As raw material costs increase – the cost of steel has gone up 80-100 percent, and the cost of aluminum is now up 40 percent – and regulations becoming stricter and more focused on controlling pollution and limited environmental impact, RFID, the Internet of Things, and Product Lifecycle Knowledge have become key elements in remanufacturing and material recovery.

Xerafy partner Holonix specializes in developing IT solutions for product life management. Using data provided by RFID tags, they are able to accurately track the lifecycle of parts and determine when parts needs to be replaced, repaired or remanufactured, cutting down on wastage and new material costs.

Their solutions, which make use of Xerafy’s innovative RFID tags, are part of PREMANUS, a European Project representing the leading edge of innovation for remanufacturing, delivering IT and management solutions to gather lifecycle data coming from the Internet of Things, steering remanufacturing processes and operations to optimize profit and ecological impact.

Holonix and Xerafy will be present at ReMaTec2013, the most important worldwide tradeshow for remanufacturing, taking place in Amsterdam from June 16-18.

In Healthcare, different kinds of organizations use asset tracking for different purposes. Hospitals and clinics may track medical equipment and consumables. EMS teams may need to pay extra attention to the location of small, highly mobile supplies and equipment stored on their trucks. Medical laboratories need to automate medical specimen tracking, while medical device and pharmaceutical firms have asset-tracking processes similar to other complex manufacturers.

Entitled “Five Myths about RFID and RTLS in the Healthcare Industry,” this new white paper debunks the leading myths about using RFID in the healthcare industry. 

The five myths we explore in the white paper are as follows:

1. Myth: Asset tracking is only for hospitals, especially large ones
2. Myth: Asset tracking is all about following the movement of medical equipment
3. Myth: RTLS is the only technology for asset tracking in a hospital environment, and it’s expensive
4. Myth: RFID tags are expensive, so only high-value assets are tracked
5. Myth: ROI is hard to quantify unless it’s an enterprise-wide deployment

We provide examples of how hospitals and other healthcare providers can successfully use the technology to improve their operations. The white paper addresses the most common myths about RFID use in the healthcare industry,provides an overview of the types of assets in the healthcare industry that can be tracked using RFID, outlines the varying RFID and RTLS options that can be used for asset tracking in a hospital, and provides examples of how RFID can be leveraged within healthcare operations to produce quantifiable business benefits beyond.

Download the white paper.

RFID can maintain the integrity of FME zones by automatically tracking objects such as tools and other mobile assets that enter and leave a zone. Unattended read portals can automatically detect and record objects and issue alerts if prohibited items are entering or being left in the area. The more items that can be tracked with RFID, the more effective the system will be.

As reported last week, Xerafy is working with utilities, manufacturers and other organizations with highly successful FME management operations by providing a range of innovative RFID tags and solutions.

Xerafy has been involved for more than two years now in some of the most advanced FME projects; and during that time, has developed unparalleled experience with industry requirements for tool tracking and other FME requirements.

Based on our experience, we have found that systems that are starting developments where little RFID or tool tracking experience exists are often not ideal or optimal. Some of the problems we have encountered include:

• Inconsistent readings
• Slow read rates
• Radiation blockages
• Blind areas
• Incorrect tool layout
• Incorrect antenna types
• Incorrect setting in tool cabinet
• Unsuitable tag types
• Incorrect tag location on tool
• Lack of tag protection on tool

These issues can lead to higher development costs, sub-optimal performance and customer dissatisfaction.

Because we are able to provide solutions that allow tags to be embedded or attached to tools and equipment for fast, rugged, accurate identification, problems that challenge traditional technology are able to be overcome.

Despite stops and starts in the supply chain segment, there has been virtually uninterrupted growth in RFID adoption for asset management, process control, product authentication, work-in-process tracking, autoclave and sterilization processes, inspection and maintenance, and other operations. However, there have always been items that were traditionally either difficult, if not impossible, to tag. In particular, the presence of metal often impeded the use of RFID. Depending on the item being tagged, metal can reflect, amplify or otherwise interfere with the RF signal, which greatly reduces the performance of an RFID tag or label.

Xerafy’s Metal Skin changed the landscape, providing real solutions that removed many of the remaining barriers to using RFID labels on metal. The introduction of the Mercury Metal Skin and Titanium Metal Skin created a standard, flexible tag option for curved meal surfaces and other applications requiring a very thin, low profile tag.

Here are some of the current and planned projects that we highlighted in our white paper that are using  Metal Skin smart labels:

• IT Asset Tracking
• healthcare
• Gas Cylinder and Drum Tracking
• Industrial Product Identification
• Anti-Counterfeiting
• General Asset Tracking

Xerafy’s innovative Metal Skin line of read-on-metal RFID labels makes the use cases described in this paper possible and is helping bring RFID traceability into new environments. Metal Skin smart label is a patent-pending RFID inlay for smart labeling both metallic and non-metallic assets. Its extremely low profile and flexibility make it suitable for small assets like smart phones and tablets, and for larger objects such as drums and other packaging and shipping containers.

Please download the white paper for complete descriptions of each use case.

Airbus and Boeing combined are slated to produce more than 8,000 aircraft combined over the next six years, making composites the dominant material in the manufacturing of aircraft by 2015, a massive increase from 1980 when under 5 percent of an aircraft relied on composites.

RFID Journal this week featured commercial aircraft component manufacturer ATK, which is using a solution provided by Xerafy partner OATSystems and employing Xerafy’s MicroX II tags to track composite materials and associated tooling. 

The solution allows employees to view work-in-progress based on RFID tags, allowing the firm to meet tracking requirements laid down by customers like Boeing and Airbus. Xerafy’s tags are used on tools that help form and cure the composite parts within autoclave overs at high temperatures and pressure, allowing ATK to identify the number of times a tool is recalibrated once it has reached a specific number of uses.

ATK is also currently testing the feasibility of embedding tags in tools and components, in order to move past bar-code labels. The entire system is designed to increase efficiency. “If we know where tools and materials are, we enhance our efficiency,” Jim Morgan, program manager for ATK’s aerospace structure project management office, told RFID Journal.

IAHCSMM is an annual conference dedicated to central sterile supply department (CSPD) professionals and includes education, certification programs and exhibits showcasing the latest CSPD equipment and technologies. The industry continues to undergo a rather massive transformation to ensure CSPD professionals have the proper training and tools to properly manage inventories and monitor the sterilization processes, which is no easy task, especially when important items tend to disappear or be misplaced and those errors can be costly or even life threatening.

RFID is a technology that is making its way into the CSPD and there were several companies showcasing early versions of their tracking solutions, including barcode and HF RFID. The excitement surrounding the SIS-USA and Xerafy solution comes from the ceramic designs of the Xerafy UHF passive tags, which are autoclave safe, extremely small and provide read ranges measured in meters vs. inches. SIS-USA is recognized as one of the premier SPD services companies, including on-site and mobile instrument management and repair.

This was the second show in two weeks where Xerafy had a very strong showing. “The excitement and interest is coming from users, service companies and instrument manufacturers, so that’s a very positive sign and confirmation that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Xerafy’s Healthcare Practice Director Bill Michalek. “The pain points and issues are well defined and our ceramic UHF tag designs and partnership with SIS-USA are ideally suited to help improve these critical processes.”

Visit our Facebook page too see more photos from the show. For more information on Xerafy’s healthcare solutions, please visit our dedicated application page.

HONG KONG and CHICAGO, May 1, 2013 – Xerafy and Surgical Instrument Service Company, Inc. (SIS-USA) have partnered to solve the ongoing issues related to tracking and managing surgical trays, surgical devices and biomedical equipment. Each company is a leader in its respective field and the new partnership will bring an innovative, best-of-breed solution to provide highly visible surgical asset management aimed at tracking the use history of surgical instruments and devices.

The SIS-USA solution incorporates software and Xerafy autoclavable radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to bring tray-level visibility to tray inventories between the sterilization department and operating room. It uses EPCglobal Gen 2, ISO 18000-6C standard passive UHF RFID technology to automatically track, count and record items as they move through decontamination, assembly, sterilization, storage, transport and procedural uses – from the autoclave to the operating room and back.

Inaccurate tracking of surgical tools creates inventory problems that not only cost hospitals thousands of dollars annually, but more importantly, can be the difference between life and death when a particular item fails. Errors in identifying surgical tools and following specific cleaning and sterilization processes increases the risk of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), a growing problem that is attracting increased attention from healthcare organizations and regulators. The FDA has created the Reusable Medical Devices Improvement Initiative to address these problems, and cited accurate product identification as a key to preventing HAIs.

Using RFID to track and manage assets in hospitals is undergoing rapid adoption. Spending on RFID systems to track healthcare equipment is expected to more than triple this year, from $449.5 million in 2012 to $1.73 billion in 2013 according to Transparency Market Research. The research firm predicts the total RFID market for healthcare will experience 19.3 percent compound annual growth from 2012 to 2018, when spending will reach $34 billion.

Xerafy is helping expand the use of RFID tracking because its tags can be mounted on or embedded into surgical trays and baskets, devices and equipment to provide real-time visibility to the tray and device level. Data can be shared over Wi-Fi and other networks to desktop computers, tablets, smart phones and other devices to support real-time locating, materials management, track-and-trace and other systems.

“SIS has been partnering with hospitals for over 40 years,” said SIS Executive Vice President Keith Johnson. “Our customers came to us for help, they needed a better way to track and manage items while in inventory, through the sterilization process and during surgical procedures. The solution we developed by working with Xerafy, a proven RFID tag innovator, dramatically improved the facilities ability to track their trays and devices, from the sterile processing department to the operating room and back again. It drives down operating cost by giving hospitals a new level of control over their assets, while freeing employees from time-consuming tracking and inventory management processes.”

“This is where Xerafy’s ceramic tag innovation truly shines; in applications that demand uncompromised performance in the most demanding conditions. After a year in development, where we gained valuable input from surgeons, SPD directors and equipment manufacturers, our improved autoclavable designs bring standards-compliant passiveUHF RFID technology to the OR and CSPD. Battery-assisted tag technologies simply haven’t been able to withstand the rigorous sterilization processes, not to mention the significant cost differences,” said Bill Michalek, Xerafy’s healthcare practice director.

“Our focus on developing application specific solutions with best of breed industry solution partners, such as SIS-USA, shows our unified commitment to bringing innovative and cost effective UHF solutions to these emerging markets”

Xerafy and SIS are co-exhibiting at the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM) Annual Conference & Expo in San Diego from May 5 through May 8. Xerafy will also be featuring its healthcare products, partners and solutions at the RFID Journal LIVE! trade show and conference April 30 to May 2 in Orlando.

About SIS


Empowering healthcare facilities to reduce failures and inefficiencies in the clinical arena is our primary objective. Through targeted education, validation and maintenance, SIS has enabled facilities to lower medical device costs, decrease surgical delays and improve staff production. But it’s our service that our customers’ say is truly a cut above the rest. SIS is a comprehensive provider of services that maximize the useful lifespan and effectiveness of medical equipment and instrumentation. Our services include:

• High quality repair and refurbishment services
• Comprehensive, personalized staff education and competency validations
• Tracking and trending of repair history data
• Instrumentation and equipment acquisition consultation
• Preventative maintenance

Visit www.sis-usa.com/ for more information.

To learn more about the FDA’s initiatives for improving the safety and management of reusable medical devices, visit the FDA’s website.

HONG KONG, April 26, 2013 – Following comprehensive analysis by independent RFID technology experts, Xerafy is very confident that its RFID tags do not infringe on either of Omni-ID USA’s patents. Xerafy reached this conclusion after engaging with independent technology and IP experts to review the claims made by Omni-ID USA and conducting a thorough examination of Xerafy product portfolio against the complaint.

Omni-ID USA filed a lawsuit against Xerafy that makes general claims about product designs and reading methods that are inaccurate. Xerafy will vigorously defend the suit. Xerafy has successfully defended erroneous claims made by other companies before, and those disputes ended with the other companies withdrawing their inaccurate positions. Xerafy will continue to defend its rights and it reputation, and to contest any false or misleading claims about the company.

“We are extremely confident on our intellectual property position, and should this matter go to court, we are very confident we will prevail,” said Xerafy founder and CEO Dennis Khoo. “There is absolutely no basis for Xerafy to pay any royalties, licensing fees or penalties to Omni-ID USA, and we will continue to resist Omni-ID USA’s pressure to do so.”

Xerafy conducted numerous discussions and meetings with Omni-ID USA prior to the lawsuit being filed to understand the basis for the infringement allegations as well as the technical points at issue. During that time, Omni-ID USA insisted that Xerafy join Omni-ID USA’s technology licensing program and pay royalties for Xerafy’s entire product portfolio. However, Omni-ID USA failed to demonstrate that any Xerafy products infringed its patents. Xerafy is fully convinced it does not infringe, and that Omni-ID USA has no rights to revenues from the sale of any Xerafy products.

Omni-ID USA claims many on-metal RFID products being sold today are covered by its patents. Xerafy believes the patent litigation filed against it is being used to build support for Omni’s licensing program.

Xerafy has earned its reputation as an innovator in the RFID industry, and that reputation has been backed up by the standards, awards, certifications and other independent recognition the company has received. Xerafy has been widely credited for being the first to introduce a UHF RFID metal embeddable tag, the world’s smallest UHF on-metal tag, and the industry’s first true UHF RFID inlay designed for tracking metal assets. In the past year alone Xerafy has won several product development and innovation awards, achieved ISO 9001:2008 manufacturing quality certification, doubled production capacity and continued to add customers and partners around the world.

About Xerafy
Xerafy’s innovations have changed the price-performance ratio for RFID tags and made it possible for customers to track assets in a wide range of harsh environments. Xerafy provides read-on-metal tags that can be embedded directly into assets to meet a full range of needs for RFID asset tracking in the aerospace, industrial, data center, healthcare, energy and other industries. Xerafy is headquartered in Hong Kong and maintains U.S. sales and support offices in Dallas and Minneapolis, and additional offices in the U.K. and China.

Here’s what you will see at our booth (#110):

Aerospace
Xerafy is an RFID leader in the aerospace industry because we offer a complete range of RFID tags that are engineered and optimized to meet specific needs at all points in the value chain, from tracking tools and materials used in production to provide complete lifetime part traceability. Xerafy will show off redesigned Sky-ID and Pico XL as part of our  ATA Spec2000 high memory RFID solution with OATSystems. We will have on display the Xerafy-OAT Aviation LAunch kit which includes everything that is needed to begin tracking flyable parts including a reader, tags and software. Xerafy will demonstrate how OATSystem’s Work-in-Process Tracking and ATA Spec 2000 software, chosen for the Airbus 350 XWB Supplier Program, when used with Xerafy’s XL tags, will help track aircraft parts across their full lifecycle, from initial manufacture through time in service.

Construction
Xerafy recently launched the Pico Wedge and Nano Wedge plug-in-metal RFID tags specifically designed to be easily embedded for industrial applications. At the show, we will demonstrate how the Wedge’s design allows the tags to be permanently embedded into metal objects without any adhesives or special tools. Using RFID for asset identification in construction, oil and gas fields and other industrial operations can be extremely challenging because there is a risk the attached tags may be damaged or detached in the rugged environments they inhabit. The Wedge, as well as our other specialty tags like the ATEX-certified Xylinder and the embed-in-concrete Bric are designed to overcome these challenges. We look forward to showing off the benefits these tags can bring to the construction site and other industrial environments.

Healthcare
Safe and efficient healthcare depends on maintaining accuracy at all points in the supply chain, from pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing to patient care. The right RFID solution lets you build safety and traceability into healthcare processes by enabling you to automatically track, monitor and safeguard instruments, equipment, supplies and staff. Xerafy’s small and rugged XS tags have helped revolutionize medical asset tracking. The biocompatible RFID metal tags comply with FDA requirements for Unique Device Identification initiative for medical devices and have been tested to survive high heat in repeated autoclave cycles and industrial chemical washes that normally complicate the application of RFID devices. This year, we will showcase our medical tray and device tracking solutions.

Metal Skin
Last year, we introduced the break through Metal Skin on metal inlay and label, redefining the global metallic tracking market. This year we raise the bar with the Titianium Metal Skin, the world’s smallest read-on-metal RFID label. The Titanium is a GS1 EPCglobal Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6C standard UHF RFID label that measures 1.77 x 0.22 x 0.03 inches (45 x 5.6 x 0.86 mm). It is small and flexible enough for use on smart phones, tablet computers and other low-profile assets that require accurate, secure identification.

Stop by Booth #110 to see if you are Metal Enough. We look forward to meeting with our customers and partners and hearing more about the features you need in RFID.

FME is an essential component in protecting critical power generation equipment during maintenance. The power industry has experienced equipment failure when objects not part of the operational design are left behind following maintenance activities. FME STARtrac from Access Solutions reduces the potential of this happening by using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and other auto-ID technologies to identify and track tools, components and other assets. The software stores detailed asset information, alerting FME technicians if an item’s condition has changed or is left in a controlled area.

Thousands of Xerafy’s Pico Series and Data Trak Series tags were used to track tools and equipment during the Turkey Point EPU. Pico tags can be embedded directly into metal objects can be as small as 0.47 by 0.28 by 0.12 inch (12 by 7 by 3 mm). They are IP68 rated, comply with GS1 EPCglobal Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6 standards and offer up to 2k bits of user memory. Data Trak II is a larger, IP54-rated tag that provides additional mounting options and read range.

Xerafy RFID tags are a key component of the system because they are optimized to provide reliable identification when used on tools and other objects.  Xerafy tags enabled the RFID readers utilized by the FME STARtrac software to accurately track the location of tools, equipment and other assets in real time. Xerafy offers a wide range of high-performance RFID tags that can be permanently attached or embedded into all types of objects.

“In the nuclear industry all materials must be accounted for at all times, so the most accurate and reliable tracking systems are a requirement,” said Xerafy CEO Dennis Khoo. “Access Solutions has earned a reputation for improving safety and efficiency in the nuclear industry through its best practices and innovative solutions.  We are proud that Access Solutions continues to select Xerafy to meet its RFID needs.”

When asked about why Access Solutions chose Xerafy, CEO Kelvin Mann stated, “We went with Xerafy because we have found that their tags are the most reliable and durable.”

About Access Solutions
Access Solutions provides Foreign Material Exclusion services and professional personnel to markets including the power generation industry.  Leveraging its proprietary methodologies and experiences from over 150 projects nationwide and abroad, Access Solutions offers Total FME Ownership of critical components, FME advisory and site assessment services, advanced tool tethering and the ground-breaking, FME STARtrac^(SM) automated FME platform. They offer the first, full-cycle AUTO-ID Enterprise FME/Asset Management system designed to track tools, materials, components and personnel.

Learn more about Access Solutions by visiting: www.accesssolutions.net

About Xerafy
Xerafy’s innovations have changed the price-performance ratio for RFID tags and made it possible for customers to track assets in a wide range of harsh environments. Xerafy provides read-on-metal tags that can be embedded directly into assets to meet a full range of needs for RFID asset tracking in the aerospace, industrial, data center, healthcare, energy and other industries. Xerafy is headquartered in Hong Kong and maintains U.S. sales and support offices in San Jose, Dallas and Minneapolis, and additional offices in the U.K. and China.