to reduce waste across the supply chain from manufacturer to the end user. The aerospace industry across the globe accounts for an estimated waste of material is to the tune of over $50B which can be drastically brought down with the use of RFID which enables OEMs and MROs to ensure that inventory turns are kept to the minimum, thereby enabling maximum operational efficiency.

What are the business benefits?

The business benefits using RFID are evident. OEMs such as Airbus witnessed a marked reduction in requirement of capital assets and stock reconciliations, and an increase in labour productivity and supplier monitoring. With an improved supplier forecasting, Airbus achieved improved supplier delivery performance thus reducing the costs of production, maintenance and inventory. The results are leaner and more competitive business processes. For instance, Airbus reduced its incorrect deliveries by eight percent and also improved the flow of materials in 2006 by using RFID. It also saved 100,000 € annually compared to the 180,000 € one time investment costs, and reduced the repair cycle by 6.5 days, thereby improving inventory management.

How do Airlines benefit?

1. In 2013, airlines mishandled 21.8 million bags, or 6.96 per 1,000 passengers, according to SITA, an aviation communications and technology company that tracks baggage performance each year. That’s less than half the rate in 2007, when airlines world-wide mishandled 46.9 million bags, or 18.88 per 1,000 passengers. The effective use of technology has contributed to this difference. Correspondingly, there have been tremendous cost savings in baggage handling and more importantly, stark reduction in lost baggage cases which will enhance customer experience.
2. RFID will usher in the following key characteristics for airlines:
3. The most important aspect of air travel is safety. It cannot be compromised at any cost. Hence, airlines and MRO deploy their staff to check each and every critical flyable part of the airline. The quality check, though very important, is a time consuming affair. With human beings entering the equation to perform this crucial task, it becomes prone to human error as well. There are a number of components such as oxygen cylinders, first aid kits, physician’s kits, crash axe, safety cards, flash lights, megaphones, smoke generators, oxygen masks, fire extinguishers, lavatory items, life rafts, slide /slide rafts, life vests, seat belts, blankets, pillows, service carts that need to be checked before the flight takes off, every time.While checking this with a team of efficient human beings does take a lot of time, RFID can help check and validate these in seconds. This enables MROs and airlines to accurately monitor and verify if each part on the aircraft before each flight much faster than when it is done manually. The airlines can thus turnaround faster and fly more passengers to and from cities.
4. With RFID, the asset and inventory management and tracking can be error-free. In fact, in the area of tracking solutions, introducing RFID can translate into huge savings. RFID solutions also efficiently track of assets and inventory through all stages of the complex supply chain extending from manufacturers, through bonded stores and right up to the end users – followed by accurate cloud based maintenance management for the aircrafts. This enables airlines to always be in control of their assets which is very critical.
5. Time Management.When the checking of its components and validation is done in seconds by the use of RFID, it frees up the bandwidth and enables better manpower utilization. This enables other checks and pre-flight arrangements to be done in time. Thus, the flights will take-off on time. The delays due to technical snag, operational issues etc. will be  avoided thus delighting the air travellers as instances of flights getting delayed for hours will reduce by a significant number.
6. Efficient and cost-effective. By leveraging RFID, airlines and MROs will change the way they undertake maintenance, repair, inspections, overhaul etc. DolphinRFID is doing this in India in collaboration with Aman aviation. Technological update will enable airlines to put together an end-to-end RFID enabled supply chain. This will help airlines to spend maximum time in the air taking travellers to and from cities which will, in turn,  improve number of flights per day and air travel experience. Hence, the airlines will become more profitable. The cost benefits will ultimately be passed on to the end customer.

What does the future hold?

With RFID setting up the bedrock for further innovation – specially growing into the IOT space- the airline industry would see the use of many sensor based solutions. With digital transformation leaving a distinct impact on the industry, the flow of data from machines to handheld devices would mean that the front-line staff would have ubiquitous access to critical information and hence time taken for maintenance and repair would reduce. This would also optimise the utilisation of manpower. The advent of wearables – supported by the power of RFID – will collate a lot of critical operational data data  for analytical models which can then churn insights that can increase efficiency across the value chain of the aerospace industry.

Let’s brace ourselves to embark into a world of seamless aviation experience powered by RFID.

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