
- 52 pages of exclusive articles about RFID, NFC, and BLE
- Coverstory: Norrøna Sport talks about RFID in the retail supply chain
- Current use cases by Mercedes-Benz Vans, Trafik Stockholm, Israelite Hospital Services, Charité CFM Facility Management, and LoeschPack
- Technology articles with Balluff, Bosch & VDA, Identytag, SML, All4Labels Global Packaging Group, and NXP Semiconductors
- Research insights from Imec
- Key Topics: Smart City & Customer IoT, Retail, and Healthcare
- Feel free to download your own copy below
- Subscribe now and receive 4 issues a year, in print or digital!
- Supported by Balluff, FEIG Electronic, Kathrein Solutions, NXP Semiconductors, Siemens, Turck and RAKO Security Label
Coverstory – Retail

Can RFID solve the Retail Supply Chain Challenge?
The products of the Norwegian outdoor and sportswear brand Norrøna Sport are available via different channels: 20 company-owned stores, distribution partners in the stationary retail trade in Europe and North America, as well as a variety of purely online players. The necessary production and logistics processes were continuously adapted. However, future offers to the customer – such as same-day deliveries – require new methods. RFID could be a solution providing the required data from the supply chain.
Retail

RFID Takes Retail Industry to a New Level of Transparency
Over one billion encoded RFID tags sold per year, more than 1,000 stores rolled out with the software platform “Clarity”, customers such as American Apparel, Decathlon, and Tesco – SML demonstrated its solution capability on the fashion market. Now, the RFID supplier uses the experience gained from working in the fashion and shoe retail markets onto other retail sectors.

Dynamic Pricing Optimized for Fashion Retail
With the new dynamic price tag, the dynamic pricing trend is now arriving in stationary fashion retail as well. Dynamic price adjustment increases the retailer’s flexibility, optimizes revenue, and intensifies customer loyalty. Thorsten Wischnewski, Head of RFID, All4Labels Global Packaging Group, spoke to RFID & Wireless IoT Global about the benefits.

Hybrid RFID Solutions Become Essential for the Retail Sector
To date, however, less than 15 percent of all companies in the sector around the globe employ this technology. In an interview with RFID & Wireless IoT Global, Jörg Bald, CEO of identytag, talks about the benefits of using RFID labels. He also explains why UHF/NFC hybrid label solutions will be an indispensable element of future omnichannel concepts.
Healthcare

RFID Solution Reduces Laundry Requirements by 50%
Optimised laundry circulation with fewer losses and more transparency: The Israelite Hospital Hamburg replaced a complex and cost-intensive manual laundry management solution with a digital solution based on an automated laundry kiosk and RFID tagged textiles.

Tracking Sets Innovations in Motion
Increased availability of surgical materials, cost-efficient storage, a higher security level in the operating room as well as effective anti-theft protection: Charité CFM Facility Management wants to deploy automated tracking of case carts in the OR at Charité Campus Mitte to optimise the entire logistics of medical products and sterilisation products.
Research

Industry's first Plastic RFID Tag Suitable for all Shapes, Surfaces, and Substrates
Industry’s first: Imec and its partners Quad Industries, Agfa, and TNO have demonstrated a research prototype of a plastic RFID tag with a screen-printed antenna. The new development features several interesting innovations. First of all, there is no traditional silicon chip in this new device.
Industrial IoT

RFID Toolbox is Complete!
The widespread use of RFID to identify automotive parts and containers across company lines has never been easier to accomplish. In September 2017, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) published the nonbinding recommendation VDA 5530. With this publication, the association completes the array of expanded guidelines for RFID use in the automotive industry that started with VDA 5500.

Mercedes-Benz Vans Counts on Innovative Complexity Management
An ambitious roadmap: By 2025, Mercedes-Benz Vans wants to complete a digital transformation of all their production sites. The goal: Managing the complexity emerging from an increased variety of models while optimising the flexibility and efficiency of the supply chain and manufacturing. The division of Daimler will spend over 200 million Euros over the next 8 years on its digitization projects.

Modern Packaging Concept for Chocolate Bars
Perfectly packaged chocolate bars without a single defect are a must. Frequent format changeovers are a particular challenge. LoeschPack has met this challenge elegantly with their newest version of the two-stage version of the LTM-DUO fold wrapping machine. This relies on format changeover parts with a fixed stop and proven Balluff RFID for automatic interchangeable part detection.
Smart City & Customer IoT

Big In Japan – 100 billion tags per year by 2025
METI proposes RFID tagging of all retail products by 2025 – from cheap chewing gum to expensive delicacies. By 2025, up to 100 billion products per year will have to be labelled with RFID tags. As part of this pioneering project, Japan‘s 24-hour convenience stores are establishing the next generation of self-checkout systems.

Big City – Smart Traffic
The city of Stockholm uses Bluetooth- and Wifi-based queue and flow measurement technology to display live travel times and optimise traffic flows. RFID & Wireless IoT Global spoke with Beatrice Gustafsson, Traffic Analyst, Trafik Stockholm, about the benefits of smart traffic management solutions and technology expansions in the future.