. . . → Read More: Just about time people stop saying “RFID doesn’t work”.]]> Does it really work? Yes, it works and should be used where it is supposed to be used. People should not expect that RFID will change lives and change the way business is done. It can do what it is supposed to do i.e. to track and trace assets, people, animals and objects enabling better service.

But the question is does it really work? Is it really tracking assets?

And the answer again is “yes” – it does what it is supposed to do.

Candidly speaking, over a period of time, a plethora of companies have come up offering RFID solutions without actually understanding what does it mean to do a RFID solution. It’s definitely not a TV set which anybody can deploy. It’s, almost every time, not your plug in play software or a hardware solution. And that is why many vendors do pilots and then fail and subsequently blame the technology. But the fact is one cannot blame the technology, it’s the system integrators, solution providers who should be blamed for tarnishing image of the technology because of improper use, lack of understanding of the technology and wanting to use RFID where it should not be used. And above all, end customers are also not given enough education on what is possible and what is not and a solution is tried, which eventually leads to failure. Sometimes it’s the end customer who forces a solution which actually is not feasible. We got one query from one gentleman asking for a solution to track his only child while at home and outside home. The right answer is RFID is not the solution – or maybe it is, but it’s not feasible in this scenario. System Integrators have added RFID as one more service in their portfolio without actually knowing about the service.

It’s about time people realise, especially all the RFID solution vendors, consultants, that they might be doing more harm to the technology by using it where it should not be.

To be continued…

With the advent . . . → Read More: Container Tracking Solution by C&B (What’s so unique about it?)]]> C&B Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (www.cnbtek.com) has devised a solution around a nice amalgamation of three most powerful technologies available in location-based services viz. RFID, GPS and GPRS. Using these three technologies C&B has come out with world’s most cost effective solution for locating containers in a container freight station or port.

With the advent of technologies in its most advanced form and where all the countries are connected with various strings of trade for global sustainability, it has become a mandate now to manage these transactions in a most efficient way. The key stakeholders of this business i.e. CFS operators and end customers, have the inherent problem of locating a container lying in thousands of square meter land of a yard; and often it takes from an hour to two days in locating a particular container. This extra time and effort involved in locating the containers kills time, money, reputation and speed of both the owner and the custodians of these containers hence hampering the trade on the broader level.

Though there are various other technologies available and people are using them to solve this problem but they are much more expensive than what C&B has devised for its customer. C&B claims that their solution is priced around one third of the contemporary solutions available, if deployed in the premise of the customer.  Going forward, C&B is planning to launch subscription based model for the solution, where in the CFS will pay for each container transaction and will be saved from investing lot of money upfront.

C&B has successfully deployed this solution in one of the biggest port city in India at A.S. Shipping agency, a part of greenways group (http://www.greenwaysgroup.com/). *(this was done through sister concern N-Net technologies Pvt Ltd, which has now been taken over by C&B from all solution and products perspective)*.A.S. shipping started experiencing the advantage of this solution immediately after the deployment. Now, they can locate the container in the yard within few seconds, at a click of mouse, for which, they use to spend hours earlier. Looking at the success of the solution, Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. (http://www.balmerlawrie.com/), has awarded the project for automating their 3 CFS at Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. This solution created a buzz around the shipping industry all over India and now C&B is planning to venture into international market with this solution.

C&B has solution for “Reach Stacker”, “Rail mounted Gantry Crane” and “Rubber tyre Gantry Crane”. Along with the solution C&B also provides a separate power unit for the device and also an indication panel for the operator to monitor various parameters of the device. The whole solution caters and answers even the smallest pain area of the stakeholders.