RFID labelling rolls out

Speaking at June's GS1 UK EPCglobal RFID conference, co-hosted by leading UK barcoding, e-commerce and RFID organisation GS1 UK and Packaging Today's sister publication RFID Solutions*, Richard Scott, manager – RFID Worldwide Solutions, Sato UK, outlined some of the key lessons learned during a project undertaken for Nestlé's German arm involving initial tagging of a number of its goods. He explained how, working with transponder manufacturer UPM Rafsec, Sato successfully overcame the key challenges surrounding the goods' physical characteristics – in particular the interaction of metals and liquids with the RFID tags.

One of Scott's key roles – strongly reflected in his presentation – is ensuring that the extensive RFID experience gained by Sato elsewhere in Europe and in the US is fully exploited in the UK.

Nestlé Deutschland and Sato are both members of German retailer the Metro Group's Metro Future Stores initiative, and Scott explained that, since last November, 20 of Metro's top suppliers (including Nestlé) have delivered many of their product pallets incorporating RFID tags, mostly from UPM Rafsec.

As part of the initiative Sato and UPM Rafsec worked closely together to develop for Nestlé Deutschland an innovative UHF pallet tag, the Flag Tag, claimed to be the only shipping label-compatible tag currently available that will successfully tag all pallet types. The FMCG giant required a single RFID tag design which could be automatically and inexpensively applied to pallets of goods ranging from snackfoods to canned products, and would offer excellent readability even on items like tins that can traditionally interfere with RFID.

Sato had no "off-the-shelf" solution, but was able to develop one thanks to the collaboration with long-standing transponder development partner UPM Rafsec.

Extensive testing at the Nestlé's Lüdinghausen distribution centre on the Maggi product range, which includes dry and liquid goods packed in cans, jars, foil and aluminium packaging, showed that, as expected, some liquid products and metal packaging generated particular problems with conventional pallet labels – weakening the RFID signal to such a degree that pallets could hardly be read.

Since Nestlé's needed a fast, automatic tag application system, the project partners rapidly had to discount manual application solutions, such as applying the RFID labels to cardboard spacers to provide some distance between tag and product and applying tags above "hollow" areas.

Fortunately, during the next tests, at Nestlé's Rangsdorf distribution facility (which distributes Nescafé coffee, Nestlé cereals, babyfoods, Smarties, Lion bars and Nesquik), UPM Rafsec and Sato successfully perfected the Flag Tag, a paper RFID pallet label incorporating a fold within which the chip and antenna is housed.

The RFID section of the Flag Tag (now patented) protrudes from the rest of the label, standing vertically to the surface of the pallet, (like a flag) providing the necessary distance to prevent interaction between materials like metals in the product or pack and the RFID signal.

Sato subsequently engineered a special applicator which creates the fold and produces the Flag Tags. It then supplied Nestlé Deutschland with a parallel tagging system to cater for both customers requiring RFID-tagged goods and those still using only conventional barcodes. The set-up combined two Sato S Type print modules, one of which imprints and programs UHF RFID labels and the other barcoded ones. Printed labels are fed to an applicator which automatically folds the Flag Tags if required and applies them to the label. Since the initial installation Sato has modified the original set-up, installing two print modules and a double-deck applicator.

Range of products selected

Richard Scott explained that Metro, whose initial work on RFID tagging commenced many months before its full-scale roll-out, selected a range of products early on to "become involved in with RFID", from grocery to apparel to general merchandise, subsequently announcing a three-phase roll-out plan. He said: "They are currently still at the pallet EPC labelling stage, with case and item-level tagging set to follow." Metro is now receiving RFID tagged goods at 22 of its outlets in Germany (which include the Metro Future Store in Rheinberg, the Metro Innovation Centre in Neuss, 150 Metro Cash & Carrys, 129 Kaufhof stores and 280 REAL outlets). Its eventual goal is to deploy RFID across all its stores. The German retailer is now awaiting widespread availability of Gen 2 UHF tags before any significant move from pallet only to pallet and case tagging.

In the RFID roll-out's initial stages last year Scott stressed Metro and its suppliers had had to work within the then prevailing European radio regulations, so could not take advantage of the higher RFID interrogator power limits levels provided under the recently approved European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI's) 302-208 wireless regulations. They still, however, needed to ensure tags could be read at a 2.2m distance.

"They also needed to be able to read and store 96-bit EPC data at the lowest possible cost, while striving for 100% readability," he said. "That left them with one particular transponder or inlay to go with – the Philips UCODE."

Within these constraints with the help of many specialist suppliers, Scott said he believed Metro had successfully achieved its primary objectives, with the Flag Tag proving a considerable success.

"The Flag Tag is product insensitive; we can place tags where we like; certainly on pallets, and in the extensive tests we undertook with Nestlé, involving repeatedly passing tagged pallets through an RFID gate, it proved very robust, with excellent read rates," he added.

Scott stressed that although pallet labelling is currently the major industry focus, Sato UK will soon be looking equally determinedly at case labelling applications: "Manual folding of the Flag Tag would be hugely time-consuming and entirely impractical with the far greater volumes of RFID labels involved with case tagging – one of the key reasons we built a machine to automatically apply the folds correctly into the label and then place them on a box."

Scott said throughout the project and several other important RFID collaborations, Sato had learned important lessons: in particular it was "getting some familiarity with FMCG product and the environment in which users can project the RFID reading field", and "learning about data handling and getting some initial indications of the benefits."

"The big challenge in the UK, however, will be high volume case tagging," he said. "How to get the RFID technology conveyed onto cases; automating the high volumes, and when in the supply chain or manufacturing process should we tag?"

One definitive conclusion was that, with more companies piloting, performance testing must be done in live environments. Scott elaborated: "Passive, low energy RFID labels are easily affected by heavy concentration metal environments, steel, heavy duty dock doors, reinforced concrete flooring etc. So, in working towards proof of concept, testing must be conducted in real-world set-ups. Goals need to be established and a selection of products tagged."

Variable performances

Unsurprisingly, in Sato's own tests not all transponders responded equally effectively. The company thus focussed primarily on which transponders or tags performed best with a particular product, which were best suited to a range of products followed by the best performing readers and reader electronics, and whether there were any specific lessons in how to best install the antennae and tune them, alongside optimum label placement points.

"We also considered such other technical issues as how many RFID tags can you pass through the reading field simultaneously," Scott explained.

Scott said Sato is "very interested" in volume automation of RFID. "Here we must certainly rule out the manual application of labels which is fairly common practice in low volume pilots and pallet tagging scenarios," he explained.

The biggest short-to-medium challenge would, he believed, be deciding where or when in the manufacturing and packaging supply chain process to apply tags. "If you want to get maximum benefits from RFID and EPC then the further back in the manufacturing and packaging process the better," he said.

"Currently, we have tremendous amount of RFID/EPC tagging at the warehouse exit point, a good starting point with low volumes. At this stage we know if product is going to a customer who does or does not require RFID tagging and it doesn't disturb existing processes. But, conversely, we then only have gains in the warehouse, i.e. none in our packaging, manufacturing or sortation processes."

Scott believed each potential supply chain application point has its pros and cons – RFID tagging at picking and consolidation was one option, while going back to the packaging, filling and sealing stages to tag would bring the maximum benefits when case tagging.

There was also a considerable choice of application methods: labels could be pre-programmed with RFID data away from label application station, printers selected which automatically print surface data and write RFID data, machines used that use pre-printed labels and write the RFID data or use RFID-data blank labels programmed at the next station.

"The choice of which is yet another challenge to potential adopters," he said, and one that, unfortunately, Sato cannot make for companies. However, we certainly have to deliver the hardware and services to enable RFID users to accomplish their aims and will always welcome feedback on all aspects of implementation."